I sort of think Google Now sucks...

[LeoRex]

Yeah. That is cool.

Hell yeah it is. There is another card that popped up recently... I had an appointment set up in my Google calendar, with an address attached in the event. I got a notification that said "you need to leave by xx:xx to make your appointment"...and Google Now already had directions queued up.

This is still a young product... I am looking forward to see what kind of additions they make.

Sent from my SCH-I200

 

[bigdaddytee]

I have a Galaxy Nexus which was immediately updated with Jellybean 4.1.1 out of the box. Now I'm on 4.2.1. If I touch the bar on the home screens to type, it just highlights "Google" and opens Google Now or I can touch the mic to do a voice search. That's it. 5 home screens of essentially 2 1x1 apps taking up 4 1x1 spots per page. Most annoying since I always just use the home button method to get to Google Now so this bar was a complete waste unless I wanted a voice search and wanted to skip the steps of going to Google Now and then saying "Google", but most of the time I still do it that way and forget the bar is there. When it's on all your screens and pretty much worthless, you start to just not notice it and treat it as a decoration.

I admit I have personally never used Siri, just heard people using it at work or what not.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

I don't know about your Nexus, but on my GNex, I just removed the search bar and swipe up from the home button to launch Google search(I keep Google Now off).
Aren't you able to remove the search bar?

Sent from the (4.2 updated) redheaded stepchild of the Nexii

 

[gnr_2]

I don't know about your Nexus, but on my GNex, I just removed the search bar and swipe up from the home button to launch Google search(I keep Google Now off).
Aren't you able to remove the search bar?

Sent from the (4.2 updated) redheaded stepchild of the Nexii

How'd you do that without changing the launcher? Though, you are on Verizon and they made some system modifications so that maybe why.



Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

 

[efyoiphone]

Just wondering if anyone in this thread has ever thought to do this? I do it all the time and I usually get what I ask for. Not sure if its in response to the feedback I send but I would have to guess that the problem is more likely to get fixed when you tell it to people that do the fixing.

Sent from my Cyano-Mod'd Nex7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[gnr_2]

I've done it.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

 

[dmmarck]

I'm probably one of the earliest JB adopters and I haven't used Google Now in close to 8 months. On the GNex, it was too much of a drain.

 

[gnr_2]

I've done it.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

Oops. I Haven't done it. I wrote it in my app review but will forward it right away to the proper authorities.

Sent from my totally awesome Sprint Galaxy Nexus, even if I don't know all its secrets yet.

 

[Steven Easley]

I completely agree. I went from starting to like my Android to thinking about the iPhone 5.

There are not only more steps they are all manual as before I could hit a button talk and avoid hitting the car in front of me. Google Now has severely decreased that functionality for me.

Additionally the last 4 times I tried to use Good Now by voice it works and works and works only to get a not available now message.

I am far less polite in my criticism of Google Now instead it will soon be Google No more for me!

 

[kirksucks]

Yea Google now sucks. Or at least needs to be separate from search. It's crashing when try to use it, so now I can't even search.

Sent from my phone with the app.

 

[mbloflin]

Changing Apex's Search Bar style from Jelly Bean to ICS does not change it's behavior, only how it looks. On my Nexus 4, the Google Search results that does not allow a new tab is the biggest PITA all day long.

 

[jean15paul]

I was definitely disappointed with Google Now when it first came out, but it has gotten a lot better. Now I use it all the time.

That being said, if you have anything older/slower than a Galaxy Nexus (like my wife's Nexus S), it can be painful to use.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AC Forums mobile app

 

[dardata]

Before you grab the pitchforks and burn me at the stake for blasphemy, hear me out.

My real complaint is that Google Now has replaced the search function in 4.1 Back in the olden days, I used to click on my Google search bar (or magnifying glass icon), type in my search, click enter, and viola! I would be in my browser perusing the results.

Google Now seems to have added a couple of unnecessary steps to the process. Now, I click on the search bar, wait for Google Now to open up and tell me the weather and traffic conditions. Then I type in my query, and my results come up, but not in a browser; in Google Now. So I have to click on one of those results to actually get to a browser. If I want to open a few results in different tabs...well, I can't. In fact, long pressing the search results in Google Now doesn't seem to do anything at all (other than cause my device to give me some unnecessary haptic feedback). So I can't tell it to open in an incognito tab, or copy the link address, or save link as, or any of that stuff.

