Google Assistant

The delayed launch of the Google Assistant for Galaxy Watch 4 has been highly anticipated so we’ve gone hands-on to find out if it’s a massive step up.

Galaxy Watch 4 owners have been waiting for Google Assistant since Samsung launched the wearable with just Bixby last year, and support is now officially launching today.

The Chromecast with Google TV is a great product, but it’s one that’s clearly showing problems as it ages. One issue is that the Chromecast hasn’t received an actual system update in nearly six months, which is why a recent tweet from Google feels like such a tease.

At the start of this month, we spotted that the Nest Hub would get deeper Google Fit and Fitbit integration. You can now ask Google Assistant for your Fitbit and Google Fit stats.

We spotted how the Nest Hub is getting deeper Google Fit and Fitbit integration to let you see step count and other activity stats at the start of this month, and you some users can now connect either service to Assistant settings.

During this past week’s Google I/O keynote, the company officially announced the “Look and Talk” feature for the Nest Hub Max that we’ve been tracking. Now, just a few days later, that feature appears to be rolling out widely.

With its one-year anniversary approaching, the Galaxy Watch 4 is finally getting an actual timeline for one of its most anticipated features. Google Assistant is officially getting a release date on the Galaxy Watch 4 this summer.

At I/O 2022, Google is giving a surprising amount of attention to the Assistant Smart Display that it announced three years ago on the very same stage. “Look and Talk” will let you activate Assistant by just gazing at your Nest Hub Max, while Quick Phrases is also coming to give you another way to skip “Hey Google.”

At I/O 2021, Google announced that Assistant would help you change stolen credentials. This Google Assistant-branded, Duplex-powered capability for changing passwords is now rolling out in Chrome for Android.

At the moment, Google Assistant’s health integrations are limited to asking about sleep. Moving forward, you’ll be able to see steps, calories burned, and other activity metrics from Fitbit or Google Fit on the Nest Hub.

Google Assistant for the Galaxy Watch 4 should be coming, or at least supported, with the next Samsung system update.

After years of neglect, the spiritual successor to Google Now appears to be gone for good, with Google Assistant Snapshot disappearing widely across Android devices.

It should soon be possible to use the At a Glance widget on Pixel phones to keep track of your grocery orders, including when pickups are ready and when deliveries are on their way.

Following the ability to set seconds-long delayed starts, Google has made another tweak to Assistant Routines that lets you rename these macros to be different from their starters.

Home security cameras are usually pretty basic when it comes to their optical hardware, with a middling resolution that uses digital zoom to get the job done and either a constant power source or a rechargeable battery. Over the past few months, though, I’ve been using Google Assistant-connected cameras from Reolink that kick it up a notch, with true optical zoom and a full solar system.

Google Home is at the forefront of smart home automation. That being the case, we expect heavy customization and the ability to change minute details depending on how we like our homes to run. One of those fine details is being able to delay certain actions in Google Home’s Assistant Routines.

At the end of last year, Google thoroughly redesigned and simplified the process of creating Assistant Routines. That update introduced sunrise/sunset triggers, and Google will soon let you program a delay between when the command is given and the Assistant Routine starts.