As you’ve probably seen, a lot of big announcements have come from this year’s Google I/O, another of one of them being the Google Home – a smart speaker that has incorporated Google’s rather incredible voice recognition software with a system to help you with virtually everything.
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Google Home lets you enjoy entertainment, manage everyday tasks and get answers from Google – all using conversational speech.
The device has been described by Google’s Mario Quieroz as “a voice activated remote for the home”.
Google Home – previously developed under the codename Chirp – is a direct competitor to Amazon’s Echo and will be available to consumers later this year, according to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. So they announced The Google Assistant.
Meanwhile, Google will also delve deeper into the still-nascent realm of virtual reality with a system called Daydream that’s meant to challenge Facebook-owned Oculus’s early lead in fabricating artificial worlds.
Google Home: Google now has an answer to the Amazon Echo. The keynote was later posted on Google’s official blog.
Set for launch in Autumn 2016, Google Home doesn’t have a price attached to it yet. It is going to be tethered to the “N” version of Android that Google plans to release later this year and requires more processing power and sensors unavailable in any phone already out.
Google also announced two new apps that will use Google Assistant – a messaging app called Allo that learns about a user over time and aids his or her communication.
Google Assistant is its new personal assistant software, that responds to voice commands and questions. The product will be able to stream audio and video like Google’s Chromecast devices, as well as control smart appliances. “And with deeply integrated machine learning, Allo has smart features to keep your conversations flowing and help you get things done”, said a Google spokesperson.
Google Assistant is built into Allo, so users can perform searches without leaving the app. Users will also be able to find and make restaurant reservations inside the app, and chat directly with Google Assistant instead of opening a window to perform searches.
Powered by Google’s new voice assistant technology, the device runs on Google “Assistant” which is yet unnamed. It’s time for Amazon to up its game with Echo or shut the shop.
Users can chat directly with virtual assistants by typing messages to @google. This is more or less similar to what Google has built inside Gboard, the keyboard app for the iPhone that the company launched a few days ago.
The product is basically an extension and integration of Google’s search search tools, including the upcoming ones such as Allo and Google Home.
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In some ways, Google Assistant is the company playing catch-up. It’s one of those things that you can’t help but ask, “Why didn’t this come out sooner?”
