Steerpike

First a note about terminology; I find Google's service/feature names to be very confusing, plus they seem to change names quite often ... so I'm not 100% sure whether the correct name here is 'Google Assistant', 'Google Now', or just plain 'OK Google'. To be specific, I'm talking about using the feature invoked by saying 'OK Google' on my Android (Samsung) smartphone.

I've been playing with 'OK, Google' on my phone for some time, trying it out to see if it is a viable solution for handsfree driving. I know the basic concept of voice interaction has been around for years now, but it does finally seem to be getting to a point where it's useful in daily life. This weekend I drove alone from SF to PHX, so had a lot of time to play while driving. My hope with this thread is to share practical, useful results ... and not get into a debate on siri vs google assistant

What I've found useful so far:
1) "Navigate to nearest Safeway" - will locate the nearest store, and then seamlessly launch navigation with Google Maps without any user interaction (great while driving). Variation: "Navigate to <anywhere>" - will launch Navigation for the chosen destination, which can be a place, a business, etc.

Compare to:
2a) "Find nearest Safeway" - will display info about the nearest store, and speak the main details to you.
2b) "navigate to it" - note this is a context-sensitive command, following on from previous command - it will launch navigation with Google Maps. This 'follow on' feature is very powerful / useful.

Compare to:
3a) "Find nearby Safeways" - will display info and map with several nearby stores. (Variation: "Find nearby grocery stores")
3b) "Navigate to the closest one" - another context-sensitive command, following on from previous command - launches navigation with Google Maps. (Variations - "Navigate to the third one").

4) "Find a Starbucks" - if you are already in the process of navigating to (eg) Safeway, this will intelligently find a Starbucks along the chosen route, as opposed to anywhere in the vicinity. It will display the number of minutes 'off route' to get to them.

5) "Open Waze" - Opens (or brings to foreground) the application 'Waze'. "Open Google Maps" - Opens Google Maps. "Open Altitude" - opens the application 'Altitude'. Basically, these commands allow you to change what app is currently displayed on the screen. I like to have both Google Maps and Waze active at the same time while driving, and switch between them to see how they route differently. (Variation - can say "Launch" in place of "Open", it appears).

6) "Read last text message" - displays last SMS message, speaks the name of the sender, and offers to read it to you.

7) "Read messages" - displays last several SMS messages on screen, and speaks name of the sender of the last one, and offers to read it to you or skip.

8) "Call <name> mobile" - locates 'name' in your contacts and calls the mobile phone listed for that contact. If you omit 'mobile', and there are choices for the contact, it will ask you to choose.

9) "Send text message to <name> mobile" - Prompts you to dictate a message, then asks if you want to send or change. Variation: "Text <name> mobile I'm running late" - parses out the name, mobile, and message and offers to send for you.

10) "What time does the sunset?" This will speak to you the sunset time at your current location.

11) "set a timer for 20 minutes" This will launch the 'clock' app and create a 20 minute countdown timer, and start it. This is a good example of a command that is easier to say than to follow using the screen UI.

12) "Etymology of <word>" - speaks to you info about the word.

13) "what is the distance around the equator" - speaks to you the immediate answer, and then more details.

There are many more commands, but several of them are implicitly tied to google apps, such as "show me emails from <sender> " - this seems to work only with the gmail account, not other accounts setup using the more general mail app (so I can't search my exchange emails, for example). "show my calendar" also does not open the native calendar app (native meaning, perhaps, the one provided by samsung?). I'm sure the 'ok google' experience would be 'richer' if I were on a google Pixel and stuck to all google/android apps ...

This is a somewhat comprehensive list of 'OK Google' commands: https://www.cnet.com/how-to/complete...ogle-commands/ (here they refer to the feature as 'Google Now').

I've observed different results at different times for the (seemingly) same commands; sometimes an answer is read to me, other times information is only displayed on the screen. I am wondering if the quality of connection is a factor. That is, if you have a poor connection, it will be less 'verbose' .

Again, the purpose of this thread is to share practical 'working' commands.

Jack8602

I love google assistant.

I bought the google pixel last year, and it's built in to that - blows siri out of the ground with what it can do.

My car supports Android Auto, and I'm in the waze beta program which allows me to have Waze as my primary GPS on my car screen. I can also use OK Google whilst connected to the car, and use commands as you've listed. It's particularly useful to reply to texts whilst driving, for the most part it recognizes my speech.

