So for those of you who utilize Google Assistant or your Google Home devices, you’re about to get some new abilities for them. Just in time for the holidays which will lead to family/friends over and what a better time to show off the new tricks Google Assistant can do.
We got a full list of everything coming below:
- Reply to broadcasts — For a while now, we’ve been able to broadcast voice messages to Google Assistant speakers and displays to send off quick messages to family members/loved ones. In the coming weeks, you’ll be able to reply to broadcasts from a smart speaker or display to a phone or to another smart device in your home.
Improved recipes on Smart Displays — Smart Displays are great for following step-by-step recipes, and soon, finding the perfect dinner will be even easier thanks to Recommend Recipes that’ll show up in a new card right on your home screen. Recipes are recommended based on past meals you’ve cooked, and they’ll be displayed in a special order based on the time of day and the current season. Even better, you’ll also be able to save especially great recipes to My Cookbook so you find them later. These two features will be available in the coming weeks.
Kid-friendly alarms — Have kids that use the Google Assistant? Starting today, you can set custom alarms that feature characters from the likes of LEGO City, LEGO Life, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and more. In the coming weeks, Google’s also adding 25 family-friendly stories that you’ll be able to access by saying, “Hey Google, tell me a story.”
New podcast voice controls — When you’re listening to a podcast or audiobook on any Google Assistant device, you can now say commands such as “Hey Google, play at twice the speed” or “Hey Google, play faster.”
Google Assistant Routines in the Clock app — Routines are easily the most powerful aspect of the Google Assistant, and now they’re getting integrated right into the Clock app. After you’ve made an alarm, you can add a custom routine that triggers various things when it goes off. For example, after you dismiss an alarm, you can have your phone volume turn up, hear the weather for the day, catch up on the news, etc.
Easily turn on DND on all your devices — Winding down for the night and want to make sure you aren’t woken up by a random Twitter notification at 2 AM? Coming soon, you’ll be able to say “Hey Google, silence my phone” to have all of your devices automatically set to Do Not Disturb.
You can expect the new features to rollout over the next few weeks. I am definitely interested in trying these out. How about you?
