Google Now service. What is Google Now on Android and how does it work? Launch apps with your voice

You've probably already heard people say “Okay, Google” and then say what they want to find or find out. What can I say, almost every Android user uses this function. It has become everyday, and on the Internet you can often see interesting articles on this topic and various experiments. Well, what about Google Now, have you heard anything about this service?

Background to Google Now

The Google Now service appeared on Android 4.1, and had fairly simple functionality. And it’s not surprising because at that time it was still a prototype, and it was actively tested. Google Now was also awarded the Most Innovative App of the Year award. In the beta version, it only understood English, and could only show 10 initial answer cards.

After lengthy tests and edits (thanks to user feedback), Google Now has become a full-fledged part of Android 4.4. New versions gradually added support for new languages, including Russian. Launching became much easier; all you had to do was go to the desktop and say OK Google. In modern models, thanks to Now support, you can speak a phrase even if the phone screen is turned off.

How to enable Google Now

• First, you need to create (if you have one, then move on).
• Go to the Play Market and enter Google Now in the search and install.
• We wait for the installation to complete, and then turn it on from the desktop.
• When you first connect, you'll be asked to say "OK Google" three times to help the assistant understand your voice better.

It is also important to know that it can be called from any application, but the feature is disabled by default. To enable it, you need to go to the application settings and find the “search settings” tab.

What can he do?

Find out the song

Did you like a song on the radio, in an advertisement or in a video, but don’t know what it’s called? Then this application will definitely help you. Although the functionality is still in the testing stage, this function is already actively used in America (in Russia, Google has not yet synchronized the application with the Russian language).

Similar popular applications are Sound Hound and Shazam. But it’s much more convenient to use one application for different tasks, right? Over time, Now will completely surpass Shazam in terms of song recognition speed.

Turn on alarm

If you are too lazy to get up and set the alarm, no one is stopping you from saying loudly, “Okay Google, set the alarm for 7:00.” Or create a quick note (just take your time so that the robot can recognize all the words). It also concerns turning on the stopwatch or setting a timer.

Voice call and SMS

Do you often travel in the car, or have your hands dirty and need to make a call? Then say “Call Natasha”, and the assistant will dial the first number from the list in order, which matches your phrase (if there are several identical names, specify the last name, for example).

Sending messages works according to the same scheme (via a standard sender). Say “Send SMS to Natasha,” and then speak the text. Afterwards, you can check whether the text was read and entered correctly, if anything you can say “delete the text and write a new one.”

Third Party Applications

Google Now also supports third-party applications, for example: Telegram, Viber or WhatsApp. That is, you can write text just by saying it.

Other chips

Starting with Android 5.0, the program can turn on and off a certain number of standard system functions. This ability is not yet perfect, but is actively tested and improved with each new release.

1. Includes flashlight
2. Connects via Bluetooth
3. Connects to an available Wi-Fi network

Do you urgently need to translate a sentence, it’s very long and you don’t want to type it into the translator manually? Then dictate the phrase (if things are not so bad with English or another language) and the assistant will correctly correct your pronunciation and display the expected translation on the screen.

Self-learning

The main feature is training an assistant to suit your tasks. Even if you change your phone, the features of your previous user experience will remain in the database. Google Now will gradually learn, collecting all your requests into a common group, so that in the future, when a similar request appears, it will provide more relevant information.

The service will match your requests even by time, remind you of notes, alarms (perhaps it should be turned off on Saturday), or scheduled events on the calendar.

Since almost all phones use Google services, the assistant will analyze the data, so the information displayed will be individualized. If you've previously searched for a specific football team's matches, the app syncs with the Google News system and searches for something similar, telling you there's a new game coming soon.

If you also have location detection turned on, then when you go on vacation, you will immediately be shown recommended places to visit, based on Google Maps recommendations from real people.

During the update of gadgets to Android 6.0, the Now on Tap function was added. The idea is simple: the program looks at what is currently open before the user’s eyes and produces possible cards based on your preferences. Convenient, right?

Also, in one phrase, display a small currency converter widget from local to your own (or used one). If you want to know all the features of the application, just ask your assistant “Hey Google, a list of all the features of Google Now.”

Is the Internet and battery consumed?

This issue requires special attention. All functions work in the background, so the battery drains a little faster, but not much. As for traffic, there are almost no problems here. Even if you have a daily limit of 100 MB, the assistant will “eat” only 20-30 MB even with the most intensive use per day.

