Google Now - am I missing something?

[Mike Richmond2]

Qwikstrike - I am happy that it answers questions and performs actions based on my location. It also has a good reminder system. However, I was really asking how to get it to live up to the claim made for it by Google:

"See helpful cards with information that you need throughout your day, before you even ask."

So far, apart from the weather and driving times, it has told me nothing I haven't actively asked it, despite my long-term use of Google and Chrome.

I have taken Jalan94's advice and set my main private email address to forward to gmail. Let's see if Now can learn something about me....

Just answering my active questions doesn't take a whole home screen in the interface design - that is covered by the one-line search bar.

 

[festinator]

Qwikstrike - I am happy that it answers questions and performs actions based on my location. It also has a good reminder system. However, I was really how to get it to live up to the claim made for it by Google:

"See helpful cards with information that you need throughout your day, before you even ask."

So far, apart from the weather and driving times, it has told me nothing I haven't actively asked it, despite my long-term use of Google and Chrome.

I have taken Jalan94's advice and set my main private email address to forward to gmail. Let's see if Now can learn something about me....

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PAs6yQUCkno

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bohfoK-edfU

Start setting up cards and it'll learn more about you btw. And I think a lot of you should take a look at these videos to find out more about what google now can do.

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[Mike Richmond2]

Start setting up cards and it'll learn more about you btw

What exactly do you mean by 'start setting up cards'? All I see in the 'customise' section (pressing the little wand) is sports teams, stocks, places, and 'Everything Else' - where EE is just Weather at work or at home.

Where are all these cards I read about?

 

[ManInTheBox10]

Google Now has an annoying habit now of often telling me I have no connection when in fact I do and all other apps work well. But that's a different issue. I'm going to talk about what Now does, doesn't do, and could do.

Pulling up Google Now I have five cards. Two sports cards - Ticats and Roughriders, Leafs and Blue Jackets. Clicking on one of these cards shows me the score of the most recent game and shows a schedule of past and upcoming games. It's very limited. I can't quickly find out other games being played today for teams that aren't my favourite, and I can't quickly look at stats or standings. This is why I have TheScore, which gives me everything I need to know and includes a widget which when I click on, gives me access to much more information than Google.

Then I have the weather. It shows me the current weather along with the next few days forecast. If I want to find out the hourly forecast, which to me is more important, I have to click it. A notification which appears occasionally is also very limited. Eye In The Sky has an ongoing notification that displays all the information I need with one swipe from the notification bar.

Now there's travel times with my (not so) preferred transportation mode, public transit. It tells me the time to work and to my mom's. This is an area that needs a lot of improvement. Google asks me about the most obscure places I don't care about and doesn't ask me about places I actually go to a lot. Hence why I have only two cards.

The most useful feature for me, when it works, is when it tells me the bus times at a bus stop. Much easier than pulling up Maps, finding my stop, and pulling up the schedule. However more often than not I either don't get a card or it shows me a card at a stop a few blocks away.

Movie times are useful, but it shows up only when I'm at the cinema. Usually by the time I get to the cinema I know what movie I'm going to see and that's why I'm there at that particular time.

News topics. Well that's cool, and someones useful, but again it's so limited that I'd rather just use feedly, or more recently, Google Play Newsstand.

Everyone likes to talk about cards with package, flight, and reservation info. But how often are you going to use that? For most people, not every day. Let me ask this, when was the last time you made a reservation at a restaurant via email? Lol.

Google needs to allow apps to add their own cards within design guidelines. In a way this would replace needing multiple screens to swipe through widgets. Imagine being able to access your email or bank accounts through Mint.com or Google Wallet in Now. Think of a feedly widget that shows you personalized articles of your choosing in Now. This is what Google needs to do with Now, make it customizable and eliminate the need for multiple home screens - make everything available with one swipe and a quick scroll. With Google Now being a part of the hone screen in GEL, you can essentially unlock your phone and have all your custom information on hand from the get-go. As it stands Google Now is a very cool concept, but far too limited and outdone by apps that specialize in their respective categories.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[QWIKSTRIKE]

Qwikstrike - I am happy that it answers questions and performs actions based on my location. It also has a good reminder system. However, I was really asking how to get it to live up to the claim made for it by Google:

"See helpful cards with information that you need throughout your day, before you even ask."

