Google Assistant: Helping you get things done to give you time back with more interesting new features
Recently Google Assistant (yep no name) came out tops over Amazon Echo and Apple's Siri regarding accuracy and usefulness of actual answers, but one thing sore lacking was any form of personality or warmth. Well Google is still not quite there but some new additions are at least moving them a little closer:
1. Naturally conversational – Language is incredibly complex—people ask about something as simple as the weather in over 10,000 ways (our favorite: “Will it be cats and dogs today?”). We’ve dramatically improved our language understanding so you can speak naturally to your Google Assistant and it will know what you mean (well we hope it knows).
2. New voices – Starting today, you can choose from six new voices for your Google Assistant. And John Legend will lend his melodic tones to the Assistant later this year
3. Continued Conversation (a top request) – Soon you’ll be able to have a natural back-and-forth conversation without repeating “Hey Google” for each follow-up request. The Assistant will be able to understand when you’re talking to it versus someone else, and will respond accordingly.
4. Multiple actions – which is already starting to roll out, the Google Assistant will be able to understand more complex queries like “What’s the weather like in New York and in Austin?”
5. Pretty Please – Assistant features for families—powered by Family Link—provides free family-friendly games, activities, and stories from content partners like Disney.
6. Custom and scheduled Routines – which allow you to create your own Routine with any of the Google Assistant’s one million Actions, and start your routine with a phrase that feels best for you. For example, you can create a Custom Routine for family dinner, and kick it off by saying "Hey Google, dinner's ready" and the Assistant can turn on your favorite music, turn off the TV, and broadcast “dinner time!” to everyone in the house.
7. Smart Displays – Smart Displays are a new category of devices (hardware) built for the home that let you quickly glance at responses provided by the Google Assistant. You can access the Assistant hands-free by voice, but you can also tap and swipe the screen when that’s easier.
8. Google Maps – The Assistant is coming to navigation in Google Maps later this (Northern Hemisphere) summer, with a low visual profile so you can keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes on the road. You'll be able to send text messages, play music and podcasts, and get information without leaving the navigation screen. For example, say “Hey Google, read me my messages” and you can get a summary of unread texts with the option to respond by voice.
See https://www.blog.google/products/assistant/io18/
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The future of the Google Assistant: Helping you get things done to give you time back Today at I/O, we’re sharing our vision for the next phase of the Google Assistant, as we make it more naturally conversational, visually assistive, and helpful in getting things done. |