Has Your S7E Received Google Assistant?

Lance Redden

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If so, list your carrier and date update received! Patiently waiting for Google Play Services update...

Got mine this morning ! No update or anything. Literally. Just held the home button and it was there.

I'm on Verizon. Guess it rolls to everyone at different times. It works flawlessly. Great feature to have added along with the release of Android Nougat.
 

ClintRo

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I got mine last night.... Nougat and Google assistant on the S7 Edge.... I am bored now... time for a new phone. LOL
 

Tsepz_GP

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So those who got Google Assistant, are you now using it daily or?

I just want to understand what all the hype was about.
 

Almeuit

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So those who got Google Assistant, are you now using it daily or?

I just want to understand what all the hype was about.

I use it daily for settings calendar items, reminders, texting people, and especially calling people while driving.

The hype was Google said something new was coming out. If you remember -- when the Pixel came out no one really cared about Assistant (except for Pixel owners). Google then announces it is coming to all phones so everyone wants it since it was stated that it was being released.

Google Assistant is basically Google Now except it has some AI so it can understand the flow of a conversation versus issuing multiple "commands" for the same stuff. You can almost talk to it like a human and it will understand the flow. That is really it.
 

Tsepz_GP

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I use it daily for settings calendar items, reminders, texting people, and especially calling people while driving.

The hype was Google said something new was coming out. If you remember -- when the Pixel came out no one really cared about Assistant (except for Pixel owners). Google then announces it is coming to all phones so everyone wants it since it was stated that it was being released.

Google Assistant is basically Google Now except it has some AI so it can understand the flow of a conversation versus issuing multiple "commands" for the same stuff. You can almost talk to it like a human and it will understand the flow. That is really it.

Thanks a lot! :)

Exactly the sort of answer I needed to fully understand this.

So Google Now is more like MS DOS of Assistants while Google Assistant is like the Windows, more user friendly and the next step in Assistants bringing in machine learning etc...

Once I get it I will give it a go especially for when driving. I tend to be very strict about using a phone on the road, and usually wait until I can pull over as I honestly cannot use a phone while driving at all, I just can't lol, it totally disorientates me.
 

LineKill

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So those who got Google Assistant, are you now using it daily or?

I just want to understand what all the hype was about.
I know you got your answer already, but I just wanted to tell you. This morning as I was laying in bed and my S7 Edge was on the wireless charging pad I said Okay Google tell me about my day and she proceeded to say "Good morning Michael it is 8:30am, the weather is currently 61°F and sunny in Gilbert with the forcasted high of 88°F, BTW don't forget to get a haircut" and then proceeded to tell me today's top CNN stories. It can do way more, but I just got it last night and thought that was pretty cool. My wife got mad and said pretty soon your not even going to need me!☺
 

Tsepz_GP

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I know you got your answer already, but I just wanted to tell you. This morning as I was laying in bed and my S7 Edge was on the wireless charging pad I said Okay Google tell me about my day and she proceeded to say "Good morning Michael it is 8:30am, the weather is currently 61°F and sunny in Gilbert with the forcasted high of 88°F, BTW don't forget to get a haircut" and then proceeded to tell me today's top CNN stories. It can do way more, but I just got it last night and thought that was pretty cool. My wife got mad and said pretty soon your not even going to need me!☺
LOL!

That is brilliant! :D

Thanks a lot.

Crazy to think these are things that were in movies not so long ago and seemed so far fetched, now they are our reality.
 

Almeuit

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Thanks a lot! :)

Exactly the sort of answer I needed to fully understand this.

So Google Now is more like MS DOS of Assistants while Google Assistant is like the Windows, more user friendly and the next step in Assistants bringing in machine learning etc...

Once I get it I will give it a go especially for when driving. I tend to be very strict about using a phone on the road, and usually wait until I can pull over as I honestly cannot use a phone while driving at all, I just can't lol, it totally disorientates me.

Yep. The most popular example is asking it the weather.

"What is the weather like today?"

Google answers.

"What about tomorrow?"

Google answers.

