Google Now May Soon Get a Cool New Upgrade: Spoken Notifications

[dgstorm]

Although Google Now is already the most powerful of all of the digital search assistants on the market right now, that doesn't mean that Google is not working hard to push it forward even further. In fact, it would appear those geniuses at Google's engineering labs are working harder than ever to introduce cool new features to Google Now. The latest rumored feature is coming soon and will take Google Now to a whole new level of usefulness. That feature is "spoken notifications."

Obviously, the primary purpose of a feature like this is to allow you to use the service hands-free without having to look at and manipulate the screen. Here's a quick list of the functionality this feature aims to include:

• Google Search will read notifications aloud when it sees that hands-free mode is active
• It will allow your device to search directly from the lock screen whether you are typing on the screen or using your voice
• It will supposedly also include support for voice activated power toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and flashlight (it's possible that this particular feature might come later on down the line rather than show up in Google Search 4.1)

This latest intel was gleaned from code found inside a recent teardown of the software. It also talks about future integration in Chrome and Android and even eventual support for non-Google services. This sounds awesome!

Source: APK Teardown Google Search v4.1 Hints At Notifications Read Aloud Project Hera Social Networking And A Whole Lot More

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Ok. This makes me feel better about the feature. When I first heard of this, I thought, how obnoxious would it be to hear the g now voice announce every notification.

This seems to be more like "Car Mode" on some devices, which makes way more sense to me.

Glad to see them constantly adding functionality to products that are already pretty darn solid.

 

[Dusty]

Yeah Google Now is just awesome. Part of me dislikes having this "big brother" thing going on. But the other half LOVES getting notifications like the last one on this screenshot when it's 20 degrees outside...

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Yeah Google Now is just awesome. Part of me dislikes having this "big brother" thing going on. But the other half LOVES getting notifications like the last one on this screenshot when it's 20 degrees outside...

I agree with each half of you. Haha! And that's awesome. I really wanted to wait to replace our thermostat until we could afford a Nest or similar device, but we decided that we shouldn't wait to replace the old Mercury-filled one with a programmable digital one, so maybe someday...(I put one on our wedding registry, so you never know. Haha! I'm counting on us both having rich relatives that we didn't know about come out of the woodwork for the wedding)

 

[FoxKat]

I agree with each half of you. Haha! And that's awesome. I really wanted to wait to replace our thermostat until we could afford a Nest or similar device, but we decided that we shouldn't wait to replace the old Mercury-filled one with a programmable digital one, so maybe someday...(I put one on our wedding registry, so you never know. Haha! I'm counting on us both having rich relatives that we didn't know about come out of the woodwork for the wedding)

Well, I just did a quick search and guess what I found? How about the NEST thermostat for FREE???

Go to Comfort Control Plan With Nest Learning Thermostat Direct Energy , and choose Direct Energy as your electricity provider and they will mail you a NEST thermostat FREE. Not only that, but they will ALSO send as a bonus, a $50 VISA Gift Card. How can you pass up an offer like that?

They have two plans for my area (PECO), one for a 24 month program at $0.1009 (10.09 cents) per KWH, and a 36 month program at $0.1019 (10.19 cents) per KWH. At those rates, versus the $ 0.907 per KWH that PECO charges, I'd have to use an exhorbitant amount of energy over the 24 months to come even close to eating up the cost.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Well, I just did a quick search and guess what I found? How about the NEST thermostat for FREE???

Go to Comfort Control Plan With Nest Learning Thermostat Direct Energy , and choose Direct Energy as your electricity provider and they will mail you a NEST thermostat FREE. Not only that, but they will ALSO send as a bonus, a $50 VISA Gift Card. How can you pass up an offer like that?

They have two plans for my area (PECO), one for a 24 month program at $0.1009 (10.09 cents) per KWH, and a 36 month program at $0.1019 (10.19 cents) per KWH. At those rates, versus the $ 0.907 per KWH that PECO charges, I'd have to use an exhorbitant amount of energy over the 24 months to come even close to eating up the cost.

Never heard of direct energy. We have dte or propane for options AFAIK.

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[LoudRam]

Sounds like it'll do what Moto assist does. I love Moto assist. It's so handy when I'm driving. The best part is that you don't need to have your data on to hear or reply to texts. I hope they do that with with Google Now. You guys are going to love it.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Samsung's car mode will read notifications out & let you respond via voice, but I've only ever used it a couple times.

I live in a town so small, by the time I activated car mode, I could've already been where I was headed. (Ok, maybe not, but I have about a 3 minute drive to work on the average day)

Sent from my Note 4 via Tapatalk

 

[dja1980]

Well, I just did a quick search and guess what I found? How about the NEST thermostat for FREE???

Go to Comfort Control Plan With Nest Learning Thermostat Direct Energy , and choose Direct Energy as your electricity provider and they will mail you a NEST thermostat FREE. Not only that, but they will ALSO send as a bonus, a $50 VISA Gift Card. How can you pass up an offer like that?

They have two plans for my area (PECO), one for a 24 month program at $0.1009 (10.09 cents) per KWH, and a 36 month program at $0.1019 (10.19 cents) per KWH. At those rates, versus the $ 0.907 per KWH that PECO charges, I'd have to use an exhorbitant amount of energy over the 24 months to come even close to eating up the cost.

I actually looked into that Direct Energy promo a few months ago when I was looking into purchasing a Nest. Unfortunately, you end up locking in higher rates rather than being on an adjustable rate... so over the course of an average year, you would end up spending more than the $250 it would cost to buy your Nest from a retailer.

 

[cr6]

I've been using Samsung's Car Mode since the S3 and it continues to improve with each update. It really works great with Bluetooth for complete hands free operation.
I don't like looking at my phone, (unless I'm using maps, but even then turn by turn navigation is the way to go) even at a stop light.
I can't tell you how many times I have to honk my horn each week because the driver in front of me is starting down at their phone after a light has turned green....rather frustrating.
Car Mode & Google completely eliminates that. Of course it's not going to cure the problem of people checking their Facebook etc while driving, but for calls, texts, activating music, maps etc its great.
Google has really caught up with this feature lately and I find it's much less intrusive than activating Car Mode.

S5 tap'n