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Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

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Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#4

Post by WrkInProgress »

I don't always agree with Thurrott but I think he is spot on here.

Google Now is the killer app/feature for Android.

And from the 4 players in the mobile space right now, only Microsoft is really in a position to challenge something like Google Now.

And I don't hold out much hope that MS can get their act together to pull it off.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#6

Post by RyanZAG »

Google Now has a lot of promise, but I've been using it a bit since it was first released, and it's never actually provided me with any really useful information.

The promise behind Google Now is amazing, but it simply doesn't work well enough yet to be any kind of consideration. Here's hoping they manage to get the actual software in-line with the promise eventually!

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#7

Post by cryptoz »

RyanZAG wrote: post #6

Google Now has a lot of promise, but I've been using it a bit since it was first released, and it's never actually provided me with any really useful information. The promise behind Google Now is amazing, but it simply doesn't work well enough yet to be any kind of consideration. Here's hoping they manage to get the actual software in-line with the promise eventually!

The user experience with Google Now varies heavily depending on your usage habits and the type of phone you have. The only thing Google Now showed me for months were outdated, inaccurate weather 'forecasts' that made absolutely no sense (and opening it took more than 30 seconds on my old Nexus S). Boy, was I disappointed.

But if you set your Settings to the right items, you enable all your Search History, and everything else, and you have a modern phone like a Nexus 4, Google Now is amazing. Really, really amazing. It's definitely there and it works fantastically well, if you care to set it up right.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#8

Post by JulianWasTaken »

It's cute. I've been using it for the past couple of weeks on a Nexus 4.

My opinion on it currently is that it looks promising but it's quite useless until there are finer controls on when and how cards appear (the controls there are now are really simplistic), and more importantly the ability to create my own cards, which would give me a reason to get back into SL4A.

As an example, the commute card that shows your distance from work/home is nice, but I have two jobs and commute home->work->work->home. I'm not sure I expect Now to figure that out quite yet, though it wouldn't be hard, but I do expect to be able to teach it that, which I can't currently do.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#9

Post by RyanZAG »

cryptoz wrote: post #7
RyanZAG wrote: post #6

Google Now has a lot of promise, but I've been using it a bit since it was first released, and it's never actually provided me with any really useful information. The promise behind Google Now is amazing, but it simply doesn't work well enough yet to be any kind of consideration. Here's hoping they manage to get the actual software in-line with the promise eventually!

The user experience with Google Now varies heavily depending on your usage habits and the type of phone you have. The only thing Google Now showed me for months were outdated, inaccurate weather 'forecasts' that made absolutely no sense (and opening it took more than 30 seconds on my old Nexus S). Boy, was I disappointed. But if you set your Settings to the right items, you enable all your Search History, and everyth…

Any guides on setting it up right? I've got all search history and everything enabled, but it doesn't seem to be amazing yet. I'm not in Mountain View or even USA though - so more than likely that's the problem.
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