If, however, the issue of saving Internet traffic is urgent, then you can download the full language pack, but make sure that there is enough space on the device.

Google Now is becoming an increasingly important part of Android, practically the heart of the system. This is shown by both new devices on , and the upcoming support for the “Ok Google” command on any smartphone screen. The service can already tell us many useful things, and who knows what else we will learn in the future. But, as with any assistant, you need to properly build a relationship with him.

First of all, trust him. Trust is the foundation of any relationship. So feel free to open Google Now with your location and preferences. To do this, in the service settings, go to “personal data - access to my geodata” and allow Google to collect information about your location.

In addition to this, it would be a good idea to scroll down to the bottom of Google Now cards, find the magic wand icon and enter your home and work addresses, as well as interests there. Perhaps you are a fan of a particular football team or, on the advice of a neighbor, you bought a large number of shares in a company. These simple settings will help the service warn you about traffic jams, bad weather, your parking location and other information that is useful and interesting to you.

Mail and calendar

Since you are an Android user, you have a Google account and, accordingly, a GMail mailbox. And if for some reason you don’t use it, then it’s time to start. This will allow you to track a package with an order from the Internet or a reminder about plane tickets, for example, in Google Now cards.

By the way, if your significant other made the order, then it is enough for her to simply forward you a confirmation letter so that you can also track its status.

In addition, when creating another event on the calendar, you should not ignore the field with the location of the event. If you fill it out, Google Now will show you not just a reminder card, but also the time it takes to get to your scheduled appointment, just like it does for your daily commute from home to work and vice versa. Of course, this requires synchronizing your calendar with your Google account.

And again about the location

As you can already understand, the geolocation service plays a significant role in Google Now. And in addition to all of the above, it allows something else. For example, showing your loved ones where you are.

In general, a function can be treated differently. Of course, this is unthinkable for unfaithful spouses and terribly desirable for jealous people. Nevertheless, in our turbulent times, it is rather useful for your loved ones to know where you are at one time or another. And again, why do many check in endlessly, if not so that their friends know where to look for them? Google Now allows you to do the same thing, but without unnecessary gestures.

To activate, you need to go to “Google Now settings – Personal data – Show your route” and turn on the “Show where I am” option. After that, in the “Who on Google+ can see where I am” item, you can configure who will have access to this information. Yes, everything is tied to Google+, but I warned you that the function can be treated differently.

Know how to say “no”

Sometimes Google Now can guess which web link will be of interest to you, but in most cases it is not the most sought-after information.

For example, you could be looking for some product on the Internet, Google Now offered you a card with something similar, you followed the suggested link, and suddenly it turned out that you might be interested in all the content from this site. But in reality this is not the case at all.

In this case, don’t be shy to click on the three vertical dots that are located on each card and answer “no” to the question “are you interested in this topic?”

Sure, you can just swipe away the card you're not interested in, but that won't affect Google Now's future selections, and it will continue to provide cards that you keep swiping.

Bottom line

It is enough to spend just a little time setting up Google Now and not ignoring its small errors later, and the service will turn out to be much more useful for you. And with it gaining more and more traction in the Android ecosystem, it's definitely worth getting into.

Based on materials from Greenbot

is a predictive search tool from Google Inc, implemented in the Google Search application. Google Now is a personal search engine that processes voice and text requests, providing information based on personal preferences, travel history, search queries and pages visited, current GPS coordinates, personal information from the calendar, email, and communication on social networks. Based on this data, Google Now not only responds to requests, but also anticipates them.

The development company defines the strategy of its search project as follows: Google Now finds the information you need before you even ask a question. This predictive approach immediately made it the “Innovation of the Year” according to the scientific magazine Popular Science, from the moment the application was released in 2012. Since then, the promise of Google Now has become even more obvious. The possibilities of such a personalized search system seem almost unlimited.

Technical capabilities of Google Now

Google Now is currently available on smartphones (iOS and Android), Chromebooks, and the Chrome browser on computers.

