Google has rolled out its visual search feature Google Lens in Assistant for the Pixel and Pixel 2 smartphones. As a reminder Google Lens was introduced at Google I/O 2017, and made its official debut with the new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones through Google Photos app and a few weeks ago expanded to 2016's Pixel and Pixel XL. For the uninitiated Google Lens lets you point your Pixel camera at a subject to get information and show results based on that. You can scan a flower to get more information about it, or identify a landmark, restaurant, movies, book and see their ratings, reviews and other details. You can even copy text like phone numbers, date and addresses. But now you don't need to fire up the Photos app to use this feature, as Lens is integrated with Google Assistant. The sheet that pops up when you summon Google Assistant (by holding the home button), now has a Lens Button on the bottom right corner. Pressing the Lens Button will open a camera viewfinder, and tapping anywhere freezes the view, and begins a search with possible results and actions appearing as a carousel of card that identify the object. You'll also get links to do web search, open other apps and more. In addition you'll also be able to share and rate the result with a thumbs up/down. The feature is rolling out in phases so only a few users are able to see it on their Pixel/Pixel 2 devices now, however, a wider roll-out will take place in the coming days. Via 1 | 2
Google is making it easier to broadcast messages around the house. It has rolled out a new feature for Google Assistant, which will allow you to broadcast messages across all your voice-activated speaker such as Google Home, turning them into an intercom system. To use the broadcast feature, you can just say 'Ok Google' followed by the message that you wish to broadcast. For instance, "when you need to round up the family in the morning just say "Ok Google, broadcast it's time for school" and the messages will relay to all Assistant enabled speakers in your home." Additionally, you can even broadcast playful messages for different activities such as 'wake up', 'movie', 'tv time', 'lunch', 'dinner' and more. Apart from voice-activated speakers you will also be able to use Google Assistant on your phone to broadcast messages to your Google Home. To ensure that broadcasting works across all smart speakers, make sure you’re signed in with the same Google Account. The broadcasting feature starts rolling out today to Google Assistant on phones and speakers. It will work on speakers set to English language in the U.S, Australia, Canada and the U.K. Support for more language will be coming soon. Source
Google Assistant is already available on phones in a number of languages around the world, and it is now getting support for two new languages. Initially announced at I/O 2017, Google's Assistant is now able understand and communicate with the user in Italian, Spanish (Latin America) and Spanish (Spain). So now you can say “Ok Google” and ask the Assistant in your native language to play your favorite song, tell you about the weather, navigate home and more. With the addition, Spanish and Italian joins the list of supported languages for Assistant, that includes English in Australia, Canada, U.S. and U.K.; Portuguese in Brazil; French in Canada and France; German in Germany; Japanese in Japan; and Korean in Korea. Google says support for the new languages will roll out in the coming weeks and will be available on Android phones running Android Marshmallow or higher with Google Play Services. You'll receive a notification, when the new language is available on your device. Later this year, Google Assistant in Italian and Spanish will arrive on iPhone. Source
Up until now Google's digital voice assistant had been available on Pixel smartphone, Google Home smart speaker, Google Allo chat app, and Android Wear 2.0 smartwatches, but that's changing starting today. Now as promised Google has begun rolling out Google assistant to all devices running Android Marshmallow and Nougat, given that they feature Google Play service, 1.5GB RAM and HD (720p) display. The Google Assistant will roll out first to English users in the U.S, followed by users in Australia, Canada and the UK, as well as German users in Germany. Support for more language will come soon. The roll will happenthrough Google Play services, so eligible devices will get it automatically. The Google Assistant is a beefed up version of 'OK Google' voice search/command. You can have one-on-one conversations or ask questions, set reminders, translation perform, web search, ask for latest new or weather updates, control smart home products and more. To bring up Google Assistant, you can either long press the home button or say 'Ok Google' and give the voice commands. The recently launched LG G6, Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 at MWC 2017, already comes pre-loaded with Google Assistant.
So far, Google's digital voice assistant called Google Assistant was exclusive to the company's products like the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones, Google Allo messaging app, Android Wear 2.0 Platform and Google Home smart speaker. But that's about to change soon. Earlier this week, at MWC 2017 Google announced that it will bring Google Assistant to all Android smartphones running Marshmallow and Nougat with Google Play services. This rules out smartphones sold in China as they don't support Google services, due to government regulation. The phones should also have atleast 1.5GB RAM and HD (720p) display. Google Assistant already comes pre-loaded on the LG G6, Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6, that were introduced earlier this week at MWC in Barcelona. The Google Assistant will begin rolling out this week to English users in the U.S., followed by English in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as German speakers in Germany. Google said it will add more languages over the coming year. The Assistant will be included in the next update to the Google app, namely version 6.13. The Assistant is Google's take on Apple's Siri, Microsoft's Cortana and Amazon's Alexa. You can bring up Google Assistant on your device by long pressing the home button or by just saying "Ok Google", and you can give voice commands for one-on-one conversations or to perform any tasks including setting reminders, translation, new alerts, performing web search and more. Source
