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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

#41

Post by notatoad »

jackalope wrote: post #38

As a user, I'm not sure I'm impressed. On my WP8 phone, I pin a live tile to the home screen exactly where I want it, at the size I want it, and it displays the information I expect to get from it. But Google Now sounds like a live tile knockoff that's constantly changing because it's guessing what I want to see based on personal information that I agree to share with it. I don't recall this approach ever working, an…

>I don't recall this approach ever working

yes, failure in the past is definitely an indication that this concept will never work.

The linked article takes a very narrow view of google now, trying to shoehorn it into windows phone terms. It's way more than a live tile. It's a homescreen widget, a lockscreen widget, an app that is a scrollable list of cards, and it integrates with notifications. Essentially, it is predictive google search - instead of having to search for something, it provides you with the results you were about to search for.

The future that you talk about for personal assistants has already been surpassed by google now.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#42

Post by swanson »

A killer feature of Google Now that was actually helpful (no, baseball scores don't count) is when it detects you are traveling.

I had a receipt from EventBrite in my Gmail for a conference in Chicago. The day I drove up there, Google Now knew about the trip (I didn't even add it to my calendar) and had downloaded the trip directions. When I lost 4G on the way, it was pretty awesome to have the map available offline. I usually print off directions as a backup, but I had forgotten this time and Google Now really helped me.

Just one anecdote, but it completely sold me on Google Now.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#43

Post by vijayr »

JulianWasTaken wrote: post #8

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 d…

I've a question - are these cards programmable? As in, can we create our own cards and push notifications etc to these?

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#44

Post by OGinparadise »

I used it for a while, it's cute but my life is not that complicated. And I don't want to sell my digital soul to a company in exchange for "suggestions" and tips. That's me though.

I predict that in a year or two, Google's top engineer Patrick Pichette, will ruin this by stuffing it with ads. Ads everywhere.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#46

Post by TillE »

w1ntermute wrote: post #23
TillE wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> enable all your Search History This is something I just can't bring myself to do. I disabled it years ago, along with all the other personalization options. I don't mind giving them my location. I don't even mind them analyzing my mail. But I search for all kinds of crap, and I really really don't want anyone building a profile on me based on that. The manual customization options in Google Now are sadly lacking. I…

Just train yourself to use Incognito Mode when you're looking for porn.

Eh, porn is the least of my concerns. Google's probably smart enough to filter that out when making decisions anyway, I assume.

Maybe I'm strange, but there's a fairly broad array of stuff I'd rather keep off the record. Anything that could possibly imply illegal activity, for example.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#47

Post by jcomis »

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…

I have a Galaxy Nexus and don't allow it to search history and still get a lot of info I consider useful. I think the only thing I allow it access to is email and location. Stuff like having a card for every package I get shipped or flight res saves me a lot of time. I've never seen outdated information on it.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#48

Post by hnriot »

Very misleading title. The predictive power of this sounds really impressive, but utterly useless. I don't have alternative routes if there's traffic, and if there is, I already know what my options are, because I drive it every day. (coincidentaly this morning I was followed by one of google's white lexus self driving cars, with its silly spinny thing on top making it look like an attempt at being a TARDIS, although it was self-driving (it said so on the rear bumper), the driver was clearly driving it.)

I feel like Google Now will just take much of the fun out of life. If I want to see a movie, it's not exactly hard to look it up or walk down to the theater. Buying a ticket on Fandango is pointless, my movie theater has people selling tickets and completely unused machines right next to them. I also use the machine because there's never a line. I don't want to go into a restaurant and have google pick what I should order!

The only useful integration technology I have found useful recently was Passbook. I bought a United ticket on my smartphone which issued a Passbook boarding card when I checked in. I walked through SFO in about 15 minutes from curb to sitting on the plane, waving my iPhone at scanners along the way. Even when I changed my return flight the Passbook info changed dynamically with information and my boarding 'card'.

I am happy to pick my own restaurants, I enjoy looking on Yelp and making my own mind up. I don't want to go to the place that has paid google the most for ads, or who has hired the most fake reviewers. I have my own mind and I'm happy to use it.

Maps, Email, Search, all wonderful innovations from google, they have revolutionized these areas, but I still want to think for myself once in a while.

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#49

Post by Irregardless »

> But Windows Phone is entering a dangerous time, one in which its competitors are starting to catch up and even surpass the innovations of Microsoft’s mobile platform.

What alternate universe was this article written in? I've wanted to give Windows Phone a chance since they released the newer version, but it literally has nothing to offer other than a slightly more minimalistic default UI. Does no one remember the "Get Smoked by a Windows Phone" contest that Microsoft stacked in their favor only to get beaten by Android anyway? [1]

News flash: You can configure any Android phone to have the same interface and functionality of WP7, and you've been able to for years.

[1] http://skattertech.com/2012/03/i-won-the-windows-phone-chall...

Re: Google Now's smartphone is the real deal

#50

Post by yock »

TillE wrote: post #12
cryptoz wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> enable all your Search History This is something I just can't bring myself to do. I disabled it years ago, along with all the other personalization options. I don't mind giving them my location. I don't even mind them analyzing my mail. But I search for all kinds of crap, and I really really don't want anyone building a profile on me based on that. The manual customization options in Google Now are sadly lacking. I…

I've always been under the impression that they're building a profile on you, like it or not. All you're really choosing is whether or not you too will take advantage of it, or if Google is the sole benefactor of your activities.
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