Google Assistant, my virtual companion

Hi Friends,

After a gap of month I decided to write a small blog to celebrate the festival mood. This time I'm writing it on my favourite Google Assistant and most importantly on its commands. These commands are very handy on the go for a specific task or to fetch certain information. People around me know this very well that I use them extensively right from checking the time and battery level of my device to changing the profile picture on my phone. Since you get the response in audio you don't have to look at your screen. If you follow my blogs then you might be aware that last year I became a proud owner of Google Home Mini, the smart speaker by Google. This device is always online at my home and everyone uses it including my elderly parents. I must tell you whenever I am home I command Mini as ‘Hey Google’ and get the response within fraction of time. Its an amazing feeling altogether! Utilization of these services purely depend upon knowledge of important commands. Hence I decided to pen down few of the useful ones. Commands mentioned below will work on any device that supports Google Assistant.

So let’s get started with a big shout to our Virtual Assistant!

What is the time? or what is the clock?

Usage is very straight forward; but let me tell you it is one of the most asked queries on any smart speaker. Whenever I am home I use this a lot. I remember before assistant came into the picture I used to trouble my family members for this important but stupid question (wink..)

How is the traffic towards work? (or any other location)

This is very important for daily commuters who travel by road. Thanks to google's own map service which provides this information on the go. Let me tell you it is a savior many times if you are traveling towards new location.

How do you say --- [any word] in Hindi? Or any other language

This service is an output of Google's own rich translation algorithm. This is very useful in many scenarios. I know many of my friends' kids use this for their home work. Isn’t that great?  

How do you spell --- [any word]?

This is useful if you are into lot of documentation. When I am working on my laptop and if I stuck at any word then instead of opening additional browser window for Google search I just give a command to my Home Mini and get the result instantly. Like previous commands kids use this a lot.

Remember --- [any info e.g. "I kept my card in third shelf"]

This is the most amazing command I came across. With this one you can tell your assistant to remember certain things for you. You can fetch the saved information by asking few questions related to the task. For e.g. 'What did I tell you about my card?' or 'Where is my card?'. Warning! You should not ask your assistant to remember your passwords as it may not be a great idea from the security and privacy point of view. Guys please note, to use this command on smart speaker you will have to provide certain privileges through your 'Home' app. Don’t worry, Google will help you to set this once you ask to remember something.

 

India's cricket score? or when is India playing next?

It is very useful and handy when you want to know the status of any sport which is currently going on or recently completed. I like this command specially as I can check the score without turning the TV on. I taught this to my dad and he uses this effectively to know the score of cricket match. I often use this during my travel.

How do I do this? or any Google search term

Since Google Assistant is powered by Google's rich search mechanism, using assistant for searching any information is a pleasant experience. It even reads the trending search for you. I tried few queries like 'What is the price of certain phone?', 'How do I use filter in MS Excel?' and assistant quickly responded to me in it's pleasing voice.

Play [any artist name], [any music genres] [any album]

All these commands are good alternatives to access your favourite music quickly. Assistant looks for your active subscriptions and streams the audio using the appropriate service. In case of no active subscription, music is played using the free services like YouTube. You can even control your music hands free with commands like ‘Pause’, 'Stop', 'Rewind', 'Forward'.

Set me an alarm [any time]

Opening 'Clock' app and setting an alarm involves multiple steps but this command makes our life easy. Using this command you can set multiple alarms and even snooze any of the running alarm by just saying 'Snooze the alarm'. Canceling alarm is also possible with just a 'Cancel alarm [at specific time]’ command.

How is weather?

This command gives detailed weather report for your current location. Details include temperature and any important weather forecast. It is very useful to plan your day accordingly. I must tell you, being a Mumbaikar I use this a lot during monsoon time to know the unpredictable weather conditions. You can even use this for checking weather for any location in the world. For e.g. ‘How is weather in Melbourne?’. I remember I was using this query many times before my Melbourne travel.

Try and enjoy!

It's good to utilize Google Assistant in effective way by using the rich command library provided by Google. The above mentioned commands are few of the important ones however command library is still very huge. I must tell you these commands will surely save your time and give you the user friendly experience. Specially the voice control nature makes them the perfect companion for your elderly parents, kids and those who are not technology savvy. So, why to wait? Go wake your Google Assistant up and get ready to be amazed!