{"id":5205,"date":"2017-11-15T08:46:48","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T16:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/?p=5205"},"modified":"2023-01-11T15:41:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T23:41:01","slug":"smart-choice-go-hands-free-google-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/smart-choice-go-hands-free-google-assistant\/","title":{"rendered":"A Smart Choice: Go Hands Free With Google Assistant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201c<em>OK, Google\u2014help me put away these groceries.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A digital assistant may not be able to help you with household chores yet, but spend a little time using the newly enhanced Google Assistant and you\u2019ll quickly discover that voice-activated control of your smartphone is now easier than ever. And it\u2019s available for many Android smartphones and for iPhone\u2014as a matter of fact, if you\u2019re using Android 6.0 or higher, you already have it!<\/p>\n<p>You can use this handy digital assistant to control apps and devices, find answers to all kinds of questions, make plans, or carry out a variety of useful tasks. On Android phones, simply unlock your phone, hold down the home key, and you\u2019ll see it open up. Say, \u201c<em>OK, Google<\/em>\u201d or ask a question to activate it, and you\u2019re off and running!<\/p>\n<p>Unlike the Android version, you can&#8217;t wake your iPhone by saying &#8220;OK Google&#8221; to the Assistant. Instead, you\u2019ll need to add the app to your list of widgets. You can download it <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/google-assistant\/id1220976145?mt=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>. With the widget added, you can access Google Assistant from the lock or home screen with a swipe and a tap. Scroll to the bottom of the widgets you currently have added, and then tap on the Edit button. Find&nbsp;\u201cYour Google Assistant\u201d&nbsp;in the list and tap on the green button.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve activated the Assistant, ask it anything you want. It will search the Internet or use associated Google apps to get you an answer or do the job you require. I use it to make phone calls, send text messages, or even email. For example, I just tell it \u201c<em>Text Hubby Be Home At Five<\/em>\u201d, or \u201c<em>Call Mom<\/em>,\u201d and Google Assistant takes care of the rest. It\u2019s terrific for searching movie show times, or flight information. Say \u201c<em>take me home<\/em>\u201d, and it will use Google Maps to direct you to your home address. You can ask it to choose music from your phone\u2019s library (\u201c<em>play me jazz<\/em>\u201d) and search your Google Photos to find exactly what you\u2019re looking for (\u201c<em>show me pictures from the beach<\/em>.\u201d) You can even sync it to other \u201csmart\u201d devices in your home\u2014a thermostat, a lamp, or others\u2014and control them remotely (\u201c<em>turn off the lights in the kitchen<\/em>.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re new to using hands-free technology, or gave up on earlier versions, I highly recommend giving the latest Google Assistant a try. From waking you up in the morning to turning off your bedside lamp at night, it provides a thousand conveniences to make your smartphone an even more indispensable tool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOK, Google\u2014help me put away these groceries.\u201d A digital assistant may not be able to help you with household chores yet, but spend a little time using the newly enhanced Google Assistant and you\u2019ll quickly discover that voice-activated control of your smartphone is now easier than ever. And it\u2019s available for many Android smartphones and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.13 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>A Smart Choice: Go Hands Free with Google Assistant<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spend time using the newly enhanced Google Assistant and you\u2019ll quickly discover that voice-activated control of your smartphone is now easier than ever.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/smart-choice-go-hands-free-google-assistant\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Susan Thomas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Smart Choice: Go Hands Free with Google Assistant","description":"Spend time using the newly enhanced Google Assistant and you\u2019ll quickly discover that voice-activated control of your smartphone is now easier than ever.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.consumercellular.com\/blog\/smart-choice-go-hands-free-google-assistant\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Susan Thomas","Est. reading time":"2 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