Google Assistant is one of those tools in my bag that I don’t come close to fully using. That embarrasses me some, since the damn thing is spread around my house in every room on several gadgets and I write about it for a living, but its capabilities are so broad that I think it also intimidates me at times.
For example, if you head over to the “What it can do” page for Google Assistant from Google, browse for a minute and tell me you aren’t overwhelmed. Look at all that stuff! Did you know that Google Assistant can talk to the city of Detroit, get nutrition facts, track baby stats, sync your UPS My Choice account for package status updates, or check your Walgreens rewards balance? Outside of nutrition facts, I didn’t.
Google says there are “over 1 million actions to try” with the Google Assistant. Good lord. Here I am setting timers, turning lights on or adjusting their brightness, changing the temperature, utilizing Family Bells, asking basic Search questions, firing up a Spotify playlist, adding items to my shopping list, and of course, checking on the weather, but I still feel like I’m missing so much stuff.
So, I’m curious what you use Google Assistant for? Have you settled into the basic tasks like I just listed above or have you connected 3rd party apps and services to get even more out of it? Give me something you think is unique that I absolutely need to add to my repertoire.
I remember when it worked great. Now it’s hit or miss at best on my phone. And forget trying to integrate it with other google products like Nest. I’ve simply never got it to work. So I don’t even bother anymore.
At best I use it to play music in the car. Works about 70% of the time.
I honestly have no idea who actually uses the assistant. I don’t want to talk into my phone ever. I just use my fingers to search.
Actually, I take that back. I only use it to navigate home because it’s easier than typing it.
Make calls while driving because Android Auto is so bad
turning the lights on and off in my music room.
I used to use it to turn the lights on/off …but now I have to unlock my device before doing so.
Kinda defeats the purpose of having a digital assistant, if you ask me.
Everything
I use it to settle arguments with my wife.
Navigate in Android Auto, Wifi lamps, and playing music at home.
I recently learned that if you use assistant to broadcast a message by using the keyboard instead of your voice it will beep out the swears. It’s hilarious to hear it say things like “You’ve been in the shower for 15 *beeep* minutes, get the *beep* out.”
Setting alarms mostly
Google assistant is the one that knows things, so I use it to answer curious questions. Seriously, Siri and Alexa are embarrassingly bad at this. I’ll ask them IMDB type questions, and they will just give up and say “I don’t know”.
Siri is pretty good at doing things on my phone and related Apple devices, though it is surprisingly limited sometimes. I use it to turn off the TV, call my family members, navigate, etc… Siri is surprisingly bad at answering questions ABOUT Apple devices, though. It often responds with “all your questions can be answered on Apple’s awesome website”, which is nonsense.
Alexa is the one that is most likely to respond to voice input, at least in my house. I use it to announce when dinner is ready, check if the garage door is open, check in on my dad if he let his mobile phone battery die, set a timer, and play music when cooking or putting the dishes away.
I literally don’t use an assistant on my phone anymore. I have an iPhone. I don’t use Siri, nor do I open Google assistant on my note 10+ before I upgraded to the iPhone 12 Pro Max. So, I mean back when they first came out they were useful and cool I guess….?! But, not really needed personally. I even have a bunch of nest minis round the house and the new chrome cast with android tv on it. I don’t use assistant on either. The nest minis are muted. I never use the microphones. They’re just good speakers for music especially when I’m streaming to the onkyo. Other then that I don’t use them.
Reminders, Timers, Alarms. For some reason asking for directions has been really unreliable lately I’ve noticed though
Where do I start? I use it for so much. Setting reminders/timers/alarms, play/pause Chromecast, turn lights on/off, set temp on Nest, check the weather, check traffic, sending texts, random questions and more I can’t even think of at the moment.
I use it for navigation, and making phone calls.
Nothing. Google app is uninstalled.
I use it constantly. Queries, music/Google Home, Nest Thermostat, searches, timers/alarms, locations, my daily briefing, and reminders mostly. There’s rarely a day that goes by that I don’t ask Assistant for something.
Setting Timers
Lately? Almost nothing because it’s so unreliable. It gets most of my commands wrong.
Being home for the pandemic with a toddler it’s become a nice interactive tool (Google Nest Hub). We ask it to play samples of pretty much every common musical instrument for the kid, bring up pictures and trivia for things he’s curious about (he likes the animal of the day), read stories out loud, play music, podcasts and videos, set timers, convert measurements for recipes and read out news and weather.
Also, random bonus – I get Google Rewards questions at least twice a week about our usage so it helps pay for any premium apps or media rentals I might use.
