One of the most requested features for Assistant-powered Smart Speakers has been the ability to make a Duo Voice call (well any voice call), and of course, receive a Duo call. Earlier this month Australians got their first taste of voice calling on Assistant Speakers for Telstra customers.
Now Google is rolling out support for Duo voice calls on Assistant Speakers, at least in the USA. We’re not sure if this will remain a US-only feature like so many other inexplicable Google services, or if this will be a typical Google long and slow roll out.
The new feature will allow you to ask an Assistant speaker to “call xyz on Duo”. This will initiate a Duo call to the recipient, or to another Google Home devices, eg Call Kitchen Home. With the broadcast feature not being able to be directed to a single speaker, being able to us Duo as a home intercom system could be the next best thing.
If you ask an Assistant Speaker to make a duo call it will reply that it needs to be set up and send a link to your connected devices. Unfortunately that link still doesn’t activate the feature, but it does speak to how Google is trying to take the guess work out of setting up and using the Assistant/ Nest/ Home ecosystem.