Do you find Waze differs much to Google Maps in terms of traffic info? i know Google bought Waze a few years ago, but not sure if they're integrating data that provides traffic updates etc between the two platforms

Leslie

My android crashed a couple of weeks ago and I bought the S8+ which I feel is way more phone than I actually need but I liked the screen better than any of the others ... which is a big deal to me for reasons that I won't bore you with.

Anyway, I just did a bunch of the stuff on your list ...

We really are through the looking glass here.

Steerpike

Don't want this to become another Waze vs Google Maps discussion, but one reason I'm happy with the 'Open Waze' and 'Open Google Maps' commands is that I can toggle back and forth between them constantly to see what each offers. They do currently route differently and offer different 'arrival times' for the same route. I'm also not clear on what triggers a re-route in both apps; sometimes I will choose to go 'off route' and the app will confirm a shorter time on the new route - but it didn't suggest that change automatically. Sometimes I will force a re-evaluation in waze by going back to the destination selection and having it re-present to me the various route options. Basically, I don't know how to use voice commands in Waze at all, once 'in navigation' mode. I'd love to be able to interact with it and have it reroute by voice command.

I've tried:
1) "Launch Waze" - works
2) "Launch Waze and navigate to ..." - does not work.

Reading about voice commands and waze, I'm told to first 'tap on the microphone, then ...' . My goal is for completely hands-free interaction, which works with Google Maps. and all the stuff I listed above (all initiated by saying 'OK Google'). And if I tap the microphone icon in waze, all it seems to be able to do is accept a destination request; once you've started navigation, I can't see any way to interact with waze by voice. Interestingly, I read this: "If you're using an iPhone in one of the countries below, you can also tap on the map with three fingers to activate voice commands" (US is listed); this suggests you can interact more with Waze on an iPhone than on an Android device!

ETA - found this for WAZE: http://www.wikihow.com/Enable-Voice-Commands-in-Waze . But - seems to only support things like, "navigate to home" (and requires you to have pre-stored 'home'). It does, however, let you report incidents by voice which is a big thing in the Waze community. I'll play with it now

tom169

My most used is "ok Google take me home" when I cross over the bridge to the on ramp of the interstate and notice a lot of traffic.

Sometimes it will suggest a quicker route, but often I have to take care.

It can suggest routes with left turns onto major roads with no lights that are impossible in rush hour.

Jack8602

Interesting.

Google tells me in car 'Handing over to Waze' every time i use a navigation command - will play on way home now and see what it responds to

Bob

There is a gesture option, so shake your hand over your phone sets the microphone on.

I find Waze, to lose the GPS signal quite a lot, down my way at least, compared to Google Maps. I have no idea why.

Steerpike

Today, asked: "Are the Warriors playing today?" To my surprise, got a direct spoken answer: "the warriors play the wizards at 7:30pm".

I assumed this was perhaps a 'localized' thing - they knew I was in the US, and thus interpreted correctly that by 'Warriors' I meant, golden state warriors, the basketball team. So then I asked (expecting a bad result): "Are the Rovers playing today?" and got the answer "Blackburn Rovers face off against Wigan Athletic at 7am" - which is pretty darned impressive!

I also asked 'How far is Austin from Scottsdale?' and got the spoken answer 'Austin is 1,010 miles by road from Scottsdale' (I'm contemplating a road trip there ).

Anian

It gets a little scary when Google automatically sends you alerts of travel times when you never asked - and it has learned your usual pattern when and where you will travel purely based on GPS data.

scrubbedexpat099

I am an Alexa person, wonder if I can get the one with the non American accent?

mrken30

What sort of parent am I when my kid yells "Alexa, stop" at the car radio?

Steerpike

On yesterday's long, boring drive up I-5, after passing the Harris Ranch cattle ranch (the biggest on the west coast, with over 100,000 cattle on 800 acres), I asked google "what is the wholesale value of a cow?"; response was 'these came back from a search', and I got a list of sites (useless since I was driving).

I then asked "what is the retail value of a cow?" - same response. Then tried "what is the retail value of a head of cattle?" - same response.

Finally, I decided to simplify, and asked "how much is a cow worth?" and I was read (out loud) a lengthy extract from a website.

Not sure yet how it makes the distinction between when to reply verbally vs. when to reply with lists of results. But clearly, re-phrasing a question is a key factor in getting verbal results.