Google app 7.19 hints at primary/secondary Assistant languages, smart displays, and ‘Summer time mode’ [APK Teardown]

Abner Li | Jan 16 2018 - 1:50 pm PT

The latest version of the Google app is rolling out this morning and it reveals a number of upcoming features in development. For Assistant, the ability to change languages — as well as setting a secondary one — is noted, while more Quartz, Home, and possibly TV features are also detailed.

About APK Teardowns: In this ‘APK teardown,’ we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that was uploaded to the Play Store. When an app (or an APK, to be specific, in the case of Android apps) is decompiled, we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. With that in mind, read on.

Changing language on Assistant devices

As Google Assistant expands to more users, it is gaining support for a variety of different languages. New strings in version 7.19 suggest that users might soon be able to manually change the language on Assistant devices. Notably, this setting appears to alter the language on all your Assistant devices, except for phones/tablets. Users would be directed to their phone’s system settings to change that.

<string name=”assistant_settings_language_availability_link”>Android Language Settings</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_language_availability_text”>”Changing the language here will change it everywhere on your Assistant devices except Android phone. To change Assistant’s language on Android phone, go to %1$s.”</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_language_change_dialog_message”>”Are you sure you want to change the Assistant language on all your devices? Android language is not included.”</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_language_change_dialog_title”>Change language on all your Google Assistant devices?</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_language_change_dialog_yes”>Yes</string>

Setting primary and secondary languages for Assistant

Meanwhile, users might even be able to select a “Secondary language” — besides the “Primary” one — for Assistant to also understand.

<string name=”assistant_settings_primary_language_title”>Primary language</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_secondary_language_title”>Secondary language</string>

Summer time mode for Google Home

Strings reference some sort of “Summer time mode” that would only apply to Google Home devices. Users would be able to manually enable it, though it’s not clear what this mode changes. One possibility is that it’s related to setting the time.

<string name=”assistant_settings_summer_time_mode_availability_text”>Summer time mode is currently only available on Google Home devices. This setting will only affect devices that you set up.</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_summer_time_mode_button_summary”>Enables summer time mode.</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_summer_time_mode_button_title”>Summer time mode</string>

<string name=”assistant_settings_summer_time_mode_title”>Summer time mode</string>

<string name=”summer_time_mode_settings_preference”>summerTimeModeSettings</string>

<string name=”summer_time_mode_switch_preference”>summerTimeModeSwitch</string>

Assistant settings for smart displays

The smart displays launched last week at CES 2018 are likely the “Quartz” category of devices that we spotted over the past several Google app teardowns. “Quartz” refers to those category of devices in the same way “Bisto” refers to Google Assistant headphones.

A new string in version 7.19 makes way for the smart display category to appear in Assistant settings under the Devices list, while also noting a new “jasper” name:

<string name=”assistant_settings_availability_jasper”>Smart Displays</string>

For comparison, this is the string for the Android TV devices with Assistant:

<string name=”assistant_settings_availability_android_tv”>TVs</string>

Notifications on smart displays

Meanwhile, there is a reference to displaying notifications on Quartz devices. The alerts in question are likely similar to the “Proactive notifications” announced at I/O or for on-device content, rather than from Android apps on your phone.

<string name=”quartz_home_notification_default_cta”>”Show my notifications”</string>

TV recognition features

Late last year, Google Assistant finally gained music recognition capabilities. Now, it might possibly be working on a feature that identities what’s on TV by listening to what’s currently airing. In theory, this feature could surface TV listings and other information related to a show.