Despite the introduction of the Google Assistant, Google Now is still a widely used and very useful assistant today. It will not have artificial intelligence, but it is true that it helps us to be more connected with the world around us in a very simple way.
For those of you who still do not know it or have not used it much, we have prepared this guide for you. We are going to show you what are the main features of this virtual assistant and how you can take advantage of it.
Download
Google Now can be downloaded as an application on both iOS and Android. On iOS you can download the app called simply Google, while on Android you can also access the Google Now Launcher. Google's own app appears pre-installed on most Android devices , but not the Launcher. By downloading it, you will have more integrated the Google Now experience.
Google Now works as a complete assistant, encompassing our entire computer. We can perform actions through voice commands such as making calls, sending messages, playing music or asking for directions . With a card system, Google Now also keeps us abreast of the news that happens around us.
To access these cards we must drag our finger to the left from the start menu if we have the Google Now Launcher. If not, we access by entering the Google app itself. In these cards we can see topics that we find interesting, related to searches of our history.
Personalize cards
If we want, we can customize these cards so that they offer us the exact content that we want to know. For this we have to mark the start button (in the upper left corner). A side tab will not appear in which we have to select Customize .
In doing so, Google Now will ask us to give it details about multiple aspects of our day. For example, the most common means of transportation we use or our home and work address . What's it for? So that the app has information related to traffic or weather and can inform us if the roads are blocked or if there are delays in the metro. We will see everything in the form of cards and notifications.
Then we are given the option to write what our main hobbies are. sports, TV, movies, etc. With that series of aspects that we select, G oogle Now will always choose cards that have to do with what we have marked for it . For example, soccer, Game of Thrones and running.
My board
The My board section within Settings will allow us to adjust, once our interests are marked, what type of cards we want to be shown. We can clarify if we want to receive weather or traffic information, or if we prefer not to .
We can also check if we want to be sent notifications flights booked or product price decreases searched in Google . Another option available is to select if we want to be sent cards relative to places near our location, such as recommendations for shops or restaurants.
This is the automatic option, which is very complete and allows us to sharpen our tastes and needs a lot. But in addition, we can also customize our board manually . And it is that, every time we receive a card that we do not consider interesting, we can mark it like this.
In the upper right corner of each card we have a settings button. By marking it, we can decide if we are not interested in the topic of the news, or if we are not interested in the source . In this example that we show you, we have marked a news from the SonarFM portal about the singer Liam Gallagher. In the options we can specify that "I'm not interested in Liam Gallagher" or "I'm not interested in the news of SonarFM".
Google Now itself will tell you from time to time if "this card is useful for you now." This information is useful so that the app always offers content of your interest .
Reminders
Reminders are found in the start menu. They serve so that Google Now also informs us of our own plans, apart from the news outside. We can mark events that we have pending, from meetings to go to the movies to dental appointments. Google Now will remind us of those commitments with enough time to react. They can be created in written or spoken form.
Voice settings
Google Now allows us to navigate within our phone with voice commands. We can dictate messages to you or ask you to search for contacts, but we can also ask you to Google us for information on all kinds of things.
In Settings
We also have the option for Google Now to recognize the command "Ok Google" even when outside the application . In this way, it would work like Siri: whenever we want, we say "Ok Google" and we are redirected directly to Google Now, where we can ask for the action we want to be carried out. Finally, we also have the option of using the "Ok Google" command to unlock the terminal. The effectiveness of this method will depend on the quality of the microphone of each phone.
Applications included
We have seen that Google Now is a global virtual assistant, which allows us to access all kinds of information inside and outside the terminal. This also applies to the programs and apps that we have installed on our hard drive. For example, we can ask Google Now to send a WhatsApp or Telegram message, dictating the message. Google Now will ask us for confirmation, but it will write it in full (if you have understood it correctly).
In Settings
Gmail, Google Play or Google Maps can stay in or out of Google Now. The rest of the apps, however, can only enter or exit all in bulk . We have the option to select that the assistant can act in all our downloaded apps, or none at all.
Disable Google Now
If we want to stop using Google Now through voice commands, we have to go back to the start menu, and there click Settings
On the other hand, we can also disable the Google Now Launcher, and recover our original start menu. To do this, we must go to the start menu of your phone and select Settings
With this guide, you already know all the main features of Google Now. You can be aware of everything that happens around you, use your voice to quickly navigate your phone and receive reminders of your commitments. A full-fledged assistant.
