From blasting out text messages to firing up the camera, here's everything Google Assistant can do on the Pixel. Below
is a list of all the things Assistant can do on the Pixel. Once you get
the hang of these commands, you'll quickly become a Pixel Power User.
Assistant is built into other products too, such as Google Home. While most of these commands overlap, Assistant has other abilities unique to each platform.
If you don't have a Pixel, you can get Assistant by downloading the Allo messaging app
on Android and iOS. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with your phone as
seamlessly and you won't have the same breezy two-way conversation.
Instead, it's more like a traditional chatbot, and you have to type out
commands.
Baked into Google's flagship Pixel phone (and its larger counterpart, the Pixel XL) is a central AI feature called Google Assistant.
Polite and oftentimes charming, Assistant uses Google's vast database
to help users with tasks such as penciling in a lunch date into your
calendar, reminding you about your laundry and calling your mother.
The basics
To get started with Assistant, you have to know the basics:
To get Assistant to "wake up" and listen to a command, say, "OK, Google"
To stop Assistant while it's carrying out a command, say, "OK, Google, stop" or, "never mind."
Speak conversationally -- Google Assistant can understand the same command spoken a variety of ways. More on that below.
1. Call and send messages
Make a phone call.
You can call someone by saying, "make a phone call." Or you can go
straight into calling individual people and places -- "call mom," "call
Nelson back," "call Pizza California."
Get more specific.
You can specify which number you want to call ("call dad's work
number"), what kind of call to make ("call Jimmy on speakerphone,"
"video call Michael") and even which app you want to use to make the
call ("call Mark on Viber"). Saying, "call voicemail" and "redial"
checks your voicemail and calls the last dialed number.
Send texts and emails.
To start sending a text or email, say, "send a message" or, "send an
email." If you already have a jump on things, you can specify the
recipient and begin dictating the message by saying, "send an email to
Peter," or, "text Angela, 'be there in 10 minutes.'" Google Assistant also works with third-party messaging apps. Try saying, "send a message on Telegram."
2. Control your music and camera
Launch the camera.
Assistant can fire up both the rear and front-facing camera depending
on whether you say, "take a picture" or, "take a selfie." After the
camera app opens, a three-second countdown will start and the shutter
will snap a photo.
Music-playing and controls.
When you say, "play music" or even, "listen to [name of genre] music,"
the Pixel will automatically start playing music from Google Music. If
you're subscribed to a music streaming service, you can launch an app
by saying, "play Beyonce on Spotify," but music won't automatically
start playing. Instead, it'll enter a search query. Once the music's
playing, you can ask Assistant to turn the volume up or down.
3. Control your Smart Home
Turn on/off lights.
If you have smart-connected lights, you can use Assistant to control
them by saying, "turn on the kitchen lights" or, "dim the lights." Check
on their status by asking, "is the light on in the bathroom?"
Set the temperature. Adjust your smart thermostat to specific temperatures by saying, "set the thermostat to 68 degrees."
Navigate and discover nearby places
Assistant
can use Google Maps and your GPS location to tell you about places
nearby. You can call up directions by saying, "navigate to the nearest
Philz Coffee," or, "get driving directions to Golden Gate Park." It can
also look up places of interest such as local businesses and
attractions:
Find a salon nearby.
Where can I get seafood?
Show me local movie times.
Are there museums around here?
4. Set timers, alarms and reminders
Set timers.
You can set a timer or countdown by saying, "set a timer for 10
minutes," or, "countdown 5 minutes." You can also give it a label --
"set a timer for 30 minutes for laundry." Delete your timers by saying, "cancel my timers." You can also check a timer by asking, "how much time is left?"
Set alarms.
Setting and labeling alarms work the same way, but if you want to spice
things up, you can be more conversational and say, "wake me up in 20
minutes" or, "wake me up at 8 a.m." And since alarms are usually
regimented, you can specify the frequency. For example, "set an alarm
for weekdays at 7:30 a.m."
Request reminders.
Reminders work around time too. You can say, "remind me to take the
recycling out in 2 hours," or, "remind me to call Dad on Thursday at 7
p.m." But location-based reminders are even more interesting. If
you have location services turned on, you can set a reminder that will
trigger when you get to a specific place. Try something like, "remind
me to email An when I get home," or, "remind me to grab a beer the next
time I'm in Oakland."
