Exclusive: ‘New Google Assistant’ on Pixel 4 ‘coming soon’ to these countries

Abner Li | Oct 5 2019 - 7:10 am PT

Since exclusively showing the “new Google Assistant” in action on Wednesday, one common question we’ve been asked is about availability. Unsurprisingly, the next-generation Assistant will launch first on the Pixel 4 in the US, but it’s also “coming soon” to three other countries.

At I/O 2019 in May, Google said the “next-generation Assistant” — which will be marketed as the “new Google Assistant” — is coming this year on the new Pixel devices. Like other voice functionality, it will first be available in US English.

However, we’ve also learned that the Pixel 4’s Assistant is “coming soon” to Canada, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. In all three, English is an official language.

The exact timeframe is unclear, but those Pixel 4 Assistant countries are on the immediate availability roadmap. Google likely wants a more limited rollout given language complexities and the slight differences between local variants.

The new Assistant on Pixel 4 works by Google managing to shrink voice recognition and understanding models that were originally 100GB to just 0.5GB and running them on device. This allows users to fire off complex back-to-back commands with zero latency.

This availability is not too different from how Motion Sense will be limited to some countries at launch. Google has to get regulatory approval given the radar-based nature of the Soli technology.

More Google Pixel 4 leaks:

Dylan Roussel contributed to this article

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