With announcements flying thick and fast at the Google IO 2015 keynote, it was not surprising to see Google Now front and centre. Google has made Google Now their central hub for your information (and theirs) in the last couple of years. With Android M, Google Now will be getting an update that will improve a lot of features and bring many more new enhancements to the functionality.
Googler Aparna Chennapragada took to the stage to update everyone on Google Now as it will be seen in Android M. She recapped what Google now can do but then stated what it needs to do:
- Understand your context
- Bring answers proactively
- Help you take action
It will use where you are, what you are doing and what you care about to form a context of your Google Now interaction. This relevance will finally bring more useful information to Google Now. It uses the Google Knowledge Graph to gain the answers you need to your questions of Google Now. It accesses over one billion entities from Google’s understanding of the world and all things in it.
A bit scary but if you use Google Now in its pure functionality, you have already given your world over to Google most likely.
From the answers, Google Now proactively gives you actions in the right place, for example re-ordering groceries, calling Uber to take you to the airport etc. It is all based around quick answers to quick questions in context to help assist you “in the moment, when you need it, wherever you are on the phone”.
Hopefully all of these functionalities will work fully in Australia, but we note that they don’t now – for example, Uber interaction with Google Now in Australia is rather limited (as it is with Android Wear..). We will keep you posted when this is released to the wild and its relevance to Australians.
“OK JARVIS”