It’s almost cringing to think that it was once impossible to have two people edit a document at the same time. Thankfully, long gone are the days of emailing a document and keeping track of revisions. The development of online collaboration tools have allowed us to work together in real-time regardless of our location. However, the fluidity of online collaboration never carried over to whiteboards and brainstorming sessions. The Jamboard “raises the bar on collaborative creativity” and is Google’s reimagining of the whiteboard.
“It’s a hassle when you use a whiteboard, reach the end of your meeting and have to quickly scramble to snap a picture of your work. How many times have you scribbled “do not erase” above your idea?” With Jamboard, each meeting or “jam” is saved online and is easy to share. The simplicity of the Jamboard allows you to “just wheel it in, turn it on and start brainstorming.”
Because it takes advantage of G Suite tools like Google Docs and Google Drive you can have people join a broadcast or “pipe” over the internet and participate. Remote users can tune their Jamboard, iPad, or Android tablets and interact as if they were standing right next to you. Phone in users can view a pipe of the jam via Hangouts in a browser or on the companion mobile app.
In a review from Engadget it was “almost as fast as drawing on a real whiteboard.” The stylus and eraser are passive devices so there is no need to worry about replacing batteries or any syncing issues.
For under $6,000 you get a 55″ 4K resolution screen that can register 16 touch points, a built-in HD camera, speakers and Wi-Fi. Right now the Jamboard is only available via an early adopters program which you can register for more information here.
This is a very enticing option if your businesses is already integrated with G Suite and you are considering a Microsoft Surface Hub.
