At I/O, Google is really investigating what the Assistant can do to be more useful to users on an every day level. With Smart Displays Google is updating the Assistant to be more visual, and they’re bringing those improvements to your phone as well.
When you go into the Assistant, you’ll be able to swipe up to view a visual snapshot of your day. You’ll see helpful suggestions based on the time of day, the location you’re in and even recent interactions with the Google Assistant. The information includes things like a visual look at your commute, as well as reminders to say record a TV show, delivery information for packages in transit and lots more. Google will also be integrating to-do lists from Keep, Todoist and more in as well.
Google is also bringing more visual improvements for smart home devices including adding in a control for things like your smart thermostat when you ask the Assistant to turn up/down the heat/cooling.
Also coming is the option to place orders for food. This appears, at least from the initial partner list, to be a US-only feature. Orders from Assistant can be placed directly from Assistant to the likes of Dunkin’ Donuts, Dominos, Panera Bread and more.
While the Visual UI update for the Assistant will be arriving everywhere later this year, the delivery and ordering appears very much limited to the US – at least for now. We’ll be checking in with Google as it goes live in the US for information on a launch in Australia.
