Google assistant has come on every phone and people have become too used to it. From placing a call to writing a message to playing a song, not only this voice assistant but all the voice assistants, be it Apple’s Siri, or Amazon’s Alexa or Bixby, can do all of this. But when it comes to advancement, Google Assistant is considered the most advanced one. Since 2016, the voice assistant has been refurbished with every update, adding in more capabilities every time.
Google sent out this email to everyone and it specifies the expansion of its abilities. This article will make you acquainted with the new skills.
Adidas Running App Compatibility with the Google Assistant
“Adidas Running races into voice with App Actions powered by Google”, this was the line that Google started off with. The app has the ability to track workouts, join fitness challenges and share achievements with the fitness enthusiasts. The company joined hands with Google to give users a better experience.
The Innovation Manager at Adidas, Robert Hellwagner said,
“There was a clear benefit to voice, and it was something that naturally made sense to us. As runners, we saw the value in being able to start or stop a running session without the need to pull out our phones. If we can be there for our users at all possible touchpoints, they’ll have a better running experience and a better perception of our product and brand.”
Robert Hellwagner, Innovation Manager, Adidas
If we were to squeeze it into one sentence, he meant that having a voice assistant working with this app, the users (mainly runners) wouldn’t have to put in as much effort. The Voice Assistant would run as some sort of shortcut for the runners. Currently, it takes numerous steps to run the application. For example, to start or stop an activity, the users would first have to pull out the phone, search for the app, then open it and then start or finish the activity.
Google Assistant would now reduce these number of steps and just by saying “Hey Google, track my run with Adidas Running”, you can initiate the Adidas Running app. With the voice assistant support, the unnecessary friction between the user’s query and the desired outcome will now come to zero.
User Engagement
The google assistant users will now be able to create their own actions. This can be done by creating a URL that links to their action they want the assistant to do. Users who click on this URL would directly be able to interact with their action through the assistant.
Some actions that you can create are:
- Linking users to voice-guided instructions from a how-to website.
- Linking users to a customer support experience from a help page.
Those who wish to create these actions can do so with the Actions Console. These actions can either be used for your own use or for production. This new ability that the Google Assistant has now got is really useful for the users who wish to experiment with the Assistant.
Google Smart Home Update
Google has introduced better Smart Home capabilities and expanded its functionality. As most of you might know, with the Smart Home, you can control everything in your house with the Google Assistant.
Smart Home for Entertainment Device support
Starting with the entertainment device support, Google has now included the API to control your entertainment devices. This includes, game consoles, to speakers, to TV, to all the entertainment devices.
Smart Home controls in Android 11
Google’s Android 11 will launch soon and in this update, the company has now introduced a dedicated space for smart home controls. This space is obviously customizable where you can add all the things you would want to control with just a single tap. This would bring an ease to the users.
Improved state reporting and reliability
At last, in case these new features bring some bugs along with them, Google has improved their state reporting and reliability. This will mean that the users can easily report bugs. The process and the records have become easier than ever.
Conclusion
Google Assistant is obviously improving every time. As mentioned before, this voice assistant by Google is considered the most advanced one. With these improvements it has just reached a new level and given competition to Alexa and Siri.
