Assistant is Google’s personal assistant that is capable of answering questions, performing automated tasks, and more.
During the Pixel 8 event, “Assistant with Bard” was announced for 2024. Before it launches on Android, Google might be dropping the “Assistant” moniker and rebrand to just “Bard.”
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We’re not even two weeks into 2024, and Google has initiated a wave of layoffs across multiple teams throughout the company. In addition to cuts to the hardware division reported on Wednesday, further position removals have reportedly impacted other teams, including core engineering and Assistant.
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Alongside the 17 feature deprecations, you will soon lose the ability to launch Google Assistant with the microphone icon on Pixel devices.
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Bard is the future of Assistant. Ahead of that happening, Google announced today that Assistant features with low usage will be removed in February.
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We now have a deeper look at the Assistant with Bard UI on Android and how bard.google.com has been translated to a mobile UI.
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An issue prevented people from using many of the features of the “Automations” tab in the Google Home app.
Update: This particular issue has now been resolved, but you’ll need to sign in to your Google Account again.
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There are a handful of ways to launch Google Assistant on Android at this point. With the Pixel Launcher, you can tap the microphone icon in the search bar, but this is currently opening “voice search” instead of Assistant.
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While Google has yet to announce a firm launch date for its AI-enhanced Assistant with Bard, the Google app has been updated with some new designs, including our best look yet at its popup window and an interesting tab switcher. The company is also tweaking its recently launched stocks and finance widget.
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Google is working on having “Assistant summarize your busy conversations” and messages when you’re using Android Auto.
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Quick Phrases let you take voice actions on alarms/timers and calls without having to first say “Hey Google” on Pixel phones, as well as Pixel Buds Pro.
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Google Assistant has been winding down or consolidating features, especially voice experiences, over the past year, and the latest victim is the whimsical “animal of the day” command.
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Google Assistant’s legacy note and list system, including the Shopping List, is being replaced by Google Keep with a migration path that should be fairly straightforward.
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As was first announced at the Made by Google event at the beginning of the month, you can now use the Google Assistant to ask if an incoming call from a contact is urgent.
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After we spotted it in development earlier this year, Google has rolled out a new tile for Google Assistant that allows for custom shortcuts on Wear OS.
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Google is rolling out a number of new accessibility features, including the ability to use Action Blocks as Assistant Routine shortcuts on your Android homescreen.
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The big limitation of At a Glance when it quietly launched in June was how it only supported a single watch face, but Google has now updated it with two more complication styles.
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Following the announcement of Assistant with Bard last week, development in the Google app is ramping up. In addition to Pixel 8 users, Google is getting ready to bring Assistant with Bard to Tensor-powered Pixel devices, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy S23 and S24.
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Announced at the start of September, the At a Glance widget redesign is now widely rolling out to Pixel phones.
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Google Assistant is debuting a handful of new features on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, including letting you speak in a more natural manner and article summarization.
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In addition to the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, Google announced “Assistant with Bard” today. This is a preview of what’s to come, with the two phones picking up other voice improvements in the short term.
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Smart speakers were a craze for a while, but the hype has very much died down in recent years. With the JBL Authentics 300, though, it’s clear that there’s finally a Google Assistant speaker worth your time, and it has great sound, design, and cross-compatibility with Amazon Alexa.
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Google Assistant has been one of the primary virtual helpers saturating the landscape. Alongside it has long been Amazon Alexa, and now, the company is beating Google to the punch in revamping its assistant to be more conversational and natural with generative AI.
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A bug in recent days with the Google app sees Pixel owners get repeatedly prompted to set up Assistant quick phrases that let you skip “Hey Google” for certain commands.
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Android is rolling out its quarterly drop of new features today, with a redesign of the Assistant At a Glance widget being the highlight.
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