Why is a laptop better than a phone when joining a Google Meet? When you use Google Meet on your phone, you can only see a maximum of four people at a time in the gallery view. If you’re taking a class, or talking to a large group of people, the only way to get a comprehensive view of everyone all at once whether they are talking or not, is to use the app on your laptop. The desktop Google Meet app will show you up to 49 thumbnails at once in the gallery view. Also on a laptop you can have more than one app opened at once so if the teacher is screen sharing something you have to type, you don’t have to keep switching back and forth when you have a split screen on the laptop. In addition, if you are getting messages from your friends you won’t get as distracted whereas if you are on your phone you will get a lot of notifications. For example if your friends send you memes, you’re going to want to text back and get distracted.

You can only utilize Zoom’s and Google Meet’s virtual backgrounds and “touch up my appearance” beauty filter on your laptop. Therefore, if you’re making a call and want a nice landscape in the background to cover up your messy living room, use the desktop version. If you’re sharing your Zoom screen with someone on your phone, you won’t be able to pause it; only the desktop client can pause a screen share. I asked student Javier Martinez what he prefers a phone or a laptop when joining a Google Meet and he stated, “Laptop because it has a bigger screen and you can do more work on it, also it has more battery life than a phone.”

   I also asked David Fajardo what he uses a phone or a laptop when joining a Google Meet he said, “A laptop because I get a lot of text from my friends on my phone, and it distracts me a lot when I’m working so I choose to use my laptop because it’s faster to work on and it has more storage than a phone.” Based on my interviews with South El Monte students I have come to the conclusion that laptops are better than phones when joining a Google Meet because you can perform more functions on it than  you can on a phone.