It understands when the flow as in when you say "What about tomorrow" it understands the context versus you having to say "What is the weather going to be like tomorrow?" after asking it the weather today. Small stuff like that.
 

meyerweb#CB

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I got updated over night. I HATE IT! With a passion. No longer can you just long press the button and get the cards you're interested in. No longer can you type a query. No, now you need to TALK to your stupid phone. I could easily use Google Now anywhere. But can you imagine talking to your phone in the middle of a meeting? Or during a wedding? Or in any of the thousands of other places where talking out loud is annoying, embarrassing, or downright rude? Where you might want to be discrete?

And there's no option for going back to Google Now. Thanks for forcing this unwanted bloatware on me, Google. Thanks for nothing, that is.

Do Google's employees really sit around work all day talking to their phones? Maybe they should go out into the real world and see how real people work.

(Sprint S7E, Nougat)
 

Aquila

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I got updated over night. I HATE IT! With a passion. No longer can you just long press the button and get the cards you're interested in. No longer can you type a query. No, now you need to TALK to your stupid phone. I could easily use Google Now anywhere. But can you imagine talking to your phone in the middle of a meeting? Or during a wedding? Or in any of the thousands of other places where talking out loud is annoying, embarrassing, or downright rude? Where you might want to be discrete?

And there's no option for going back to Google Now. Thanks for forcing this unwanted bloatware on me, Google. Thanks for nothing, that is.

Do Google's employees really sit around work all day talking to their phones? Maybe they should go out into the real world and see how real people work.

(Sprint S7E, Nougat)

lol

change your language to US Virgin Islands or anything else and G Now comes back.

Also, on any screen that's not a home screen, you can long press home and then swipe up and everything from Google Now is there. Also, on the Google Now and Pixel Launcher, you can swipe right to get the left most homescreen which is Google now. Also, you can press the G on the Google widget on the home screen (tap widget, then tap G) and that opens Google Now.
 

meyerweb#CB

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Thanks, I really do appreciate your reply but none of these are really the answer.

Changing language is, at best, a temporary solution, because Google will roll this c**p out to all English languages soon enough. Google Now started out as US English only, too.

Long press and swipe up doesn't do it. I brought up an email, long pressed, then swiped up when Assistant appeared. I got a lot of stuff, but nothing that shows my Now cards (see below). Tapping the Google icon under Google Now just does a Google search on the phrase "Google Now." Tapping on the Google icon under Widget takes me to the play store. None of the options show my cards. This swipe up action is more or less the same as the old Google on Tap: it shows info related to the screen that was showing. That's not the same as Google Now.

Screenshot_20170310-140557.jpg

On some screens, it doesn't even do that much:

Screenshot_20170310-142730.jpg

The Google Widget works, but only works from the home screen, unlike long pressing the home button which worked from anywhere. It's also a really ugly widget.

The fact remains that Google forced a piece of bloatware that I didn't ask for, don't want, and that is far less useful for me.
 

LeoRex

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The fact remains that Google forced a piece of bloatware that I didn't ask for, don't want, and that is far less useful for me.

Google doesn't design software for you. Sorry.. that's how it goes. Not every choice they make is going to make everyone happy. I can get access to all the Now cards easily with a flick to the Now page on my homescreen. Might not be the way you are used to, but it's the way it is going to be.

Assistant will evolve over time, just as Now evolved. But your raging against the dying of the light... this is the direction Google is going with their search product.
 

meyerweb#CB

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I know they don't design software just for me. The truth is, they design software for themselves. All of it is designed to get more information they can use to market us. But taking away functionality in the guise of "improvement" is never a good idea. Forcing on us a system that forces you to talk to the phone, instead of supporting typing, should have been seen as a bad idea to the least intelligent Google designer. And I'm sorry, but the Google Now launcher just sucks compared to Nova Prime, so switching to that would be another step backward.

People on these forums scream bloody murder about Samsung, or Verizon, forcing software on us. But when Google does it, oh well, then it's just the way it is. Screw that. Google is a purveyor of bloatware as much as any other vendor. My phone is full of Google software that I never used, but can't delete.

Even as a "search product" this is a step backwards. Assistant's efforts to guess at what I really want are less accurate and less useful than just doing a Google search. If it's going to evolve, fine, but don't force everyone to use it until it has "evolved." The point of software is supposed to be to provide a benefit to me. This only provides a benefit to Google.
 

LineKill

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Yep. The most popular example is asking it the weather.

