When using a voice assistant, you not only have to think about what you want to ask, but also how you are going to ask it. This may be seen as something normal, but it is what makes the difference between one option or another of the three main ones that exist. well now Google Assistant is updated and solves some of his "problems" that did not allow him to Be more natural when interacting with the user.
Google Assistant will understand better depending on the context
There are different reasons why you or any user decides to bet on one assistant or another. For example, there are those who choose one or the other based on the support of third-party gadgets or how it integrates into their devices regardless of the operating system they use. There are also those who decide to bet on one because its search capabilities or integration with certain services is superior. And there are also those who do it because when it comes to interacting the experience is more natural.
Well, for the latter, the new Google Assistant update will delight them because it allows just that: speak more naturally with the assistant. And this may seem like it was already resolved, but it is not. With Google's voice assistant, you still had to think on more than one occasion what you wanted to ask and how you were going to ask it. That changes now.
The latest update to Google Assistant will make talking to him much more natural. For example, now he will have the capacity to understand that if you are going to ask him for a timer with a certain time and in the middle of the order you rectify and change it because you think that 7 minutes is more appropriate instead of 5, he will know that he has to create only one timer of seven minutes and not two or even create it forcing you to repeat the order.
In addition to this, the context has always been key in the use of voice assistants and Google Assistant will know a little more how to interpret each order. So if you have two timers and tell it to cancel or stop the second one, it will know exactly which one you mean. The same if you assign a reference to it. Something that did not happen before as such, I either did not delete any or it asked if it was timer X that you wanted to stop, after confirming it and finally executing the action.
Hey Google, that's how it's pronounced
The other novelty that arrives is the possibility of being able to teach how to pronounce the name of a contact. This for those who use the assistant a lot to make calls or send messages can be extremely interesting. Because, especially with certain names in other languages, the way they are written is not the way they are pronounced.
So, thanks to the improvement and the ability to tell him how to pronounce a contact's name, the next time you want to ask Google Assistant to call X or send him a message, it will do it correctly and not by asking if you you refer to X or that it directly does not find anyone in the contact list.
Voice shortcuts, goodbye to "Ok Google"
Finally, along with these improvements in contextual use and the ability to teach how to pronounce a contact's name, soon the quick actions to Google Assistant or voice shortcuts.
These quick actions would be a way to also improve the user experience by avoiding having to say the assistant wake word in certain situations. Something that in the case of Google assistants or others like Apple's is interesting. Because it is not the same to have to use two words like "Ok Google" and "Hey Siri" to the single command of the Amazon assistant "Alexa".
Well, for now the quick actions will only affect certain actions such as stopping or postponing an alarm, answering or hanging up a call, stopping a timer, etc. When one of these things happens, you can directly say stop, postpone, answer, hang up or similar orders and the assistant Google will know what you are referring to and will act accordingly. So you can forget about having to give the activation order for him to listen to you.
However, since these are very specific moments, not having to say "Ok, Google" should not be a problem. privacy issue for users since only at those moments will it be when the speaker or devices with the Google assistant will be attentive for a possible response or interaction.
In summary, they are small but important changes that are added to others such as the programmable actions of Google Assistant or the integration of Google Assistant with Xbox, among other things, which will surely improve its use in all those devices that offer support, both speakers smart phones like Nest Audio, Sonos, etc., to smartphones where the vast majority of users have them and few use them.