Now you can wake your device or launch the Google Assistant on your smartphone by saying either ‘Ok Google’ or ‘Hey Google.’ Today, Google started rolling out the new launch phrase that sounds soberer to say multiple times a day.
The voice feature was initiated testing in October but across only a few users. The present rollout is for as many Android users as possible.
The ‘Ok Google’ voice command has already been there for a while now. It was first incorporated into the search app and later for the Assistant. Therefore, now you will have two voice commands for the same purpose as an Android user.
Google began providing a notification for the users so that they could retrain the voice model with the new command. The setup process is the same as the one you have carried out for the other voice command, as in: say ‘Hey Google’ thrice, and you are done! You can also retrain by going to Settings > Google > Search > Voice.
The devices supporting the always-listening mode will be awakened by simply using either of the two voice commands once you are done setting up.
As a related update, Google announced last week that Assistant will be rolled out to older smartphones that are running Android 5.0 Lollipop and 6.0 Marshmallow. Currently, the app is available on about 80% of active Android phones and on several feature phones like Jio Phone.
Another interesting fact is regarding Google’s significant effort in bringing AI capabilities in apps, as said by Sundar Pichai at I/O. It is, in fact, an essential angle of the company’s advancements towards an AI-first future.
What do you think of the new voice command? Share your thoughts in comments below and stay tuned with for more updates.