It feels like less and less everyday. I’m so tired of it telling me it doesn’t recognize my voice no matter how many times i retrain it. and apparently i can’t add all 4 members of my family so it learns their voice. just 2 voices. what am i doing wrong?
it wont play shows on netflix or hulu on my nvidia shield. it was supposed to. mine never did.
i live in Columbus GA and unless i specifically say GA, it tell me weather for Columbus OH. you’d think the “learning” AI would know i’m living in Columbus GA and I’ve never been to Columbus OH and I don’t have any plans to go there on my calendar or trip info in my email which is has access to all that. but no, it still gives me weather in Columbus OH.
Music. i use it to listening to music. and easy match problems.
I use it turn the lights on/off and to remind me of stuff (cancel subscriptions, pick up the laundry in 20 minutes, turn off the stove).
TBH i have never used it
Nothing. I always turn it off so it doesn’t bother me.
“Set a 15 min timer” “Navigate home” “How many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?” Thats about it
Turn on and off lights. Play Music. Weather. Latest News (political, tech, tv and movie news) while I’m in the shower. Random questions. White noise sounds (water) while sleeping. Timers. Alarms. I have many throughout my house. I do wish turning lights on and off was as responsive as the alexa though.
I set reminders, and add stuff to my grocery list. I also occasionally use it to give me search results for some question that I want a quick answer to.
i have mine linked to my smart home stuff, it shows cat photos in our kitchen, which is cool, and i use a few different speakers as chromecast audios, i only have the mic switched on on one. Maybe its because i’m in Canada, but the assistant doesn’t link to any service i use, other than spotify/netflix, which isn’t useful for anything. reminders, especially location-based ones, do not work, the grocery list is easy to add things to but burried, making it a pain to use at the store, you can add it to your homescreen but it isn’t even setup properly as a Progressive Web App, so i have it open in 8 tabs probably. they completely broke the ability to type questions to it. I just don’t get why its such a mess
Nothing. I find it rude to talk into a phone around other people. Besides, on the Pixel it is quicker and easier to just hold down the power button to access smart home features or if there is a question I need to ask, the Google Keyboard swipe and text prediction makes typing almost as fast as talking into the phone.
I use it just enough to get a Rewards survey every now and then. Alarms. Business phone numbers. The occasional reminder. It’s always asking to invade my privacy a bit more so it can unlock more features. This annoys me greatly.
1. Weather
2. Random questions
3. Timers (typically because I forget that I have laundry in the washer and/or dryer)
4. Android Auto-related functions (although I use the car’s touchscreen as much as possible)
5. Smart light control (both as a stand-alone function and as part of Google Assistant Routines)
6. Using it in conjunction with the Nest Hub Max’s WiFi calling capability for work-related conference calls
Smart light control, playing music on home speakers, turning TV off and on when remote isn’t near me. setting alarms, casting nest cam onto TV or smart display.
most recently “hey google, remind me to cancel my youtube premium trial on february 28th”
Play music
Whats the weather/temperature
Change the color of/Turn on+off my lights
Random questions (Can dogs eat XXXX/What order are you supposed to do this in?/etc)
I use Assistant for random information. Calling when I’m working out. Also to control my smart lights and I also use the broadcast feature to get my kids to come down and do their chores ????
Controlling smart lights, etc., and asking it questions or to play music while cooking. Also for setting appointments.
Nothing.
Me neither. It is off.
+1 to that for me as well.
Google gets far to much info/data on us all as it is I’m not adding fuel to the fire.
mostly home automation items and the android auto for navigation. typical search i do through chrome on my mobile device. it’s simple enough
Barely use it at all, just for things like turning lights on / off and starting music in the home, setting timers, things like that.
I only use it to ask for weather info and commands in Android Auto for calling people or navigate to a place, or during navigation to have it “avoid tolls/highways”
Navigation, questions about famous people, lights, garage door, thermostat control, weather questions, phone calls.
sounds about like my usage, navigation being the first by far
To turn lights on and off, and to ask for trivial info. It’s not good enough to get you answers to important things, so we don’t bother. It’s also the chime for our Nest doorbell.
I mainly use it on my Home speakers. Controling smart devices and listening to music. Sometime in Android Auto for finding directions and, again, music. I don’t really use it on my phone very often anymore.
I don’t
Only to broadcast messages to my kids while I’m at work when I pull up my nest cam and see them doing something they shouldn’t be LOL
yikes
I use assistant to text my wife ????. I need to utilize it more. As many packages as I send out for, it would be nice to have assistant keep me in the loop instead of logging in every 5 minutes to check on the status.