"What is the weather like today?"

Google answers.

"What about tomorrow?"

Google answers.

It understands when the flow as in when you say "What about tomorrow" it understands the context versus you having to say "What is the weather going to be like tomorrow?" after asking it the weather today. Small stuff like that.
Contextual conversations is what really makes Assistant stand apart from the others. So far I am really enjoying Assistant! With the recent Nougat & Assistant updates I am really enjoying my S7 edge more than ever:) Really😁
 

LeoRex

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Not sure what some of those issues are.... If I load Nova, there are three ways I can get to the full Now cards... clicking on the default Google widget, Clicking on the Google App shortcut, or setting up 'swipe up' to launch Google Now.
 

Almeuit

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I know they don't design software just for me. The truth is, they design software for themselves. All of it is designed to get more information they can use to market us. But taking away functionality in the guise of "improvement" is never a good idea. Forcing on us a system that forces you to talk to the phone, instead of supporting typing, should have been seen as a bad idea to the least intelligent Google designer. And I'm sorry, but the Google Now launcher just sucks compared to Nova Prime, so switching to that would be another step backward.

People on these forums scream bloody murder about Samsung, or Verizon, forcing software on us. But when Google does it, oh well, then it's just the way it is. Screw that. Google is a purveyor of bloatware as much as any other vendor. My phone is full of Google software that I never used, but can't delete.

Even as a "search product" this is a step backwards. Assistant's efforts to guess at what I really want are less accurate and less useful than just doing a Google search. If it's going to evolve, fine, but don't force everyone to use it until it has "evolved." The point of software is supposed to be to provide a benefit to me. This only provides a benefit to Google.

We're using Google's software -- therefore you get what they give. They wanted to get rid of Google Now since it wasn't as used and are trying another approach. Also from my understanding Google Assistant may get the "type in" functionality in the future update so you won't be forced to talk to it.

I am in another boat than you -- everything I have asked assistant has been right on what I need. The only time it hasn't is more in depth answers which then I tap for it to search the internet and scroll through Google like I normally would. I definitely see a benefit with it.

The bloat argument I can get sometimes with carriers since it is extra just from the carrier and not the OS. What OS lets you delete system apps? Last I checked even Apple has apps that could be "bloat" that you can't uninstall or even hide thanks to no app drawer. Every iPhone I have had you just have to shove them in a folder somewhere and that is it.
 

ClintRo

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I know they don't design software just for me. The truth is, they design software for themselves. All of it is designed to get more information they can use to market us. But taking away functionality in the guise of "improvement" is never a good idea. Forcing on us a system that forces you to talk to the phone, instead of supporting typing, should have been seen as a bad idea to the least intelligent Google designer. And I'm sorry, but the Google Now launcher just sucks compared to Nova Prime, so switching to that would be another step backward.

People on these forums scream bloody murder about Samsung, or Verizon, forcing software on us. But when Google does it, oh well, then it's just the way it is. Screw that. Google is a purveyor of bloatware as much as any other vendor. My phone is full of Google software that I never used, but can't delete.

Even as a "search product" this is a step backwards. Assistant's efforts to guess at what I really want are less accurate and less useful than just doing a Google search. If it's going to evolve, fine, but don't force everyone to use it until it has "evolved." The point of software is supposed to be to provide a benefit to me. This only provides a benefit to Google.


You can also add the google short cut from your app drawer to the desktop (homescreen) and it takes less space and isn't as ugly. I know it is not as convenient but it is better than nothing.
 

edubb256

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Google Assistant is basically Google Now except it has some AI so it can understand the flow of a conversation versus issuing multiple "commands" for the same stuff. You can almost talk to it like a human and it will understand the flow. That is really it.

I guess I have to play around with it bit more. I'm not seeing the benefit. It seems to me Google Now understands the flow of conversations just as well as Google Assistant.

I tried these questions in both Now and Assistant:
- Where was Abraham Lincoln born?
- What about wife?
- When did he die?
- Where?

I got exactly the same responses from both. Plus Now gives the option of typing (as opposed to speaking) in the question, and Google Now has cards. That said, the Assistant UI is a little more user friendly. The two seem more complementary, rather than Assistant being a replacement. If I had to choose one, I'd definitely choose Now.