The search widget is located on the start screen. For the user, the results of such a search are displayed in the form "cards"(cards). There are ten of them, but their number is planned to increase. The developers have already announced seventy new cards that will appear in the near future. The user can customize cards to suit their needs and delete unnecessary ones. The cards display the following information:

• Weather
  
  • in the area of ​​home, work
    
• Traffic
  
  • "it's time to leave" notice
    
  • travel route based on the user's current location and travel history
    
• Public transport
  
  • schedule of buses, trams and metro trains when approaching a public transport stop
    
• Next meeting
  
  • "it's time to leave" notice
    
  • route
    
  • travel time calculation
    
• Flights
  
  • displays schedule, flight status and weather conditions
    
• Sport
  
  • Live match results for sports teams from search history
    
• Places
  
  • information about nearby bars, restaurants and other places of entertainment, based on the user’s location, search history and movement history
    
• Translation
  
• Currency
  
  • displayed if the user is in another country
    
• Time at home
  
  • displayed if the user is in a different time zone

New cards coming soon include car rental, playlist selection, news, restaurant bill payment, and more.

In addition to the main cards, Google Now displays a variety of information that it considers necessary for the user: reminders of friends’ birthdays, messages about traffic congestion on regular routes. When ordering cinema or theater tickets online, Google Now will remind you of them and warn you when to leave, taking into account traffic data. If the user was looking for a product online, he will be shown where it is sold nearby, with an indication of the price. It’s easy to remove the card if it’s not needed: Google Now will understand that the user is no longer interested in it.

The application understands voice commands, now in Russian. To do this, just say “OK, Google” and request information or give a command, for example, about a reminder or about turning on an alarm. The longer you use Google Now, the smarter it will become, adapting to the user - especially if the user has an orderly, predictable life.

Google Now and privacy

One of the functions of the application is the ability to broadcast your location to certain users from Google+ so they can follow the route. Since this is done voluntarily, it does not raise any questions. Another thing is the excessive awareness of Google Now, which can be regarded as an invasion of privacy.

So, one of the userstried it in action Google Now was amazed that the search engine accurately identified his place of residence in just three days, despite the fact that no search queries were entered into Google at all and the address was not indicated anywhere. In fact, the application simply counted the time spent at a certain point. And, noticing that the person was in these coordinates for several nights in a row, Google Now “guessed” that this was his home. If someone arranges a meeting in a certain cafe in personal correspondence, you shouldn’t be surprised if a “smart” search engine tells you when a cafe of this chain will be nearby.

For Google Now, there are no secrets in a user's electronic life. The search engine freely searches for data in his mail, social networks, and movement history. Thus, another layer of information about users is now stored on the servers of Internet giants.

Google says the company's goal is to "organize all the world's information and make it accessible and useful." However, not everyone wants their personal information to be publicly available. In addition, it is sometimes scary to see how a computer reads thoughts, giving an answer to a question that has not yet been properly formulated. Whether the existence of services such as Google Now will negatively affect a person’s consciousness, his ability to think and make decisions is an open question.

But the usefulness and convenience of predictive search increasingly outweigh concerns, and Google Now is gradually growing in popularity among users.

Google Now and similar services

Over time, the advantages of Google Now over services that are considered its competitors become obvious: Siri And Cortana.

Stone Temple Consulting (STC) recently published a study that compared responses to 3,086 queries posed to these three search engines: Google Now, Siri and Cortana. Google Now turned out to be undisputed winner, V 58% cases, providing the most accurate and complete information. Moreover, this concerned both specific, factual issues and the most general ones. But the most important thing: if Cortana still demonstrates some predictive abilities, then in Siri they are absent in principle.

Users are beginning to gradually get used to the fact that the search service will provide them not only with the requested information, but also offer some solution. Moreover, it will save them time by anticipating the request itself.

Google declares that it is thus moving from the dissemination of information to the dissemination of knowledge. Google Now, one of the company's most advanced and promising products, is about turning facts into decisions, sometimes made for the user.

Google Now and the future of search engine promotion

Google Now is recognized as a “product of the future” precisely because of its ability to anticipate human desires and decisions.

Search not by direct queries, but by context, or more precisely, by context analysis is becoming more and more promising. The main activity of ordinary users is focused primarily on communicating on social networks and viewing basic data necessary for everyday life: routes, weather, etc. Their person prefers to receive fast, concise and accurate. Finding himself in a foreign country and finding out that, for example, the application with which he is used to ordering a taxi does not work: what will he do? Will try to find an analogue. But if will make a choice on its own, based on previous elections - of course, most people will prefer such a service.

