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Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

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Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#11

Post by pspeter3 »

fratis wrote: post #5

I have a question for our Android-using brethren who've had the opportunity to play with Now. I've read a bit about it over the past few weeks, and I've been excited about a port to iOS, but now that I have it, I'm not sure how or if it'll fit into my life day-to-day. At first brush, all I see is a weather widget. I know there's more to it, but where exactly does the magic happen? What have you done (if anything) to…

It comes when you use GMail and Google Calendar a lot. Having it let me know that I need to jump on Muni to make a date on time is a plus. The most mind blowing was when I went home, told me I needed to leave for the airport because of traffic, pulled up my boarding pass (United), and showed me what gate the flight was and any potential delays.

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#12

Post by pspeter3 »

adlpz wrote: post #8
fratis wrote: post #5

I have a question for our Android-using brethren who've had the opportunity to play with Now. I've read a bit about it over the past few weeks, and I've been excited about a port to iOS, but now that I have it, I'm not sure how or if it'll fit into my life day-to-day. At first brush, all I see is a weather widget. I know there's more to it, but where exactly does the magic happen? What have you done (if anything) to…

It used to be an useless time to commute by car to home (and I used to take the train) and the weather thing. Until I went on vacation to Germany and it started popping places to see, German translating widgets and other goodness. Not that useful still, but I believe it can grow into something really useful and quick.

You can change the commute mode from driving to public transportation

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#13

Post by stevejalim »

fratis wrote: post #5

I have a question for our Android-using brethren who've had the opportunity to play with Now. I've read a bit about it over the past few weeks, and I've been excited about a port to iOS, but now that I have it, I'm not sure how or if it'll fit into my life day-to-day. At first brush, all I see is a weather widget. I know there's more to it, but where exactly does the magic happen? What have you done (if anything) to…

Set a work and home location so that it knows when you really are out and about. Start using G+ if you don't already (eg I got a birthday alert for someone yesterday, via Now, via G+). Set some data in other google applications (Calendar, Finance, etc). All roads lead to Now. (Well, some do)

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#14

Post by enginous »

Again I run into the issue that Google doesn't seem to release their iPhone apps internationally. I'm in Europe (Iceland, specifically) and I can't download the Google Search or Google Authenticator apps because they're not available in our App Store.

Does this happen to people in any other European countries?

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#15

Post by ben1040 »

fratis wrote: post #5

I have a question for our Android-using brethren who've had the opportunity to play with Now. I've read a bit about it over the past few weeks, and I've been excited about a port to iOS, but now that I have it, I'm not sure how or if it'll fit into my life day-to-day. At first brush, all I see is a weather widget. I know there's more to it, but where exactly does the magic happen? What have you done (if anything) to…

On Android, it often kicks off notifications when things are relevant to your situation. For example, it learns where home & work are (based on where I spend time during day or night). When travel time back home at rush hour is bad, it sends a notification to say I might want to leave earlier.

If you put a location in a Google calendar item, it will keep tabs on traffic and notify you when you should leave for your appointment.

If your search history shows you're searching for a sports team often, it'll have a standing card with that team's scores & schedules.

Google Now is connected to your Gmail and can pop up notifications for shipments, flights, restaurant reservations, etc based on receipts and boarding passes in your inbox.

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#16

Post by jweese »

fratis wrote: post #5

I have a question for our Android-using brethren who've had the opportunity to play with Now. I've read a bit about it over the past few weeks, and I've been excited about a port to iOS, but now that I have it, I'm not sure how or if it'll fit into my life day-to-day. At first brush, all I see is a weather widget. I know there's more to it, but where exactly does the magic happen? What have you done (if anything) to…

Things I use every day: weather; baseball and football scores for teams I like; approximate time to home and traffic conditions from wherever I am

Things I use when the appropriate email arrives in my inbox: current flight schedules (plus approximate time to get to the airport); package tracking

One thing that totally surprised me: I had a reservation on OpenTable, and my phone buzzed with a notification that it was time to leave for the restaurant if I intended to make it on time

And to be honest, I haven't "done" anything to get this value. This is all information that arrives automatically. That is, Google determined automatically what I needed to know by indexing my email, my searches, and knowing where I am at all times. Make of that what you will.

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#17

Post by Nemisis7654 »

stylo wrote: post #3

I honestly did not expect to see Google Now on iDevices. For me it is definitely the "killer app" on my Android phone.

I was surprised at first, but as I thought about it more, it makes sense. Google wants to have you using Google's services. Whether that's on iOS or Android, they probably could not care less. The larger the audience, the more their services get used.

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#18

Post by mehta »

fratis wrote: post #5

I have a question for our Android-using brethren who've had the opportunity to play with Now. I've read a bit about it over the past few weeks, and I've been excited about a port to iOS, but now that I have it, I'm not sure how or if it'll fit into my life day-to-day. At first brush, all I see is a weather widget. I know there's more to it, but where exactly does the magic happen? What have you done (if anything) to…

You will see more "magic" happen as you your the app. I don't know the state of app on ios but on Android, Google slowly learns about your home and office locations, it learns about stocks you search for, places you travel to, movies you search for etc. As a result of this,

- In mornings, I get the traffic to office from my home. - In evenings, I see the travel time back. - When I am visiting a different city/country, I get time, currency and weather updates. If the hotel reservation and flight reservation are in gmail, I also get the latest flight updates, the hotel checkin email etc. - I have the stocks card always on. - On fridays, I get updates on movies that are in theaters. - On weekends and on trips, I get photos of nearby places (I click a lot of photos)

- I am not a sports fan but I have heard that the sports integration is decent and useful too.

Finally, - I have not used the ios app so don't know if that has all the functionality as Android. - I don't know if ios can have always-on apps or hardware shortcuts so I don't know if you can get to it with 0-taps and if it will keep the cards up to date in background.

Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad

#20

Post by Pewpewarrows »

fratis wrote: post #5

I have a question for our Android-using brethren who've had the opportunity to play with Now. I've read a bit about it over the past few weeks, and I've been excited about a port to iOS, but now that I have it, I'm not sure how or if it'll fit into my life day-to-day. At first brush, all I see is a weather widget. I know there's more to it, but where exactly does the magic happen? What have you done (if anything) to…

The "killer features" all come from you using other Google products/services while signed-in to the same account that you use with Google Now.

Search for "pizza" or a specific address on your computer while signed-in to Google Maps? The next time you look at your phone it tells you how long it would take to get there, and offers you turn-by-turn directions, automatically.

Have a flight confirmation email sent to your signed-in Gmail account? You'll be notified on your phone if your flight gets delayed, how long the trip will be, and information about your destination. Same goes for package delivery confirmation emails.

And those really only scratch the surface. The more you use it, the more you come to rely on it, which makes you want to use Google-branded services more and more often. It's a brilliant move on their part.

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