During its I/O Developers Conference on Tuesday, Google did a live demo of the next-generation of Google Assistant running on a Pixel phone. It’s a dramatic rethinking of how the Assistant interacts with you and your phone, down to its interface, which barely takes up any space on the screen. With a single “Hey Google” command, the presenter was able to execute 12 actions in 40 seconds, including launching and searching within third-party apps:
- Open Calendar
- Open Calculator
- Open Photos
- Set a timer for 10 minutes
- What’s the weather today?
- What about tomorrow?
- Show me John Legend on Twitter
- Get a Lyft ride to my hotel
- Turn the flashlight on
- Turn it off
- Take a selfie
All that took just 40 seconds, but it’s not just the speed that’s impressive. Google Assistant only had to be summoned once, and it continued listening, understood the context of what was being asked, and didn’t require any, um, assistance. When asked to get a Lyft ride to “my hotel,” it knew where she was staying. It launched John Legend’s profile in the Twitter app. It even started a countdown after opening the front camera.
