If you're familiar with Android, chances are you've interacted with it at some point. Google Assistant. This software allows us to perform all kinds of routine tasks and operations without having to touch our smartphone. However, the true utility of Google Assistant is in its home automation applications when we use it through a Google Nest or Google Home. In this post we will show you how Starting over with this technology, so that you can set up your account and start using the wizard starting from the most basic commands.
What is Google Assistant?
Google Assistant is a virtual assistant, exactly the same as Alexa on Amazon devices or Siri on Apple devices. Generally speaking, Google Assistant will help you do some of the things you do. most routine tasks of your life in a faster and easier way. You can ask questions, set timers, set alarms, automate tasks, or even use this assistant to control your home intelligently. In this way, you will only have to use voice commands to turn lights, stoves, or even speakers on or off.
Devices with integrated Google Assistant
The Google Assistant is natively available on the android mobiles, but there is a large catalog of independent devices that we can buy and place in our home if we opt for this virtual assistant. These products include smart speakers, smartwatches and headphones:
- Smartphones and tablets: Any mobile or tablet with Android 5.0 or higher is compatible with the Google assistant.
- Smart speakers: They are usually the gateway to this world. They are small and relatively cheap devices that integrate a speaker and microphone. We can order the commands we need, as well as listen to music, podcasts or control any other home automation device we have at home.
- Smart displays: They are exactly the same as the 'smart speakers', only that they also integrate a screen. With them we will also be able to watch YouTube videos, make video calls or see who is knocking on the door if we have an electronic peephole.
- Streaming devices and Smart TV: Any television or TV-box that integrates Android TV or Google TV has native compatibility with Google Assistant.
- Chromebooks: Google laptops with Chrome OS are compatible with this technology, as long as you set up the laptop correctly.
- Smartwatches: Finally, you can also invoke the Google Assistant if you have a smart watch compatible with this technology. There are third-party watches compatible with the assistant, but the best thing in this case is to use a smartwatch with Wear OS, which is Google's operating system for smart watches.
How to disable the Google Assistant
It is possible that you have not come here to know everything about the Google assistant, but for just the opposite. If you like disable this feature on your Android mobile, follow the steps below:
- Start the google app on your Android phone.
- Click on the picture of your profile in the upper right corner of the screen.
- Go to Settings.
- Go to option Google Assistant.
- Enter the option 'General'.
- Uncheck the first option. You will get an alert notice. Accept the dialogue and ready. Google voice assistant will no longer be active on your phone.
As an alternate version, you can tell it 'Hey Google, turn off'. The wizard itself will show you the steps to disable it.
How to set up the Google Assistant
Before you start using the Google Assistant for the first time, you'll need to activate it. You will only have to perform this process the first time. The steps are simple, and the process is disabled by default for privacy reasons. You must do the following steps:
- Start the google app.
- Click on the picture of your profile in the upper right corner of the screen.
- Go to Settings.
- Go to option Google Assistant.
- A huge list of options will appear. Look for the option 'General' or write this term in the search engine that appears at the top of the screen.
- turn on option 'Google Assistant'. Accept the privacy policy dialogs that appear and that's it, you will have the Google Assistant active on your mobile.
Once this is done, you can start your account on other compatible devices with Google Assistant.
Set up 'Hey Google'
The beauty of using a voice assistant is not having to use your hands to unlock your phone and perform an action. Therefore, now we will configure the option of invoke the assistant using the words 'Hey Google'. It will also work if we use the words 'OK, Google'. The steps you have to do to activate this process are the following:
- return to screen Settings within the Google app.
- Enter the first option called 'Hey Google and Voice Match'.
- Activate 'Hey Google'. If this is your first time doing this, you will be asked to accept a series of extra screens.
- Then, Go back to 'Hey Google and Voice Match' for create a voice model if you have never done it. This will allow the assistant to differentiate your voice from that of other people. This way, no one will be able to perform a command to Google on your behalf.
- From this screen you can also invite other people and save their voice model, as well as revoke all permissions and delete all recordings if you wish.
Basic Commands
If you have followed the steps correctly, you will not have had a problem when linking a new device compatible with Google Assistant to your Google account. Now it will be time to use it. To do this, we will have to learn a few simple commands. Most of the commands will work regardless of the device we are talking to, with the exception of very specific instructions, such as playing video, which can only be executed on devices that have an associated screen.
- Alarm clock: 'Hey Google, wake me up at 7 in the morning.'
- Reminder: 'Hey Google, remind me Dentist Friday at 5 PM.'
- Timer: 'Hey Google, set a timer for 45 minutes.'
- Subscriber lists:
- 'Hey Google, add tomatoes to the shopping list.'
- 'Hey Google, create the Grocery list.'
- 'Hey Google, remove cookies from the shopping list.'
- Volume:
- 'Hey Google, volume up/down'.
- 'Hey Google, volume at 50 percent.'
- Music:
- 'Hey Google, play classical music.'
- 'Hey Google, play the latest from C Tangana.'
- 'Hey Google, next song.'
- 'Hey Google, what's the name of the song that's playing?'.
- Applications: 'Hey Google, open WhatsApp'.
Tricks
- Hardware Operations:
- 'Hey Google, turn on your phone's flashlight.'
- 'Hey Google, turn on Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/Cellular Data.'
- If you are on the street and you left the brightness set to minimum on your mobile and you don't see anything, try saying 'Hey Google, set the brightness to maximum'.
- For the clueless: »Hey Google, find my phone'. It will emit a sound so that you can find your lost smartphone.
Frequently asked
- Meteorology:
- 'Hey Google, is it going to rain today?'
- 'Hey Google, what's the temperature like?'.
- Recipes and Cooking:
- 'Hey Google, look up a recipe for American-style BBQ chicken wings.'
- 'Hey Google, how do you make homemade barbecue sauce?'.
- 'Hey Google, what ingredients does a béchamel have?'
- 'Hey Google, how much is 2 cups of milk in milliliters?'.
- 'Hey Google, how much is 135 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius?'.
- Billboard:
- 'Hey Google, what's the movie showing tonight?'
- 'Hey Google, What time does Spider-Man: No Way Home start?'.
- Questions:
- 'Hey Google, what's the actor's name? Moon Knight? '.
- 'Hey Google, how old is Oscar Isaac?'.
- 'Hey Google, what is liquid smoke?'
- 'Hey Google, who is the director of the movie Uncharted? '.
Smart Home
The Google Assistant is just the beginning. There is a whole ecosystem of compatible devices With this technology that will allow you to make your life a little easier and automated. These are some of the most interesting products:
- lighting and electricity: smart bulbs, programmable plugs, motion sensors…
- 'Hey Google, turn on living room'
- 'Hey Google, make the bedroom red.'
- Cameras and security systems: 360º indoor or outdoor surveillance cameras, motion detectors, smart locks or electronic peepholes.
- home automation devices: smart vacuum cleaners, air conditioning… 'Hey Google, set the air conditioning to 22 degrees'.
- Speakers: be it other Google Assistant equipment or audio equipment that can integrate with your Google ecosystem.