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Google Assistant To Be Available On Older Versions of Android Soon (zdnet.com)

Posted by msmash on from the mass-attack dept.

Matthew Miller, writing for ZDNet: Google has announced that Google Assistant is coming to smartphones running Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 6.0 Marshmallow, starting this week. The Google Assistant will begin rolling out this week to English users in the US, followed by English in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as German speakers in Germany. Google continue to add more languages in the future.

29 comments

  1. Need to bring it back to Froyo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    My phone still hasn't been updated after all these years.

    1. Re:Need to bring it back to Froyo by interkin3tic · · Score: 1

      IIRC the assistant features on allo were all done online, not the phone itself. The strategy behind allo seems to have been expanding into places where bleeding edge phones weren't the norm, like India, or, you know, normal people whose lives don't revolve around awaiting the latest mobile processor from quallcom or whoever.

      So yeah, it seems weird to say "ooh, it's coming to OLDER phone systems" when talking about 16 month old versions of android. That's not "old" that's "I just bought it not too long ago" to most people.

      If it's not a hardware issue, why not be really daring and offer it to people who haven't been able to update their phones in... (gasp) TWO YEARS?!? Seems like the people who are going to get the most use out of a virtual assistant are people who are more likely to not have the latest phones.

    2. Re:Need to bring it back to Froyo by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      Nonononono, don't bring it back to Froyo or anything else. The one nice thing about having a phone that was abandonware the minute I paid for it is that you can't have more Google crap than it already has shovelled onto it any more.

  2. Why no in Canada right now? by courteaudotbiz · · Score: 1

    Can't they just discard the "Eh?" at the end of each question?

    1. Re: Why no in Canada right now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorey!

    2. Re:Why no in Canada right now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because we spell it "behaviour", "colour" and "neighbour", not "behavior", "color" and "neighbor". We follow English (UK).

  3. Assistant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google Assistant is just a re-skinned Google now, a half-assed Siri wannabe.

    They wanted to make it a Pixel exclusive to gain an upper hand on the whole "home assistant" market, while at the same time taking a jab at Android OEMs, but that didn’t work out too well. While they were busy shafting their partners, Alexa came along and has resoundingly trounced both Siri and Google.

    Since THAT didn't work out, they figured they might as well give it away for free and see if anyone can figure out how to make money out of it (so that they can pounce in 5 or so years and eat their lunch... like they tried to do with the Pixel).

    1. Re:Assistant by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      B... B... But! I was told that Android phones didn't get updates, now someone tells me they are getting updates but they suck?!?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Assistant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless you buy a Google phone -
      If you don't have an explicit contract that specifies updates - you won't get any.
      If you are very lucky, you may get an update or two after the phone is newly released.
      After that, you are out of luck.
      This is why most Android phones are totally insecure. .Google phones will get updated.

  4. Then Scotty won't need to talk to the mouse by jfdavis668 · · Score: 0

    That's going to ruin Star Trek IV! George Lucas will have to go back and add computer graphics and make Han shoot first!

    1. Re: Then Scotty won't need to talk to the mouse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Add graphics? I thought it was already shot. Just use that.

  5. Older versions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm running 2.3.6 Gingerbread.
    I'd be glad to get a newer version, but this phone has a hardware keyboard.

    1. Re:Older versions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://us.blackberry.com/smartphones/priv-by-blackberry/overview

    2. Re:Older versions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      $350 from Walmart?! The phone I have cost $30 in 2013. Is there at least a carrier that will sell me service for the Priv for $10/mo, which is what I'm paying now?

  6. Gross... by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    Google Now is far better in almost every way.

    1. Re:Gross... by wbr1 · · Score: 1
      Care to elaborate with specific complaints?

      I have a Nexus 6 (moto, not Huwai 6P). I used google now for a long time but only for a few use cases. I now have the assistant (I spoofed a pixel XL in my build.prop file). I have seen little difference. She is a bit more chattey, but I say play muci, she plays music, I say navigate, she does, I say search for something, it happens.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    2. Re:Gross... by mdm-adph · · Score: 1

      You know, I'm sure there's a difference between Google Now and Google Assistant, but I can't even muster up enough enthusiasm to look it up. These things never work very well.

      Let us know when they're at Jarvis-level, and we'll bother with installing one again.

      --
      It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
    3. Re:Gross... by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      Assistant is all voice-controlled as far as I know. No more tap-on-the-words to translate/search for them.

    4. Re:Gross... by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      As I understand, Assistant strips away Google Now. I also understand that Assistant is all voice-driven. Hopefully I'm wrong, but if not my two biggest concerns are:

      - No more tapping on words to get translations/quick google searches
      - Now I have to look like an idiot talking to myself/my phone to do things I could have done silently in the past

    5. Re:Gross... by wbr1 · · Score: 1

      Soup pannedit without even using it? Of course you can still tell and tap. You look more like an idiot for speaking without knowing than you would speaking into your phone.

      --
      Silence is a state of mime.
    6. Re:Gross... by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      "soup pannedit"? Wha?

      And like I said, I was going on what I was told. If you can still use "on-tap" to grab a screenshot of text on your screen, and tap on words to get context related searches, then that's a-ok by my books.

  7. What happened to Speaktoit Assistant ??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Speaktoit released a great smartphone app called "Assistant" in 2011.

    It was very highly rated and even ran without problems on my old Kitkat phone.

    In many ways, it was far superior to Siri.

    Assistant had over 13 million users in 11 different languages as of October 2014.

    It was the No. 6 top grossing app in the Lifestyle category on Google Play in the US.

    Speaktoit suddenly discontinued Assistant on December 15, 2016, just as Google was preparing to put "Google Assistant" on Nougat & Marshmallow. ( Lesson learned: Never trust a cloud service! )

    There is NO WAY that Speaktoit would just roll over on this product.

    Sounds like Google exerted their power and screwed Android users once again.

    Does anyone know what really happened ??

    1. Re:What happened to Speaktoit Assistant ??? by JDHannan · · Score: 1

      API.ai, originally known as Speaktoit, had some success with Assistant, which was downloaded more than 10 million times from the Google Play store
      On September 19 2016, Google announced it had acquired API.ai, a startup that launched Assistant in 2011, one of the earliest independent virtual digital assistants (VDAs).
      this from here

    2. Re: What happened to Speaktoit Assistant ??? by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 0

      "Does anyone know what really happened ??"

      Why yes ... I DO know what really happened. What happened was that you spewed a bunch of pure conjecture that you apparently pulled out of your ass. Then you came right out and admitted that your wild claims were baseless at best and and asked if anyone noticed. Many of us did in fact notice.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  8. Maybe Google Home - Home Automation will work now! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here's hoping ...

  9. Re:The Only Good Moslim by davester666 · · Score: 1

    Never happen, because Trump is a closet Moslim.

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  10. Your Gin Dick by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When, after drinking lots of gin, a man gets a rock-hard erection that won't go down no matter how much stimulation he gets; he can't finish the job.

    "After drinking that fifth of Seagram's, I had gin dick all night. Even Taniquwa couldn't work that thing off!"

    [urban dictionary]