Get Google Now-Style Answers On Any Device With Google Talk


Google Now is great, but it’s not the only way to get useful information from Google on your smartphone. If you want Google Now-style data, but don’t have a Jelly Bean (or rooted Ice Cream Sandwich phone), just fire up Google Talk on your smartphone and add [email protected] to your contact list. Ask Guru what you want to know, and get instant, useful replies.

This works best with Android devices, since Android has a built-in GTalk client. iOS users will have to use a third party app, such as our favourite, Imo, to get the same features.

Once Guru is in your contacts list, commands like “weather: city” will give you the current conditions in that location, and “score: team” will help you find the score of a game you’re interested in, or the last game your favourite team played. Here are all of the commands guru understands that we know of:

  • Score: team
  • Weather: city
  • Define: word
  • Translate: word
  • Web: query (performs a Google web search)
  • Calculate: formula

It’s not totally Google Now, because it doesn’t have useful features like traffic alerts, turn-by-turn directions and other device control features, but it does a great job of answering questions and giving you quick access to web searches and other useful information. Give it a try and let us know what you think in the discussions below.

[TRICK] Text Mode Pseudo-Google Now for All ROMS Using Google Talk [xda-developers]


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