Finally! My dream come true!!!
Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
171–180 of 231 posts
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#172I fell for Google Now when I booted my old Nexus to test test something, and Google Now had read through my emails and showed me a tracking status for a UPS package I was expecting. I was pretty jealous of that functionality, but never convinced to go back to Android just for one feature. Now, I really have no reason. It's also pretty telling of something when more iOS devices have Google Now than Android devices do.
I had a similar "whoa" moment a couple of weeks ago. Google alerted me that I should leave for Santa Barbara "now". Which was really, really weird for me, since I was already halfway there (from Phoenix). Apparently, it had read through my emails, seen a receipt for sigur ros tickets from ticketmaster, figured out where I was, and already calculated how long it would take me to get there. That is insanely awesome .
I'm going to assume that it only looks at your gmail? or any email account connect to your phone?
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#173This seems like a proof-of-concept - it doesn't even throw up iOS notifications. Integration into Chrome for iOS would probably be a better way of gaining a persistent presence in front of Google fans with an iPhone.
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#174Isn't it a stupid decision? Why would they release two of their best selling points - first Google maps, and now "Google Now" to iOS? They could have been two of the biggest USPs for Android, and they destroyed it all.
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could maybe change it to be the same as your home address.
Having tried that myself, I discovered your suggestion causes Google Now to go a little cuckoo. It spent a week trying to suggest that I work at our local grocery store because I went there one morning for coffee, milk, and lunch ingredients. Then when I met up with some associates at a coworking spot, it tried recommending that I drive home to the grocery store. :-?
It does this sort of thing to me all the time. When I'm at home, it thinks I should go "home" to my girlfriend's. When I'm there, it tells me to go to my actual home.
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
But I guess it should know you're on your way if you appear to be moving along the route to the event.
Or to the restaurant around the corner that just happens to be on the same path.
I guess if you look like you're on the way, and it looks like you're going to make it on time then it shouldn't prompt.
If you do get to the restaurant around the corner and stop then it should realise that it may need to remind you.
Anyway, I've signed up for it today. I like the idea in principle, and I understand how hard it is to get this right. I assume it will get better over time as they tweak it, so it's worth giving them a fair crack of the whip.
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#177Isn't it a stupid decision? Why would they release two of their best selling points - first Google maps, and now "Google Now" to iOS? They could have been two of the biggest USPs for Android, and they destroyed it all.
Because Google isn't a mobile company - they're a service company. They don't care if you use Android (which makes up barely any of their revenue) or iOS, so long as you use their services.
Google makes money by connecting their users to commerce opportunities. Their ability to monetize is linearly related to how many active users they have. They'd rather have 70% of the market through Android plus some proportion of non-Android users finding them through apps than have 75% of the total market and rely 100% on Android to attract users on mobile.
They get more total users and have a more diverse base. If Android starts to lose share, they still have the ability to monetize the other platforms.
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#178My favorite feature of Google Now is that when I've searched for a place/address in Chrome on a PC, it automatically pops up with proposed navigation in a card on my phone. That has saved me so many times from the "dammit, I can't remember the street number" while moving from house to car. p.s. This is one widget where allowing it to use the maximum space possible makes a lot of sense, especially when traveling inter…
The problem with this is their false matches. For example I looked up cffi (C foreign function interface) library. They decided to add a stock ticker of the same letters despite me never clicking on any stock links.
Any lookups of other things give the same results, such as looking up news stories (eg a plane crash starts tracking flights of the same number) or how many calories there are in a McDonalds burger (starts showing nearest locations). I don't remember the example now but I've had it decide other searches are really for sports teams. (Annoyingly they also don't consider Formula 1 a sport.)
The biggest problem is the functionality is non-deterministic. You can't be sure if a card will appear for flights (eg you look one up you expect to meet tomorrow), and you get unintended junk at other times.
The reason is that Google are taking a superficial approach, almost just doing string matching. They aren't going deeper and figuring out more context (eg did I mean a stock, which day do I care about for a flight, is there any chance I'm looking for a McDonalds versus looking at corporate financials).
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
IIRC they did that without informing or asking their users for permission. Contrast that with android which is opt-in.
The problem here is the long-term tendency is to turn opt-in into "if you don't opt in you don't get any of our services". Kinda like HIPPA medical privacy rights in the USA: when you go to a doctor, they'll hand you a paper for you to sign acknowledging you understand your privacy rights...then they hand you another paper for you to sign away those rights; if you don't sign both, you don't get any medical service. I…
Like not getting invited to parties and gatherings if you don't use facebook or not being approached for jobs if you don't use linkedin? We're already there.
Re: Google Now on your iPhone and iPad
#180How does it affect battery life? Is it always sucking in the GPS? I was using the Moves app and I loved it, but it drained my battery faster than usual.
On Android it turns on the GPS once every 30 minutes to update your location. If another app turns on the GPS it'll take the opportunity and update then and reset the 30 minute timer.
When I got Android 4.1 with Google Now my battery life actually got better (presumably because of improvements made throughout the OS) so it's hard to say what impact it has on battery for me.