What is Google Assistant, how does it work, and when can you use it?

Google is taking on Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana with its own smart service called Google Assistant.

Google first unveiled Google Assistant at its Google I/O conference in May 2016, pitching the new virtual assistant as an improvement of the experience in Google Now, as well as an expansion of Google’s existing “Ok Google” voice controls.

Google further used its Made By Google event to highlight how we can expect to use it on a daily basis on our Android phones and through other Google-powered devices.

Let’s dive into how it works, which devices will have it, and when you’ll be able to use it.

Google Assistant: What is it?

Google Assistant is Google’s latest iteration of a virtual assistant. It’s considered an upgrade or an extension of Google Now — designed to be personal — as well as an expansion of Google’s existing “Ok Google” voice controls. During the main keynote at Google I/O 2016, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, demoed Google Assistant and said he wanted people to experience “an ongoing two-way dialog” with the virtual assistant.

Here’s how Google explains its new assistant:

“The assistant is conversational — an ongoing two-way dialogue between you and Google that understands your world and helps you get things done. It makes it easy to buy movie tickets while on the go, to find that perfect restaurant for your family to grab a quick bite before the movie starts, and then help you navigate to the theater.”

Google Assistant: Which devices are compatible?

Google has said that Assistant is coming to its Google Pixel smartphones first, as well as the Google Home device and the Google Allo app. Currently the Allo app offers the only version you can access right now, with a beta version of the AI bot able to show you what it can do.

As Allo works across almost all Android devices and the iPhone, you could say that nearly all smartphones are compatible. However, the final experience will be deeply integrated into the device. We’d expect Google to have Google Assistant on all Android, Android Wear and Android Auto devices.

Google Assistant: How does it work?

The thing to remember about Google Assistant is that it is designed to be conversational. That means you can ask a question and then ask several follow-up questions, and Google Assistant will be able to keep track of the conversation, determine context, and audibly respond with the right information.

Google is aiming for one Google Assistant experience across its devices, which we’re sure will come in the future.

Google Pixel

With Google Assistant baked deep into the new Pixel smartphones, it’s no surprise to find that there’s instant access from the home button. Where this home button would once give you Now on Tap with a long press, that’s now replaced by Google Assistant.

Long press on the home button and you enter the Google Assistant interface. This looks a lot like Ok Google and can be triggered with the same hot word, with listening bars picking up your voice and instantly transcribing what you say onto the screen. You are then delivered a spoken reply, with results returned on the screen. You can speak or tap your selections and the conversation continues.

For example, you can ask what you should have for dinner, and Google Assistant will locate local places to eat and serve up suggestions, with cards for a selection of restaurants. Google has further demonstrated this example by then booking a table using OpenTable, something we didn’t do.

Google Assistant also takes over things like navigation. Say you want to navigate home — as you would with Ok Google — that still works, but you can also ask to find coffee shops on the way, for example.

We’ve only just started to explore the scope of Google Assistant, but it is very much a fusion on those services that exist, designed to make things tailored for you. It’s not just an AI assistant, it’s very much a personal assistant.

Google Allo

Allo is Google’s new smart chat app. The messenger has started its roll out on Android and iOS and is designed to give you plenty of options when it comes to chatting to your friends.

Rather than just giving you a straight-down-the-line messaging app, Allo makes chat more fun and interactive. It’s based on your phone number — like WhatsApp — and seems to be going after all the popular chat apps, with emoji, stickers, and more.

Google Assistant: When can you use it?

You can use Google Assistant right now in the Google Allo app, but as we already mentioned, we expect it will be available throughout Google’s ecosystem, sometime in the future.

The Google Pixel phones will be available from 20 October with Google Assistant baked to the core.

Google Home will be launching in the US in November, with no word on when it might be coming to the UK or other regions.

via:pocket