5 ms·

“Hey Google” is the same number of syllables as Alexa.

steve_adams_86 9y ago
Isn't it 'Okay Google'? Either way, I do find Alexa rolls off the tongue a little easier. That may be because I have trouble enunciating verbal transitions.
- adjkant 9y ago
  It's both. It comes down to the keyword identification algorithm of course, not the design by Google. Google's decision choice was not picking a random name that can be identified but instead working in their brand name. My bet is that give it a few years and we will have custom activation words within some constraints.
  - dilap 9y ago
    Is it both? The Google Home I was playing with at my in-laws house a couple days ago definitely only seemed to respond to "OK" (people kept forgetting and using "hey", which didn't work).
    - adjkant 9y ago
      Works for me, though I've trained my voice on it, so perhaps that helps. I'm 100% it's supposed to be both.
    - Shoue 9y ago
      When you're setting up the Home during the training step it makes you say "Hey Google" and "Okay Google". It's definitely a bit hard to notice considering only a single word changes.
dilap 9y ago
The number of syllables isn't the problem, it's that prefixing every request with "OK," feels extremely unnatural -- almost like you're treating the Google assistant in a sardonic or sarcastic manner. (Also, "OK" is a very unnatural prefix! Notice how you accidentally replaced it with "hey". I watched a 7 year repeatedly do this a couple of days ago with Google Home, concluding it was broken. Compare w/ Alexa, which kids pick up on instantly.) Edit: OK, not accidental, apparently "hey" is supposed to work too. Not sure why it wasn't working at my in-laws house! I think "hey" is a better prefix word than "OK" (though still not nearly as nice as no prefix [try always addressing your friends by putting "hey" in front of their name and see how it goes]), so I reduce my criticism by half. :-)
- jmgao 9y ago
  AFAIK, 'Hey Google' as a hotword was supported on the Google Home from the beginning.
  - dilap 9y ago
    Interesting, someone else said that too. It definitely wasn't working for us though... Maybe something to do w/ whether or not it was trained to our voices?
    - dragonwriter 9y ago
      In principle, training to your voice should only be necessary to get access to personal content and settings, but it probably also improves wakeword recognition (and the training trains with both wakewords.)
  - dawnerd 9y ago
    It's what I started with and didn't even realize okay google was also valid. I wish they'd just let us designate our own, or at least give more choices.
    - ijidak 9y ago
      This is what I've wondered. Why not let us designate our own??? Or provide a number of choices. It seems only natural that one day users will be able to name their assistant. We'll look back at fixed naming and wonder who ever thought that made sense. If I want my assistant to be named Jarvis, it puzzles me why I can't do that. It would also simplify the case where multiple devices are in the room (e.g. not having to yell towards the specific target device and hope the others ones don't hear.) Something so simple will deeply personalize the experience for many users.
      - xyzzyz 9y ago
        Personalization would require training the network to recognize your hot word, which needs to work in all sound environments, and detect hot word spoken by different people. That network also needs to be optimized to be small enough to be run constantly by a low-powered CPU in standby mode. I am not saying that it is not doable, it's just there are real engineering tradeoffs present here.
mewse 9y ago
Also the same number as "Hey, Siri". And Samsung's "Hey, Bixby". I'm assuming it's not a coincidence. I think it's likely that three syllables just happens to be a nice cut-off point that minimizes the number of spurious activations, and that explains why everybody doing voice control uses that particular threshold to activate their digital assistant. Heck, even Star Trek got it right way back in 1966 with its "Computer" wake word. About the only company I can find that seems to be ignoring the three-syllable rule is Microsoft, who use "Hey, Cortana", which is four syllables. But Microsoft's always been a fan of using really long phrases to identify their products, so maybe that shouldn't be a surprise.
- linker3000 9y ago
  Just be glad that VMware don't make one. "Hey, VMware vSphere Home Voice Assistant Essentials Plus..."

Isn't it 'Okay Google'? Either way, I do find Alexa rolls off the tongue a little easier. That may be because I have trouble enunciating verbal transitions.

adjkant 9y ago
It's both. It comes down to the keyword identification algorithm of course, not the design by Google. Google's decision choice was not picking a random name that can be identified but instead working in their brand name. My bet is that give it a few years and we will have custom activation words within some constraints.
- dilap 9y ago
  Is it both? The Google Home I was playing with at my in-laws house a couple days ago definitely only seemed to respond to "OK" (people kept forgetting and using "hey", which didn't work).
  - adjkant 9y ago
    Works for me, though I've trained my voice on it, so perhaps that helps. I'm 100% it's supposed to be both.
  - Shoue 9y ago
    When you're setting up the Home during the training step it makes you say "Hey Google" and "Okay Google". It's definitely a bit hard to notice considering only a single word changes.

dilap 9y ago

The number of syllables isn't the problem, it's that prefixing every request with "OK," feels extremely unnatural -- almost like you're treating the Google assistant in a sardonic or sarcastic manner. (Also, "OK" is a very unnatural prefix! Notice how you accidentally replaced it with "hey". I watched a 7 year repeatedly do this a couple of days ago with Google Home, concluding it was broken. Compare w/ Alexa, which kids pick up on instantly.) Edit: OK, not accidental, apparently "hey" is supposed to work too. Not sure why it wasn't working at my in-laws house! I think "hey" is a better prefix word than "OK" (though still not nearly as nice as no prefix [try always addressing your friends by putting "hey" in front of their name and see how it goes]), so I reduce my criticism by half. :-)

jmgao 9y ago
AFAIK, 'Hey Google' as a hotword was supported on the Google Home from the beginning.
- dilap 9y ago
  Interesting, someone else said that too. It definitely wasn't working for us though... Maybe something to do w/ whether or not it was trained to our voices?
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    In principle, training to your voice should only be necessary to get access to personal content and settings, but it probably also improves wakeword recognition (and the training trains with both wakewords.)
- dawnerd 9y ago
  It's what I started with and didn't even realize okay google was also valid. I wish they'd just let us designate our own, or at least give more choices.
  - ijidak 9y ago
    This is what I've wondered. Why not let us designate our own??? Or provide a number of choices. It seems only natural that one day users will be able to name their assistant. We'll look back at fixed naming and wonder who ever thought that made sense. If I want my assistant to be named Jarvis, it puzzles me why I can't do that. It would also simplify the case where multiple devices are in the room (e.g. not having to yell towards the specific target device and hope the others ones don't hear.) Something so simple will deeply personalize the experience for many users.
    - xyzzyz 9y ago
      Personalization would require training the network to recognize your hot word, which needs to work in all sound environments, and detect hot word spoken by different people. That network also needs to be optimized to be small enough to be run constantly by a low-powered CPU in standby mode. I am not saying that it is not doable, it's just there are real engineering tradeoffs present here.

mewse 9y ago

Also the same number as "Hey, Siri". And Samsung's "Hey, Bixby". I'm assuming it's not a coincidence. I think it's likely that three syllables just happens to be a nice cut-off point that minimizes the number of spurious activations, and that explains why everybody doing voice control uses that particular threshold to activate their digital assistant. Heck, even Star Trek got it right way back in 1966 with its "Computer" wake word. About the only company I can find that seems to be ignoring the three-syllable rule is Microsoft, who use "Hey, Cortana", which is four syllables. But Microsoft's always been a fan of using really long phrases to identify their products, so maybe that shouldn't be a surprise.

linker3000 9y ago
Just be glad that VMware don't make one. "Hey, VMware vSphere Home Voice Assistant Essentials Plus..."