5. Work with other apps
Assistant works with other third-party apps, but don't expect its abilities to be too far reaching. Some examples include:
Wikipedia: "Show me The Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Wikipedia."
Youtube: "Open Buzzfeed's Youtube channel."
Twitter: "Post to Twitter, 'Eating tacos with Sharon.'"
Check your privacy settings
With
all these tasks you're carrying out on your phone, it's good to check
up on your Pixel's privacy settings once in a while. Assistant can do
this for you ("Adjust my Google privacy/security settings"), as well as
draw up account info too ("Show me my Google account," "Show my Google
search history").
6. Get the lowdown on the news
News and weather.
You can get a daily news briefing by asking, "what's the news?" or,
"give me a news brief." You can also check the weather by saying,
"what's the weather in San Jose?" or, "what's this weekend's forecast?"
Drill
down to specific topics by asking something like, "show me
international news," or, "what's the news about Elizabeth Warren?" Sports.
For sports, you can ask about general sports news as well as specific
teams. You can check schedules, scores and rosters. Assistant can also
search for stats and record breakers -- you know, in case you're at a
party and want to settle a bet. Below are some questions you can ask:
Show me sports news.
How are the Warriors doing?
When do the San Francisco Giants play?
What are the Premier League Standings
Who does Messi play for?
Who is on Liverpool's roster?
Who is the fastest person alive?
What sound does a pig make?
What team has won the most Super Bowls?
7. Organize your life
Calendar and scheduling.
Because of its integration with Google services such as Gmail, Calendar
and Photos, Assistant can help organize your daily life in a variety of
ways. You can say, "tell me about my day," or "what's on my calendar
this weekend?" to learn more about your schedule. And you can add events
to your calendar by saying, "add meeting with Rich to calendar."
Emails.
You can sift through your emails emails with specific requests. Try,
"show me emails to Samantha," or, "show my emails from yesterday."
Flight info. Check your flight info by asking, "when
is my flight?" or "is my flight on time?" The Assistant gathers this
information when airlines and booking services send you email
confirmations.
Photos. Quickly find photos
taken in specific places by saying, "show me my photos from Portland."
You can also find photos taken with specific people by saying, "show me
my selfies" or, "show me my photos with Sarah." Find photos of specific
things by saying, "show me my photos of food."
Shopping lists. You can also start a shopping list that will be saved in the Google Keep app. Just say, "add bananas to my shopping list."
8. Travel far and translate
Get help with travel.
For long-distance travel, Assistant can search for flights and hotels.
Try, "find a hotel in Ireland" or, "find flights to JFK." It can help
find attractions too. You can ask, "where can I hike in Boulder?" or,
"what are the top attractions in Japan?"
Translate.
If you're in a place where you don't speak the language, Assistant can
translate phrases for more than 100 languages. Ask it something like,
"how do you say, 'I would like this baguette' in French?" 9. Play games, have some robot fun Lastly, have some fun with
Assistant. If you tell it to play a game, it'll call up five different
kinds of games, which include an audio game, a doodle game and a couple
of classic games like tic-tac-toe. Saying, "I'm feeling lucky" will
start a round of trivia in the format of a five-question (or more, if
you choose) gameshow.
Assistant also comes in handy if you're playing
something in real life with actual real friends. You can ask it to "roll
a dice," "flip a coin," "show me a card," or "count from one to 10."
If
you're really bored, you can call up funny content by saying, "show me a
funny picture." You can also ask for a video or joke. And if that
doesn't help, Assistant will try to entertain you to if you ask it to
beatbox for you, recite a love poem or serenade you. Just try not to
fall in love with it, OK?
10. Ask about random facts
The Assistant is the artificial intelligence interface of Google's vast search database, so it can handle a lot of questions. A lot. So many that it's hard to categorize them narratively. Here's a sampling of the kind of queries you can throw at it:
How far away is the moon?
How many species of birds are there?
Who invented the traffic light?
What's the time difference between Singapore and San Francisco?
Who was president during World War I?
How tall is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?
Tell me a Christmas fact.
Give me a Sylvia Plath quote.
If
you're feeling especially lonely, you can ask Assistant about itself.
Try, "how do you keep busy?" or, "what makes you happy?" You'll get
polite, charming answers, but don't expect it to know if it ever gets nervous, if its single and if it's getting money.
