Apart from its lame name and denim color scheme, there’s not a whole lot to dislike about the BlueJeans app.
It is a Verizon company, so you know it has some heavyweight experience and experience behind it. But is this enough in the fiercely competitive world of video conferencing driven by remote and homeworking and hybrid office working?
Let’s take a look and find out.
New updates to BlueJeans’ Teams gateway
BlueJeans unveiled brand new enhancements for its Microsoft Teams solution to help organizations meet their collaboration challenges.
With many workplaces a hybrid of in-office and remote working, the emphasis has been on enterprise-grade security regardless of where an organization’s employees happen to be based.
In addition to upgrades to their MS Teams offering, BlueJean announced that Microsoft had selected Verizon as a launch partner for their new platform, Operator Connect. This platform creates a straight-through peering relationship between Microsoft Teams and Verizon’s trunking network.
HD video and Dolby quality audio
Host meetings for up to 150 people
File sharing
Calendar integration and one-tap meeting joining
Intuitive moderation tools
Intelligent bandwidth controls
Safe driving mode
The BlueJeans app is free to download and use to join a meeting. However, you will need an existing BlueJeans account if you plan to use the app to host meetings.
Other than that, you are good to go if you are a meeting participant rather than an instigator.
Another handy feature of the BlueJeans app is the ability to join BlueJeans Events in a view-only capacity. However, you can still interact with Q&A and polls.
Proximity mode, meanwhile, lets you transfer your calendar from the app to a Dolby Voice Room to convert a conference room into your personal meeting space.
You can also invite participants on the fly. This is good if someone only needs to be at part of the meeting.
And you can use either your device’s front or rear camera.
The most recent update at the time of writing included:
Pre-assigned Breakout Rooms
A revised “Who’s Talking” interface
Music and Group audio
Miscellaneous bug fixes
It’s free
A smart calendar
Clean design
Intuitive controls
Surprisingly limited multi-language support
You can get your BlueJeans on at Google Play and Apple’s App Store.
Android users will find the app requirements vary by device. The iOS app calls for 117.5 MB of storage space and iOS 12.0 or later. Curiously, the bluejeans website is at odds with the App Store description as it reckons you can get by with iOS 10.0 or later. Who to believe?
Both app platforms rank BlueJeans, with Google Play users figuring it’s worth a 4.6 out of five and App Store customers a mighty 4.8 out of five.
If you wish to upgrade to a subscription package in order to host meetings, you can get a free trial from the bluejeans.com website home page. There’s a big button in the top menu you can’t miss.
