Microsoft update of Teams Rooms for Android falls short

Microsoft has improved Teams Rooms on Android, but the company has more perform to do for the meeting-home solution to achieve characteristic parity with the Home windows variation.

The company up to date the program that powers assembly-home units this week, bettering the calendar, growing contact controls and introducing abilities for staff logged in with their accounts. Having said that, business observers claimed Teams Rooms on Android nevertheless lacks essential functions located in the Home windows solution.

Constellation Study analyst Dion Hinchcliffe claimed crucial, person-asked for abilities continue to be missing from the Android variation. For case in point, staff are not able to use Microsoft’s immediate guest sign up for characteristic to enter Zoom or Webex meetings, a vital omission as hybrid perform gains prominence.

“Few businesses can devote just one home for Teams and a further for Zoom,” he claimed.

Gartner analyst Brian Doherty claimed cross-performance is crucial. Many businesses use Teams for inner collaboration and a further assembly system for dealing with exterior functions.

“If these Android units are going to find vast adoption, Microsoft requirements to carry immediate guest sign up for to them as well,” he claimed.

Users also are not able to plug an HDMI cable into a Teams Rooms on Android machine to share information, like they can on the Home windows variation, Hinchcliffe claimed. Android’s outgoing movie resolution is capped at 720p, as opposed to 1080p for Home windows.

Some of the new functions carry the two versions more in line, like much better contact controls on the optional assembly consoles. Android-dependent staff have been earlier constrained to on-display screen directional keys, indicating they experienced to navigate the UI as if they have been using a physical remote. Now workers can contact UI elements directly, like Home windows users. Microsoft advised businesses to test with their machine company to ensure that it supports the update.

Like its Home windows cousin, the house screen’s calendar also shows the latest and scheduled meetings.

Employees logged into Teams Rooms on Android with their accounts will see improvements as well. This kind of users can blur or alter their backgrounds, record meetings and get started whiteboard classes. Microsoft claimed it will include the latter two abilities for shared accounts shortly.

Metrigy analyst Irwin Lazar claimed bringing the Android edition of Teams Rooms up to snuff would help the soaring range of corporations using Android units. Metrigy details shows that fifty seven% of businesses prepare to include movie conferencing home programs to their assembly rooms this yr. To meet the need, hardware sellers, together with Crestron, Poly and Logitech, have enhanced the production of Android units, which are less expensive than Home windows hardware.

Mike Gleason is a reporter masking unified communications and collaboration equipment. He earlier protected communities in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts for the Milford Day by day Information, Walpole Situations, Sharon Advocate and Medfield Press. He has also worked for newspapers in central Massachusetts and southwestern Vermont and served as a regional editor for Patch. He can be located on Twitter at @MGleason_TT.