While looking through the next push notifications about available updates, I accidentally opened the Google Now application, looked at the description on the market, and decided to dig into this wonder. For the first half an hour, I kept walking around the apartment, constantly repeating, “Okay Google, how did Rostov play?”, “Okay Google, what’s the weather forecast for tomorrow?”, “Okay Google, wake me up tomorrow at 8 am ”, etc. My Nexus 7 understood me perfectly, despite the fact that sometimes for the test I sometimes slightly distorted the trigger phrase “Okay Google”.

How to use Google now

Now it’s worth talking about all the possible Google Now commands in Russian, and the list is quite extensive:

1) Work and time management

2) Communication

3) Entertainment

4) Travel

5) Useful information

Information on commands was taken from the official page about voice control in Android.

How to turn Google Now on and off

To change this parameter, you need to open the “Google Search” application, go to the menu, and opposite the “Google Now” item, select either “on.” or "off"

As far as I understand, for the most convenient work with Google Now, it is suggested to use the Google Start launcher, which makes access to the service accessible by sliding the main screen to the right.

As you can see, our green robot is becoming smarter from update to update, and is capable of solving more and more problems; you’ll soon be able to clean the house and cook dinner :)

Google Now voice commands in Russian (androidmag video)

I would like to know from you whether you use voice search, what commands you use most often?

Google Now is your personal assistant that helps you manage everything, find the information you need, and easily organize it on your phone. Your search parameters, plane tickets, restaurant reservations, friends' locations and much more are stored in special, laconic Google Now cards.

With the tips and tricks we'll share in this article, you can make the most of Google Now and make the most of it. This service is indispensable for those who constantly need to have all the necessary information at hand.

1 . Using Google Now research topics

All searches you enter in Google Now are grouped by research topic. These in turn are based on your search queries and links.

Your search results will also include links to similar topics, all categorized into appropriate categories. Available categories include: Forums, New Content, Reviews, Videos, Music, People, TV Shows, and Web Pages.

2. Set reminders

If you're searching for a TV show, music artist, actor or director on Google Now, at the end of each card there will be an option to "Remind me about new episodes?" Click on it to activate it, and Google Now will subsequently notify you about news in a given category (for example, the release of new episodes).

3. Broadcast location

If for one reason or another you need your Google+ friends or family to know your location, your circles.

Moreover, you can enable the Route Broadcast feature in Google Now. Why is this necessary, you ask? If you live in a city where traffic jams and disruptions to public transport are common, then with the help of “Route Broadcast” your family and friends will be able to find out where you are currently on the route.

Sign in to Google Now, open Menu>Settings>Google Now>Motion and activate “Allow my movements to be followed.”

Users who will have access to information about your location will receive it in the form of the following Google Now cards:

4. Gmail cards and booking

The situation is that you have not only Google cards, but also Gmail. If you usually receive pre-order and reservation confirmations via Gmail, you can open Google Now to access this information and place the information in the appropriate cards.

To enable this option in Google Now, open Menu>Settings>Google Now>Gmail Cards. Among the cards you will find the following: booking plane tickets, booking tables in restaurants and rooms in hotels.

5. Say "Google" to activate voice command

You can turn on the microphone with one click, but try making it even simpler - say “Google”. For this to work, you need to activate link word recognition. Go to Google Now Menu>Settings>Voice and check the box next to “Link word recognition”. Now you can use voice search to simply say “Google [your search parameters].”

6. Search for personal photos

If you constantly post new photos on Google+, you can find them through Google. For example, if you love spending time at the beach and you have a lot of these kinds of photos, then to get them, enter “my beach photos” into the search bar. This option is currently only available to registered Google users in the US.

7. Google Now phone cards

Google Now TV cards are needed by movie lovers and, in particular, owners of Smart TV. If the device running Google Now is connected to the same exact Wi-Fi as your Smart TV, then you can turn on the microphone and say “Listen to TV” to have TV show information reflected in the stream. Thus, you will receive information about how the show is filmed, as well as learn about interesting facts from the life of the actors or crew as a whole.

8. Google Now in Chrome

Want to transfer Google Now to your desktop computer? If you have Chrome, this is technically possible. Open Chrome and search for chrome://flags/. You will receive a list of experiments, where you will find Google Now.

Now restart your browser, and if you receive this notification about activating Google Now cards, click “Yes”:

If you have not received a notification, you will have to wait a little until the option becomes available.