So far, apart from the weather and driving times, it has told me nothing I haven't actively asked it, despite my long-term use of Google and Chrome.

I have taken Jalan94's advice and set my main private email address to forward to gmail. Let's see if Now can learn something about me....

Just answering my active questions doesn't take a whole home screen in the interface design - that is covered by the one-line search bar.

Yes, but for that to happen you have to have cards that you like set up. It is not a fortune teller or has ESP. I think you maybe just a bit confused on how it works. As I mentioned earlier you must set up the cards that you are interested in such as sports, entertainment, movies,.....ect. For instance when ever I leave town wherever I go it lets me know the traffic conditions on my return trip before I even leave. Throughout the day the cards will show up and display traffic conditions along the route that I normally take home. It recognizes the places that I frequent most and alerts me of weather and traffic conditons to those destinations. When I go visti relatives or friends cards pop up and display the time that I normally depart for home and alert me of traffic conditions.

These things won't completely work if you don't set thje information up. You need to set up how you travel most, bike, walk, plane, train or car. I would set up home, and work destination addresses, and then let the cards take over by setting up voice interaction, gps and tracking. Phone search has apps, chrome, contacts, and play movies and tv that must be checked in Google Now Search and Now settings. With these things checked in the settings you should get the same results that I am getting.

Google now works based on data conncetions so if you lose data connections it will not work. Thew cards amust be setup as I mentioned the 1st time around, and wif no data is there it will not work with server data.

 

[festinator]

Google Now has an annoying habit now of often telling me I have no connection when in fact I do and all other apps work well. But that's a different issue. I'm going to talk about what Now does, doesn't do, and could do.

Pulling up Google Now I have five cards. Two sports cards - Ticats and Roughriders, Leafs and Blue Jackets. Clicking on one of these cards shows me the score of the most recent game and shows a schedule of past and upcoming games. It's very limited. I can't quickly find out other games being played today for teams that aren't my favourite, and I can't quickly look at stats or standings. This is why I have TheScore, which gives me everything I need to know and includes a widget which when I click on, gives me access to much more information than Google.

Then I have the weather. It shows me the current weather along with the next few days forecast. If I want to find out the hourly forecast, which to me is more important, I have to click it. A notification which appears occasionally is also very limited. Eye In The Sky has an ongoing notification that displays all the information I need with one swipe from the notification bar.

Now there's travel times with my (not so) preferred transportation mode, public transit. It tells me the time to work and to my mom's. This is an area that needs a lot of improvement. Google asks me about the most obscure places I don't care about and doesn't ask me about places I actually go to a lot. Hence why I have only two cards.

The most useful feature for me, when it works, is when it tells me the bus times at a bus stop. Much easier than pulling up Maps, finding my stop, and pulling up the schedule. However more often than not I either don't get a card or it shows me a card at a stop a few blocks away.

Movie times are useful, but it shows up only when I'm at the cinema. Usually by the time I get to the cinema I know what movie I'm going to see and that's why I'm there at that particular time.

News topics. Well that's cool, and someones useful, but again it's so limited that I'd rather just use feedly, or more recently, Google Play Newsstand.

Everyone likes to talk about cards with package, flight, and reservation info. But how often are you going to use that? For most people, not every day. Let me ask this, when was the last time you made a reservation at a restaurant via email? Lol.

Google needs to allow apps to add their own cards within design guidelines. In a way this would replace needing multiple screens to swipe through widgets. Imagine being able to access your email or bank accounts through Mint.com or Google Wallet in Now. Think of a feedly widget that shows you personalized articles of your choosing in Now. This is what Google needs to do with Now, make it customizable and eliminate the need for multiple home screens - make everything available with one swipe and a quick scroll. With Google Now being a part of the hone screen in GEL, you can essentially unlock your phone and have all your custom information on hand from the get-go. As it stands Google Now is a very cool concept, but far too limited and outdone by apps that specialize in their respective categories.

Posted via Android Central App

Go watch videos on how to use google now and all the different things it can do and then come back and try to call it limited.

