Google Assistant will soon be available on all smartphones running Android Nougat and Marshmallow. LG was one of the first to reveal it would feature the Assistant on its new device, the LG G6 at Mobile World Congress, following the release of the AI on Android Wear 2.0.
Google Assistant will begin rolling out this week to English users in the US, before it is launched in Australia, Canada and the UK. German speakers will also be getting the update. Google said Google Assistant will automatically come to eligible Android phones running Nougat and Marshmallow with Google Play Services.
Google Assistant will begin rolling out this week to English users in the US, before it is launched in Australia, Canada and the UK. German speakers will also be getting the update. Google said Google Assistant will automatically come to eligible Android phones running Nougat and Marshmallow with Google Play Services.
It is like Siri, but much smarter because it uses a so-called smart reply feature to offer what Google calls “appropriate, contextually aware smart suggestions for quick replies” and it learns how you prefer to reply, in order to tailor the responses to make them more personal. This includes adding more options in the predictive text replies, or making more of spoken replies.
When you open the Assistant, it will ask: “What can I help you with?” and it will show you a selection of options. Google Assistant uses a chat screen to encourage you to have a conversation with it. Example questions given by Google include: “How did the Olympics Start?” and ”what is your superpower?”
A number of answers, and follow-up questions, will appear in small bubbles below the initial answer. You can select an automated option – which will gradually become smarter and recognise how you prefer to respond – or you can say “OK Google” to enable voice controls.
For example, you can say: “Tell me about my day,” “show my photos of London”, “what is my next flight” or “when is my next appointment?” The answer to the flight question only works if you have an upcoming reservation in your Gmail account, though.
It should also be noted that Google requires a high level of access to your apps and accounts in order to serve these personalised responses. This has drawn criticism from privacy groups and access can be managed or revoked in Settings.