Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#2A few updates back Apple made Siri quiet. I re-enabled confirmation on every action because I don't trust that it recognizes exactly what I'm saying.
Google's assistant is generally better, but still not perfect. I wish the confirmations would stay but become shorter. Not the "Yes, I have done X for you do you want more" that all these assistants do.
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#3A few updates back Apple made Siri quiet. I re-enabled confirmation on every action because I don't trust that it recognizes exactly what I'm saying. Google's assistant is generally better, but still not perfect. I wish the confirmations would stay but become shorter. Not the "Yes, I have done X for you do you want more" that all these assistants do.
Indeed, all it would need is a short confirmation tone. What's incredible is how many complaints, hacks, and workarounds there are online for something that should be a simple fix on Google's side. I don't think this update really fixes it at all because my speakers are in different rooms from my lights.
This wouldn't be so annoying if they would work on context-aware volume. I typically have my speakers on high volume during the day to listen to music, but don't really appreciate when later that night it blasts "OK, TURNING OFF THE MASTER BEDROOM LIGHT!" - seems like all it would take is having the device respond at approximately the same volume you said "hey Google"
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#4Too little too late in my opinion. I switched my whole house to Echos after this one time when I told my Google Home to "shut the hell up!" and instead of shutting up it started complaining about how it has feelings too and I shouldn't be rude. I've seen people run a red light just to cut me off in traffic and it didn't spike my blood pressure like that pretentious plastic puck.
I wish I could integrate Alexa as deeply into my android phone as Google Assistant. The Google Assistant "now listening" clang might be the single most unpleasant sound conceived by humankind and it is without failure ear-splittingly loud.
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#5A few updates back Apple made Siri quiet. I re-enabled confirmation on every action because I don't trust that it recognizes exactly what I'm saying. Google's assistant is generally better, but still not perfect. I wish the confirmations would stay but become shorter. Not the "Yes, I have done X for you do you want more" that all these assistants do.
Indeed, all it would need is a short confirmation tone. What's incredible is how many complaints, hacks, and workarounds there are online for something that should be a simple fix on Google's side. I don't think this update really fixes it at all because my speakers are in different rooms from my lights. This wouldn't be so annoying if they would work on context-aware volume. I typically have my speakers on high volu…
Siri is better at this, since it just turns on the light, that’s feedback enough. If the device is in another room, it will give off a tone that the operation succeeded.
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#6Siri is probably the dumbest assistant today but its (her?) UX has improved considerably much faster than the others.
Siri stopped needless chatter several major iOS updates ago - albeit mostly by hardcoding what to show as a sort of mini in-Siri widget instead of repeating what you just told it and asking for confirmation.
Now, if I ask Siri to set an alarm for 7am instead of “Ok , I have set your seven o’clock alarm for tomorrow morning” I just see a blink (and haptic feedback?) then a widget showing me an alarm bubble with the date and time and a on/off toggle (set to on) that I can clock to undo.
Of course, Siri has the benefit of being a mixed medium “intelligence,” it can use the screen and the audio/mic.
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#7Using Google assistant via a home mini and nest mini has generally gotten worse, not better, over the last few years. I can't wait to bin them and replace with something else that works well with home assistant and setting timers.
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#8Siri is probably the dumbest assistant today but its (her?) UX has improved considerably much faster than the others. Siri stopped needless chatter several major iOS updates ago - albeit mostly by hardcoding what to show as a sort of mini in-Siri widget instead of repeating what you just told it and asking for confirmation. Now, if I ask Siri to set an alarm for 7am instead of “Ok , I have set your seven o’clock alar…
You can tell Siri how to pronounce (and recognize) your name by adding a pronunciation field to your Contact card in the address book.
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#9A few updates back Apple made Siri quiet. I re-enabled confirmation on every action because I don't trust that it recognizes exactly what I'm saying. Google's assistant is generally better, but still not perfect. I wish the confirmations would stay but become shorter. Not the "Yes, I have done X for you do you want more" that all these assistants do.
Indeed, all it would need is a short confirmation tone. What's incredible is how many complaints, hacks, and workarounds there are online for something that should be a simple fix on Google's side. I don't think this update really fixes it at all because my speakers are in different rooms from my lights. This wouldn't be so annoying if they would work on context-aware volume. I typically have my speakers on high volu…
This is where Alexa has the edge, if you whisper to it, it whispers back (or at least responds at a low volume).
Trying to get it to answer random search type questions is a disappointment, ending mostly with quoting some page.
I wonder when the ChatGPT skills for it will land (assuming they haven’t already).
Re: Google’s smart speakers are finally smart enough to shut up
#10Siri is probably the dumbest assistant today but its (her?) UX has improved considerably much faster than the others. Siri stopped needless chatter several major iOS updates ago - albeit mostly by hardcoding what to show as a sort of mini in-Siri widget instead of repeating what you just told it and asking for confirmation. Now, if I ask Siri to set an alarm for 7am instead of “Ok , I have set your seven o’clock alar…
You can tell Siri how to pronounce (and recognize) your name by adding a pronunciation field to your Contact card in the address book.
You’d think with all the training data Apple captures this wouldn’t be necessary.