Assistant is Google’s personal assistant that is capable of answering questions, performing automated tasks, and more.
The standalone Google Assistant app has now managed to reach the coveted 100 million download milestone over on the Google Play Store.
Expand Expanding Close
With the COVID-19 pandemic showing no signs of ending anytime soon, Google has been encouraging users to take preventative measures. Now, Google Assistant is singing a cute song to tell you to wear a mask when you go out.
Expand Expanding Close
Google this week laid out how Play Music will stop working in the coming months. With that on the horizon, YouTube Music is striving for feature parity, and the service is finally gaining the ability to have personal playlists be played from Google Assistant. However, this is still in testing with limited reach.
Expand Expanding Close
Finally, after a couple of years, we have some Nest Hub and Smart Display games that take advantage of both your Google Assistant and the color displays.
Expand Expanding Close
Last summer, Amazon, Apple, and Google were criticized for not properly disclosing how human reviewers analyze audio snippets from each of their assistants. Google in response paused the practice for Assistant and other products, but is now resuming and making audio recordings entirely opt-in.
Expand Expanding Close
After giving an official teaser to ourselves and other members of the press, Google isn’t exactly shy about the fact that it has a new smart speaker around the corner. According to a new report, Google’s next Assistant smart speaker could be launching as soon as this month.
Expand Expanding Close
With distance learning in effect for the upcoming school season, at least in the US, Google Assistant is adding a handful of features to ease the transition. This includes Family Bell, precise Broadcasting, and other whimsical features aimed at kids.
Expand Expanding Close
From smart home controls to setting reminders and asking questions, you’re mostly interacting with Google when using a Nest Hub. That said, third-party apps do exist, and Google is making a big push for Smart Display games this year.
Expand Expanding Close
Next week, Samsung Unpacked is expected to bring a trio of Android-powered devices. A new report this evening reveals that Google is in talks with Samsung to have Assistant and its other services play a bigger role.
Expand Expanding Close
With Android 11, Google is going all-in with Bubbles, a way to “let users easily multi-task from anywhere on their device.” They are primarily used for messaging notifications and quick access to conversation threads, but the latest Google app beta today reveals work on an “Assistant Chat Head.”
Expand Expanding Close
Google Assistant devices have a certain level of access to your account, and if you sell them off or stop using them, revoking access to your account isn’t a bad idea. However, if you revoke access to your Google account, some Assistant devices can end up wrecking your smart home setup, including Nest.
Expand Expanding Close
On Android and iOS, you can point Google Lens at a street sign or document to have it translated and read aloud. Google is now bringing Lens to smart feature phones running KaiOS in India.
Expand Expanding Close
For the past several months, Google has been testing a more compact Assistant UI that takes some visual queues from the Pixel 4. The marquee change is how results don’t take up the entire screen. The company is now testing another Google Assistant design that brings the light bar to non-Pixel phones.
Expand Expanding Close
Truly wireless earbuds are everywhere, and for the most part, you’ll get a similar experience from the vast majority of them. Today, though, LG has launched its Tone Free earbuds in the United States with a unique cleaning feature.
Expand Expanding Close
It looks as though a weird bug means that Google Assistant Reminders might be broken for lots of people out there right now.
Expand Expanding Close
Assistant’s Snapshot feed is the spiritual successor to Google Now. Since rolling out in March, Google Assistant has added more capabilities with Podcasts and recipes being the latest to join Snapshot.
Google just sent us a picture of the new Nest-branded smart speaker. See above..and much more below.
Expand Expanding Close
Last month we exclusively reported that Google had a sequel incoming to its original Google Home speaker, this time with Nest branding in tow. Today, a regulatory authority in Japan has leaked this new “Nest Speaker,” revealing its brand new design.
In lieu of Google I/O 2020 (Google opted not to hold a virtual event this year), the various arms of the company that would have otherwise had announcements at the event are trying to hold virtual conferences. That continued this week with the “Hey Google” Smart Home Virtual Summit. The big news was Google bringing Home/Away triggers to Assistant Routines with ‘presence detection’, but another minor tidbit surfaced: a new “Works with Hey Google” brand we hadn’t seen yet. Let’s overanalyze this, shall we?
Having a digital assistant on your phone can be handy, but whether it’s a concern of privacy or just something you don’t want to use, you can always turn them off. Here’s how to turn off Google Assistant on Android phones, Chromebooks, and even smart speakers.
At a primarily developer-focused Smart Home Virtual Summit, Google today recapped its recent work in the space and announced more tools. Another focus was on expanding the capability of Google Assistant Routines through “presence detection” and other new features.
Earlier this year, the Google Assistant gained public support for a variety of media devices including TVs and remotes. Today, Google is following that up by openly allowing developers to connect the Google Assistant to speakers, soundbars, streaming boxes, and more.
Google Assistant has long dominated the voice assistant field, despite a huge head start from Apple’s Siri. With the new release of iOS 14, Apple tried to close that gap a bit with a bunch of improvements to Siri, but it’s clear that, even with that, Google Assistant still has quite the lead.
Nearly every Made by Google product released in the last few years includes a way to invoke the Google Assistant, and the Stadia Controller is no different. The Stadia Controller’s Google Assistant button has suddenly become far more useful, as you can now use it while playing your games.
