CES 2020 was full of announcements of innovative products and smartphone and laptop launches. And as with every major tech gathering it attends, Google came loaded with a bunch of interesting announcements at CES 2020, the biggest consumer electronics show of the year. With no new hardware or products to launch or show off, Google used CES as a platform to announce new Google Assistant features. Google has already been very busy turning Google Assistant into a fully functional productive suite for enterprise as well as general users. Accordingly, the tech giant is focused on its AI-powered voice-based product. Here are all the big announcements Google made at CES 2020.
Sticky notes
Ever written a short note on a sticky note and posted it somewhere for your friends, coworkers, or family to see? Well, with this new feature, Google Assistant is all geared up to replace these traditional Post-it sticky notes with a digital platform. The notes given to Google Assistant will be displayed on the available smart devices in the house, making it easy for others to read.
All you need to do is to leave a note using something like “Hey Google, leave a note saying ‘lock the doors’ ” to create and pin a note on the devices you’ve connected and configured.
Web page reading
Google announced that Google Assistant will soon be able to read a web page in a lifelike manner. According to the company, Google Assistant will use neural networks to generate an accurate articulation of the content of the web page. Moreover, it will ignore unnecessary additions on a web page such as social media icons or navigation options.
Users can trigger this by just saying “Hey Google, read this page” or “Hey Google, read it” when on a web page. The company also said it is working on implementing auto-scroll and text highlight as the page is read. However, this might be rolling out a bit later.
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Scheduled actions
Ever wondered or felt annoyed by the fact that Google Assistant cannot perform scheduled actions? Well, thanks to the upcoming update from Google, you can now schedule and control the actions of smart devices. With this upcoming feature, users will be able to give scheduled commands to devices to turn off or on at a certain date and time. For instance, “Hey Google, turn on the air conditioner at 1 p.m.” will do exactly that.
Speed dial
Along with all these features meant to ease regular activities in everyday lives, Google announced that later this year Google Assistant will be geared up with a speed dial feature. This will allow users to display and store a few essential contacts in connected devices. Users can then use a voice command or a simple tap to call those saved speed dials.
Deleting Google Assistant history
Security and privacy are the two most controversial aspects when it comes to voice-based AI assistants. Therefore, all the major companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple are trying to overcome this barrier. Accordingly, at CES 2020, Google said the upcoming update for Google Assistant is going to allow its users to delete all speech history with a simple voice command. “Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week” or “Hey Google, forget what I said” is going to clear the conversations.
Android TV support
Starting this year, television makers such as Hisense and TCL are going to be equipped with far-field mic support making the smart TVs work similarly to that of smart speakers or displays. Moreover, Google has also confirmed that starting this year, users can buy Samsung Smart TVs with built-in Google Assistant in them.
Smart devices: Getting smarter
Buying smart devices is fun, using them is even nicer. However, setting them up might not always be as simple as it should be. We all have gone through the hassle of setting up a smart device using the associated mobile or web application. One essential step in the process is logging in and connecting your Google account. However, with the upcoming update, users can easily complete the setup using a “suggestion button” that will bypass the need to enter credentials.
Finally, Google is also making sure to grow in the smart home device segment. The company announced that it is working in collaboration with various smart device makers such as Philips, GE, August Smart Locks, and many more to build more Google Assistant-enabled smart devices. All the updates are scheduled to roll out to users later this year. However, Google is yet to disclose the exact dates.
