Google Now, the mind-reading personal assistant for iOS and Android, has seen a lot of updates lately, making it the perfect smartphone companion for…well, anything. Here’s a list of the coolest stuff it can do.
Google Now does is releasing new features all the time. For an up to date list of what it can do — and how to enable the different cards — check out Google’s list of cards available in Now (and a list of some services it integrates with).
Keep Your Commute Simple
You spend a lot of time driving (or taking public transport) between work, events, seeing friends, and everything else. Google Now can make it a lot easier. If you enter your work address in its settings, it will always let you know how long it will take to get there, so you don’t get unexpectedly caught in traffic. It supports driving and public transport, and will even remember where you parked or tell you when the last train leaves. You can even share your commute with your family and friends, so they can check up on when you’re due home.
Keep An Eye On Stocks And Sports
You probably already know about this one, since it’s been there since the beginning. By entering your favourite sports teams and most-followed stocks in Now’s settings, you can get an update on how your team is winning, how your stocks are plummeting, or vice versa. It will also track stocks you’ve searched for and ones you’re tracking on Google Finance. (And yes, Australian stocks and teams are included.)
Travel Without Stress
If you’re leaving town, Google Now knows it — and can provide you with a lot of useful information. If you’re flying, it will keep track of your flight (using information from your email confirmation), and let you know when to leave the airport. It will also help you out with hotel information, car rentals, show you nearby places and events, photo spots, and — if you’re out of the country — even provide you with cards for translation and currency conversion. Basically, any time you’re out of town, pull up Google Now and it will have everything you might need at the ready.
See How Far You’ve Walked (Or Biked)
If you have Location Reporting and Location History enabled on your phone, Google Now will pop up a card once a month that estimates how far you’ve walked or biked, based on your phone’s accelerometer (Android only). Just remember: if you have these features enabled, that means Google is logging everywhere you go, so make sure you’re comfortable with that before you turn it on.
Keep Up With Your Favourite Web Sites
You probably know that Google Now will give you information on things you’ve recently searched, but it can do more than that. It will also alert you of breaking news, storm warnings, and other important developments. Plus, you can tell it to keep you up to date on certain people or let you know when your favourite blog updates with a new post.
Get Reminders Anytime, Anywhere
As if all the above weren’t enough, you can tell Google Now to remind you of just about anything, right when you need it the most. Bring up Google Now and tell it to remind you of something at a certain time, or when you reach a certain location. For example, you could have it “Remind me to call Mum in an hour” or “Remind me to take out the trash when I get home.” If you have events in Google Calendar, it will remind you when they’re happening — and, if they have a location, when you should leave to get there on time. It will even remind you when you have bills you need to pay.
Ask Your Phone Anything
Google Now does most of the above on its own, but you can ask it just about anything and get a smart answer, too. Google Now’s voice commands can do anything from make conversions to defining words to telling you who the president of the United States is. Here are some examples of awesome stuff you can ask it, and here’s an infographic of the different commands it can answer to, including calling people, navigating you somewhere, or playing music from a certain artist.
Comments
12 responses to “Awesome Features Of Google Now”
Sports scores – there since the beginning, but no sign of AFL teams yet!
Also, being in Victoria there is still no indication of how long a commute takes via public transport (but I think that is due to PTV sharing its data).
Public transport works fine in Canberra, makes getting the bus a breeze…
Seconded. No AFL teams. And in the last 2 months, having “Australian Cricket Team” in my teams list has produced ZERO info cards.
I also searched for “South Sydney” and the Rabbitohs came up so there’s some NRL capability…
now go back and the caveats for what does and doesnt work in australia!
It mostly all works in Australia.
It’s really really good!
oh i know, i use now daily, with my phone set to pretend to be a US phones when it comes to now, and i love it, just some things, like @ellismedia mentioned traffic times, don’t work like they do in the US where the article was clearly born.
Parking location is another cool one too, i cant say ive ever forgotten where ive left my car but i know plenty of people manage too
Traffic times work for me, in Australia. It will also alert me if there’s going to be more than about a ten minute delay.
If I search for a business from my google account, my phone will tell me how long to get there and offer me directions.
I have been waiting for a long time for A-League results to be available… and still waiting
I love Google Now and it keeps getting better. Sure my AFL and soccer teams are not there but having that pop up appear showing me commute times right before I leave the office is brilliant. I ignored it a couple of times but let me tell you, it’s always right! now if it says route A is busy, I take route B.
Still no where as comprehensive as it is in the States.
Google Now was giving me ‘city specific’ things in its own card to look at and do while I was in that particular city. Can’t wait till that stuff arrives here into Aus.
The parking card had marked my car park about 1km away from where it really was. Luckily I knew where I parked otherwise that’d be a long walk with the groceries.
The article is missing some of the best features, like telling you when you need to leave to get to a meeting on time (based on calendar events), along with directions on how to get there. Similarly for locations you’ve searched for. Or even learning places you frequent and giving you travel time / directions (although sometimes it’s embarrassing when Now learns your fast food habits)