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I have endless frustrations with Google Assistant / Google Now / Whatever they call it now. A few examples: 1. I have my phone set up to trust bluetooth in my
by fullstop 6y ago
I have endless frustrations with Google Assistant / Google Now / Whatever they call it now. A few examples:
1. I have my phone set up to trust bluetooth in my car and unlock my phone. I get in the car and say "okay google, open spotify" -- this is so that it will continue playing what I was listening to before I left work.
"Okay", she says, and then tells me that she can't do that because my screen is locked. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it does not.
2. When I had Google Play Music it reliably would play random sub-par covers of songs rather than the original, even when I specified the artist.
3. Sometimes it decides to rely on screen input instead of audio controls. I can't do that while I'm driving.
4. It sometimes ends voice input too early or does voice input inconsistently. I've sent messages to my wife saying "I'm on my way home exclamation point" instead of "I'm on my way home!"
5. Commands which have worked for months suddenly stop working.
6. Sometimes my screen stays on, forever, after asking to play music. (OnePlus 7T, Android 10). This does not always happen.
7. Google: "Here's your message, send it?"
Me: Yes
Google: Sits there for a moment and pops up the results for "Yes" in the assistant.
My biggest gripe isn't what it can and can not do. It is the inconsistency that drives me up the wall. I am not a heavy user and most of my requests are because I wish for it to be hands-free in a car with bluetooth audio. I'm sure that this is a harder problem to solve than just me interacting with the phone, but it is a common use case.
- Sohcahtoa82 6y agoI don't even bother trying to use any sort of voice commands while in a car unless I'm stopped and the radio is off. Road noise makes voice recognition an impossible task.
- Throwaway1771 6y agoNeed better car, or add dynamat to your old car's doors. Or, possibly different tires. This is an unusual problem - sounds annoying in general!
- craftinator 6y ago> 5. Commands which have worked for months suddenly stop working. This is my biggest gripe. Whatever magic voodoo ML they use is inconsistent, and it's not clear what level of abstraction this inconsistency is happening in. What I want is the reliability of Google Assistant's speech to text parsing, combined with a firm, customizable interface. Something like If This Then That, where there are some default commands with a clear reliable command pattern: "send message to George Orwell, we live in your book", and commands can be added.
- robotnikman 6y agoEither that or you are part of some random A/B test which made some change to the command. I've always wondered how much A/B testing contributes to the inconsistencies in Google Assistant, and other things like Chrome or Netflix
- adwww 6y agoI'm sure when I had an iPhone 5 I had reliable skipping tracks and sending text messages via Siri when driving. I use Android these days, but have stopped even attempting to use voice control when driving for all the reasons you've mentioned. It does almost feel like the functionality has gone backwards in recent years.
- Throwaway1771 6y agoHow long is your phone lock when screen is turned off time?
- fullstop 6y ago5 seconds after sleep, except when kept unlocked by Smart Lock. For Smart Lock, I have "On Body Detection" as well as a trusted Bluetooth device enabled. Part of the disconnect here is likely how I am understanding "Trusted Bluetooth Device". I likely have to unlock it once while paired with that BT device, while the text says "$DEVICE_NAME unlocks this device when nearby".
- Tyr42 6y agoGoogle assistant is not able to play the next episode in a podcast. It can only play the most recent as far as I could tell. This isn't great.