[vi-android] Using "OK Google"
- From: Quentin Christensen <quentin.christensen@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: vi-android@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2014 16:12:22 +1000
Hi everyone,
I finally set aside some time to have a play with "OK Google", and I
must admit, I'm a bit disappointed. I've put my thoughts below and
I'd be interested in other's experiences.
I tried Google Now awhile ago on my Galaxy Nexus and found it would
only give me the weather each morning, and randomly, the driving time
to work (which is irrelevant as I don't drive to work).
Today I tried OK Google, I setup a widget on my home screen to Google
Search which seemed to go straight into it and I could get it to do
some basic things from the list at:
http://www.androidpit.com/how-to-use-ok-google-voice-commands
I think some of them like sports scores are only for the US (it
couldn't tell me anything about Aussie Rules, though it did offer me
the AFL webpage as the first result).
I tried emailing myself, but even though I have two entries in my
address book, it couldn't find either of them (even though it spelt my
name correctly). I could email my wife, though I couldn't add a
subject, only the body of the message and when I agreed to send it,
the message was opened in Aqua Mail with the focus in the subject
ready for me to write that and then send it manually.
I could dial contacts and numbers, and I was impressed when I told it
to ring work, and it found two entries and asked me which one and I
replied "the first one" and it rang it. I wasn't expecting that, but
I would have expected when I dictated a number that it should have
been able to figure out what the word "double" meant, as in "dial 1,
2, double 3, 4", it instead did a google search for that...
I could get the weather and do arithmatic and conversions and some of
the easter eggs worked (do a barrel roll, "when am I" and "who are
you" were cute, how much wood can a woodchuck chuck would have been
more entertaining if it had read the entire answer and overall I must
confess, Siri is a lot cleverer with it's easter eggs).
I was disappointed that I couldn't open apps (it generally just did a
web search, occasionally it crashed).
I was surprised I couldn't even ask it where am I (it gave me a map,
but refused to offer an address, though it could give me directions
from my 'current location' when I gave it a location to go to it
understood.
I found it quite inconsistent in that it would give me voice answers /
feedback on some things, but not others.
I asked it to take a photo and it did open my camera, but left it to
me to actually take my shot - I could see in an emergency wanting to
to say "take a photo" or even "record video" and wanting it to just do
it.
I would say I was impressed with how accurately it did understand me
most of the time, even when I talked quite quickly, I was just
disappointed how a search feature designed by the world's most
sucessfull search engine company, was really, fairly limited in what
it could actually do with the information I gave it. EG, I would have
liked to have fully written an email, and when I tried to email a
contact who didn't have an email address, it should have walked me
through adding an email address, not just offering me the (correct)
contact card to tap on physically and edit manually. I would have
liked to have been able to tell it to open apps, read my
notifications, lock the screen, and basically tell me more.
I've used Siri and as a comparison, I can do most of the things Google
offered, many the same, some better, some worse. I do like being able
to say "ok google" once I'm in it to start a new query, whereas on the
iPhone you have to tap the microphone, though Siri is easier to get
into as you can just hold down the home key (On a nexus I think you
can swipe up from the home key? My Nexus is playing up at the moment
so I can't test it). For the most part, I just find it easier and
quicker to do what I need manually, but I'll keep an eye on it.
How do others find it? Do others use OK Google / Google now / voice
dictation / anything similar?
Regards
Quentin.
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