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[Mike Richmond2]

Yes, but for that to happen you have to have cards that you like set up. It is not a fortune teller or has ESP. I think you maybe just a bit confused on how it works. As I mentioned earlier you must set up the cards that you are interested in such as sports, entertainment, movies,...etc

I see the options for sports, unfortunately none that I am interested in. How do I set up cards for entertainment, movies etc? I have listed everything I can see in the settings and from the 'magic wand' - just sports, stocks,locations and weather.

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[QWIKSTRIKE]

I see the options for sports, unfortunately none that I am interested in. How do I set up cards for entertainment, movies etc? I have listed everything I can see in the settings and from the 'magic wand' - just sports, stocks,locations and weather.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

Go to the settings and in the Google Now Search & Now Cards and open all the options , phone search check all of the options, Voice check all of those options that apply, Notification,, and account and settings to completely setup the cards and voice interaction.

 

[Mike Richmond2]

Go to the settings and in the Google Now Search & Now Cards and open all the options , phone search check all of the options, Voice check all of those options that apply, Notification,, and account and settings to completely setup the cards and voice interaction.

Did that 3 weeks ago. It only ever proactively tells me about the weather and driving directions and traffic.

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[QWIKSTRIKE]

You have your frequently traveled addresses like home and work input inot dta fields. Do you haveallow to track turned on in privacy, because with that off it won't work. I was worried about being tracked, but I have nothing to hide so I finally checked tracking. At the bottom of the screen when you scrolled down there is a pencil with a + sign that allows you to add more places and cards of interest. With these settings setup, and checked it tracks the places you frequents the most and even if they are not input in the address data fields makes suggestions like traffic conditions or palcxe to go of interest.

 

[festinator]

What exactly do you mean by 'start setting up cards'? All I see in the 'customise' section (pressing the little wand) is sports teams, stocks, places, and 'Everything Else' - where EE is just Weather at work or at home.

Where are all these cards I read about?

Sorry that was in the previous version of google now. How many things do you have in everywhere else? I have 11

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[Mike Richmond2]

I have 2. Weather at home, weather at work.

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[Mike Richmond2]

p.s. I have now set my preferred travel.

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[lornaevo]

I wish they could improve the scheduling aspect of Google Now. As in creating appointments.

 

[Mike Richmond2]

At the bottom of the screen when you scrolled down there is a pencil with a + sign that allows you to add more places and cards of interest.

Which screen has the pencil with a + sign?

 

[festinator]

I have 2. Weather at home, weather at work.

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:/ I have 13.

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[Mike Richmond2]

:/ I have 13.

And the question is, how to add more...

 

[QWIKSTRIKE]

View attachment 93749

p.s. I have now set my preferred travel.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using AC Forums mobile app

Which screen has the pencil with a + sign?

You are getting there....to add more when you first open the Google Now app scroll to the bottom and its the symbol diectly in the middle or left of the settings menu, and the reminder symbol. There you can access customize Goolge Now screen and add, or modify cards by choosing and holding and readdressing answers and adding more in the everythng else screen As long as hou have GPS and data service Google Now wilol track what you do and start advising you about places sport or anything in your everything ealse cards. The more you travel the more it will make sugeestion cards.

My places always updayes me about things going on in my area....Wow I am loving this ...for instance with the Sports it tells me about the Knicks, Nets, Giants, Jets, Mets. or Yankees ticket schedule.

 

[Mike Richmond2]

You are getting there....to add more when you first open the Google Now app scroll to the bottom and its the symbol diectly in the middle or left of the settings menu, and the reminder symbol. There you can access customize Goolge Now screen and add, or modify cards by choosing and holding and readdressing answers and adding more.

How do you add more? That screenshot is what I see. What do you press next? Specifically, how do you add a card that isn't sport,stocks, locations or weather?

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[festinator]

And the question is, how to add more...

I can't really help you with the everything else because I don't know what it looks like before you add things. The other 3 categories are straight forward so you'll be fine with those. Add any sports teams you follow, and it should add more options to the everything else spot, about receiving score updates and such. If you give google now location access or whatever, it'll follow where you go most often and ask you if thats work or school or whatever, then it'll start giving you directions or routes to get there depending on what you use to get there. For transit, it'll learn the bus or train stations closest to you and and work and give you the times the bus/train arrives and how long it'll take you to get to your destination. The more stuff you add in the other categories, I think the more stuff gets added to the everything else.

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