The Google Search app got an update this morning which people running Jelly Bean may find interesting in that Google has added some additional functionality to the Google Now cards. They’ve added some new cards and also added some new voice commands. The new functions included in the update are :

  • New cards
    • Events nearby
    • Suggestions to help with your research
    • Boarding passes from Gmail (United only, more to come)
    • Search by camera when at museums or shops
    • Weather at upcoming travel destinations
    • Approximate monthly summary of walking and biking activity
    • Birthdays
  • New voice actions
    • Post to Google+
    • Say “What’s this song?” to find the song you hear
    • Say “Scan a barcode” to find product info

From testing the Voice Actions I found that the “What’s This Song” feature just does not seem to work for me at all, although people in the US report that it works just fine, this is possibly a function that requires access to Google Music to work correctly. The “Post to Google+” voice action works just fine as does the “Scan a Barcode” it worked on both UK and Australian DVDs giving me a list of retailers in a search results pane.

I have been unable to do much with the new Google Now cards which is a sad reminder that most of the Google Now cards are purely based in larger markets such as the US and Europe. I’m sure as the functionality improves Google will roll out the features to more regions such as Australia but at this stage Google Now remains largely a novelty to me. For people on Jelly Bean you can download or update the Google Search app from the Google Play Store

Have you found success with any of the new Google Now Cards or the “What’s This Song” Voice Action? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Google Play.

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    Reg

    Voice reply only works with US English now.
    If your language is Australian English, you’ll get no sound

    Boultono

    What’s this song not working on my Transformer either.

    Greg

    Yep the song ID feature slipped out on my Nexus S update with 4.1.1, but was re-restricted to US with 4.1.2. Looks like they’ve got their country story straightened out.

    Google Now really came into its own for me when I went to UK – the flight, travel, public-transport info, local-highlights, exchange-rates and time at home were awesome. Hang in there as it is getting better and better,…

    vijay alapati

    waiting for updated package was available in XDA for ICS 🙂

    Zac Butler

    yea update was good but not much here for us aussies

    David Watt

    Google Now – one of the best ways to drain your battery.

    James Sagi

    it’s funny. unless i turn ALL of the google now location settings on, I can’t get a GPS lock in google Maps. But when I do, it works… odd (and it’s not just about enabling the GPS setting :P)