There are still improvements to be made. Chiefly, Google Now needs to be updated to provide voice control of system settings, similar to the Siri update in iOS 7.
The Moto X voice features are certainly a step in the right direction, and the ability to summon your device without laying a finger on it is ace, but for a fully touchless experience there is still work to be done. If you're going to boss your phone around, you shouldn't have to be conscious of whether or not it's capable of carrying out certain tasks on its own -- it should just do them, while simultaneously changing the way you relate to your device.
That's where the line is drawn between software *gimmick* (I hate using that word, because I really do like these features) and true innovation.
2 things:
First: It is so nowhere near gimmick category because touchless control doesn?t necessarily need to cover every piece of the function of your phone for it to mean we will now be using it on a regular basis. It?s that it IS touchless, not that the phone is completly touchless. (does that make sense?). No other phone has every had that capability before. And it?s not like the end result is it walking your dog, it will take just a few updates for it to perform all functions of your phone. What are we missing, sending the text?
. Siri was a gimmick. She can do very little but more importantly, you already have to be at the phone, so nothing new there.
2ndly, Always Ready phones bring us into the future: there is now in everyone?s hands what we all fiction has depicted the future to have. Look at all the things from the 1930?s to today that depict very specifically the future. There are a handful of things they all share: robots, hovering or flying transportation and interacting with your machines by talking to them. Actually, interacting with a computer that performs functions is in a separate category than just machines. Depictions of the future are heavy on video calling without controls, which even without controls was that step into the future as we all were shown the future to look like. So when video phoning came out, it was us what we all have considered to be the future. When the smart home functions came out that was considered part of fictional and or depicted future, made me smile because here we were in that formerly fictional future. Anyone else? Or am I alone here.
.
There are now machines in homes operated by voice. Smart home technology. When that first came out it was part of that future that we?ve seen in movies since we were younger before that technology was invented and that is included in every movie about the future that is made today. Usually shown in movies in coffee machines and televisions. Pretty cool and definitely part of the future as fictions has always depicted. And what static technology even that is. Unlike the depicted future it is owned by very very few people. At most in the 10?s of 1,000?s while all fictional future depicts it being common.
But now we?re there: the masses are communication with a computer by talking to it for it to perform functions you would otherwise have to do yourself. Now, siri could hear your voice and respond but in a future depictions, we not only verbally interact without our machines, but we do not need to manually operate them.
I mean, look at Asimo the humanoid android he is part of that future that has been depicted from the 1920?s or so to today, but he is NOT here yet today even though he lives, he is part of that future but we do not have that piece yet b/c he is only protoyped, no one owns one and he has NO function yet, lol. Although he can escort guests around, it takes him about 10 minutes to get them a cup of coffee. Lol. The minute you put homeboy in a few stores to show clients shoes etc, or greet people coming to an office, that?s it, we?re in that future.
I won?t hold my breath on hovering/flying individual transportation, but you can bet I?ll have a Nao before I die, a super-toy a la ?Teddy? in the movie artificial intelligence. He?ll be available for enthusiasts in 10 years, but in consumer households in 20l he can tell if a child is sad, if they are happy, he can tell if they are pleased with his actions just by the sight of their face. : ). But alas, it's 20 years away before he will be ready for the public.
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