We Tried Google Beam – the Closest Thing to In-Person Conversation Yet
June 4, 2025 by guest author, Antonia Hamberger
In late 2024, my colleagues and I were lucky enough to experience a technology that Google still kept shrouded in mystery at the time: Google’s Project Starline. Hidden in two demo rooms at the ChromeOS Experience Center in San José, this early glimpse into what is now officially known as Google Beam left us stunned. The experience didn’t just feel like a super-realistic way of doing videochats but like stepping into a virtual space with your conversation partner that allows you to chat as if you were in the same room.
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- At Google’s ChromeOS experience center in San José (Image: invidis)
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- At Google’s ChromeOS experience center in San José (Image: invidis)
For years, tech companies have chased the dream of true holographic communication. Some, like Proto, have created impressive set-ups that give the illusion of 3D presence. For the lack of a better word – or franky, for marketing purposes – these are often branded as holographic. Even though the founder of this blog was very consistent in calling out that these products are rarely what they say they are.
While it might be a stretch to directly compare Google Beam to Proto, both aim at transforming 2D video streams into 3D experiences in real time and without special glasses. Google started working on Project Starline a few years ago with the goal of redefining video communication. After years of R&D work, Google now announced it would turn Project Starline into the “AI-first 3D video communication platform” Google Beam and is partnering with PC manufacturer HP to bring it to the market in 2025.
The big leap in GenAI has also allowed Google Beam to exceed the original premise of Starline – it’s not just about life-like visuals anymore. Google is very close to enabling near-real time speech translations, with the same voice and tone the speaker has in the original language. The feature has also been added to Google Meet – if anyone has tried it out, let us know.
In regards to the technology behind Google Beam, it’s a combination of several different cameras, infra-red sensors, special LED lighting, a light-field display, microphone arrays, spatial audio speakers, and AI processing.
Unveiled by HP at Infocomm 2025
What’s interesting is that Google also works with Zoom to bring Google Beam to enterprises. The first Google Beam devices will be presented by HP at Infocomm in Orlando next week. Google also says they are working with channel partners such as Diversified and AVI-SPL to bring Google Beam to businesses and organizations worldwide.
The technology is definitely impressive and unlike any other 3D video communication platform. It will be interesting to see if or when enterprises will invest in trying it out. It won’t be cheap and will probably remain a very premium, high-profile solution for a while.
Please come see HP’s Google Beam hardware at Infocomm! We’ve been hard at work to improve the experience across the board.