Lately I've taken the just opening Chrome and typing searches into the address bar, as it bypasses the Google Now mess. But that's not as simple as that old school search bar either.

Anyway, this isn't a rant as much as it is a long-winged way of asking if anyone knows how to get the classic Google search functionality back on my 4.1 devices? I don't mind Google Now; I just don't like it as a search replacement.

Any thoughts?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Android Central Forums

I tried this on my n4 and an GS4 and they work the same.

Think of search as a different app which should open very quickly as experienced on my N4 and GS4. So when u search via gnow or the search bar you should be able to immediately start typing - No need to wait for cards to load. You are correct that results don't display in browser - probably a good thing as the broswer wouldnt load as fast as search results from google now but clicking on a link from your search results will open in a new tab in chrome and I expect the same will occur if you specify other default browsers.

To quickly get back to your search result (remember its a different application) you should take advantage of the recent application button or your back button in some instances.

This entire behavior works as designed and think its the most efficient and robust way to get the results you need.

Often times people may be frustrated with new efficient behavior because they are familiar with the old. These developers are intelligent and there is usually sound reasoning as to why something has changed and sometimes it takes a bit of thought on the users part to understand the the changes and subsequent benefits.

 

[jean15paul]

I tried this on my n4 and an GS4 and they work the same.

Think of search as a different app which should open very quickly as experienced on my N4 and GS4. So when u search via gnow or the search bar you should be able to immediately start typing - No need to wait for cards to load. You are correct that results don't display in browser - probably a good thing as the broswer wouldnt load as fast as search results from google now but clicking on a link from your search results will open in a new tab in chrome and I expect the same will occur if you specify other default browsers.

To quickly get back to your search result (remember its a different application) you should take advantage of the recent application button or your back button in some instances.

This entire behavior works as designed and think its the most efficient and robust way to get the results you need.

Often times people may be frustrated with new efficient behavior because they are familiar with the old. These developers are intelligent and there is usually sound reasoning as to why something has changed and sometimes it takes a bit of thought on the users part to understand the the changes and subsequent benefits.

You described the "right" way to use Google Now perfectly. And I'm sure that works great on the devices you tested on. But the issue is that Google Now isn't instant on older/slower devices. And that makes a big difference in usability.

Google Now is an acceptable speed on my Galaxy Nexus. I use it a lot for voice search and for the cards, but for a web search it is much faster to open Chrome directly. On my wife's Nexus S, Google Now is completely unusable.

I think this is where a lot of people's frustration is coming from.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using AC Forums mobile app

 

[begreen9]

Google Now, which I don't use, appears to have replaced Google News which I did use daily on my HTC One when it got the JellyBean update. Is there a way to recover Google News?

 

[jean15paul]

Google Now, which I don't use, appears to have replaced Google News which I did use daily on my HTC One when it got the JellyBean update. Is there a way to recover Google News?

No. I think Google Play Newsstand replaced Google News. Have you tried that?

https://forums.androidcentral.com/e....google.android.apps.magazines&token=P8_5-f6A

 

[begreen9]

I did try NewsStand, but found it to be a cluttered and weak substitute. They are trying to make it like a glitzy news magazine which is not what I want. Just give me the facts and a link to the story. In the least they should reduce the headline font size a lot (use bolded smaller font instead), reduce image size and cut back on gratuitous images. There's too much scrolling now and picture dominance. I really don't need to see two guys on a motorcycle for a news story about Beijing banning Ramadan.

 

[neonworm]

I did try NewsStand, but found it to be a cluttered and weak substitute. They are trying to make it like a glitzy news magazine which is not what I want. Just give me the facts and a link to the story. In the least they should reduce the headline font size a lot (use bolded smaller font instead), reduce image size and cut back on gratuitous images. There's too much scrolling now and picture dominance. I really don't need to see two guys on a motorcycle for a news story about Beijing banning Ramadan.

Try Feedly: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...ps/details?id=com.devhd.feedly&token=DdBcn8lZ