It is confirmed: the Google Assistant will become much more practical to use – Frandroid

For the first time, the use of the Google Assistant without going through its famous phrase “Ok Google” was observed. The rollout of the update, however, is not yet relevant.

A feature under development will soon allow Google Assistant to manage quick tasks without the “Ok Google” command // Source: BENCE BOROS – Unsplash

In recent months, various rumors and leaks have suggested that Google Assistant’s famous phrase, “Ok Google”, which is usually used to activate it, could be left in the closet in Android 12. Instead, very simple voice shortcuts could allow the assistant to be used more directly.

So far, when we heard about these voice shortcuts, it was mainly clues, traces left by Google developers in the application. But for the first time, the site XDA Developers was able to make this feature work on one of its devices withAndroid 12.

A more practical assistant

According to their observations, the system works quite simply: if you receive a call for example, Google Assistant will light up to receive the “Answer” or “decline” instruction. Likewise, when your morning alarm clock rings to snatch you from your pillow, the assistant will activate, waiting for a grumpy “stop” or a lazy “snooze” from you.

Source: XDA

Source: XDA

The assistant thus seems to be able to do without the keywords “Ok Google” when certain specific scenarios are launched. The Mountain View firm would therefore have chosen to use a system that prevents the assistant fromlistening continuously, then waiting for a keyword from you to activate.

In detail, once the update has been deployed, it should be possible to choose which voice shortcuts to activate or not. XDA further specifies that when activating the shortcut for calls, Google warns you that this could cause you to answer unintentionally.

Note that if XDA managed to launch this new feature on a Pixel 3 XL equipped with Android 12, as far as we are concerned, we could not try it on our Pixel 4a. These shortcuts do not seem to be fully deployed yet.

One thing is certain: if they work correctly and do not trigger out of the blue, voice shortcuts could widely democratize the use of the Google Assistant.