@Virtualgoodz Not yet. Stay tuned! We have had some customers buy it here in the US and then transport it themselves to another country, but that is not currently a supported scenario!
I bought a Biscotti before: http://www.biscotti.com/ and it wasn't very good. I also bought a Tely: http://smile.amazon.com/TelyHD-S... but it wasn't very good either. This looks like a similar implementation (e.g. the form factor).
My main concern would be around the sound quality. I know it says that it has 4 microphones; but with them all being based in the device, how well does that pick up the sound of others in the room speaking? I would have thought that an external microphone could benefit this a lot.
@_jacksmith I've tried the Tely (but not the Biscotti), and Highfive is definitely in an entirely different class than these devices. (I know, I'm biased, but it's also true ;)
We have spent a lot of time with our own in-house technology and hardware to make sure the microphones are usable even in medium-to-large size conference rooms without any external microphones. People we show it to are always impressed with how well it works.
@sbyrnes Hi Sean -- very good question. So high level, there are many customers in the world who don't run Google Apps for whom Hangouts is a non-starter. Sounds like you run Google Apps. The key differences you will find with Highfive are:
1. Single device -- there's one device you have to plug in to the TV. No remote control, no tabletop microphone speakerphone, etc. It's a simpler experience.
2. Beam a call to and from a TV -- Because we have no remote control, a user can move a call to a TV and then move it back to their laptop or phone without interrupting your call (like when you are getting kicked out of your conference room and you are not done with your call).
3. Designed specifically for the conference room: Our hardware offers a camera with a field of view optimized for small and mid-sized rooms. It includes acoustics that are designed to pick people up from up to 30 feet away without any cables or table top connectors.
4. Finally, any user can join a call. There is no requirement to have a Google account so the user experience of getting a call up and going is significantly improved.
@shansinha There are a lot of really interesting companies working on tools to allow more fluid communication in and between companies (Slack and Quip are two that come to mind). Can you talk about how you and your team decided to focus on this product and how Highfive sees itself competing (if at all) with those types of tools down the line?
@AndrewUdell We see Slack & Quip as complementary (and related products). Our focus is on offering a solution to real time communication using video when you have a few people in 1 more conference rooms trying to connect with a few people that are remote or in different geographies. This is the 80% meeting that we all participate in. When everyone is sitting at their desk and needing to "chat", Slack / Hipchat etc are great. We have used both and believe they are very useful right along side Highfive which is for more "meaty" conversations.
I'd consider anything that can consistently get meetings up and running in under 5 minutes of troubleshooting a massive disruption. I'm interested to see how Highfive's user-centered approach (beyond UI) to this problem pans out.
@thatguyBG Thanks! That's indeed an important part of why we're doing this — we want it to be user-centered, seamless, working across all your devices and easily being able to transfer calls between them.
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