Google Assistant - What can it do in 2020

If you just got a Google Assistant device like a nest mini or a nest hub and are wondering what the heck do I actually do with the Google assistant ?

Or you just want to brush up on your Google assistant skills .

This is the video for you in this video .

I'm going to take you through all of the core main features of the Google Assistant , including music and media playback , smart home controls , recipes , reminders , lists , and of course search queries just to name a few things .

So let's dive in .

Now , the Google Assistant has been the piece of technology that has had the largest impact on my life .

By far over the past five years , I find myself using it constantly on the various speakers around my home , on my pixel phone and even went on a run with my pixel buds .

The main way you interact with the Google assistant is by using the wake word , which I'm not going to do now because I don't want to trigger your Google assistant while you're watching this at home .

But just know in all of the examples we have in this video , I will be leaving out the wake word .

All right .

Now , let's move on to our first feature of the Google assistant and that is music and media playback .

The Google assistant can play your favorite music from a variety of music streaming services including Google , play music , youtube , music , Spotify , Pandora , and more .

Once you sync your music streaming service with your Google Assistant through the Google assistant app found on Android and I OS device devices .

You're good to go .

You can ask Google on any Google assistant device to play a song , play an artist , a playlist in your music library , a radio station , et cetera .

Now , if you don't know the artist or the song title , but you know a lyric from the song .

If you're using Google play music or youtube music , you can ask Google to play that lyric and it will typically figure out what song you're trying to play play .

You need to calm down .

All right , you need to calm down by Taylor Swift .

Here it is on Google play music .

If you have more than one Google assistant speaker device in your residence , you can group them together using speaker groups , allowing you to play music on all of your speakers throughout your entire home play artist , cold play on all of Josh's speakers .

All right , cold play from Google play music need to move music from one speaker or speaker group to another .

No problem .

Google can do that too .

Move music to Bedroom Max .

All right , I'll play it on Bedroom Max .

The Google assistant doesn't just stop with music though .

It can also play podcasts through services like Google podcasts and Spotify .

As well as it can play movies and TV , shows through cast devices , play Rick and Morty on TV .

Ok .

Rick and Morty from Hulu playing on TV .

Play the Crown on Netflix on TV .

Sure .

The Crown from Netflix playing on TV .

It can also play youtube videos on smart displays as well .

Playing Nest Hub review .

Six months later on youtube , we've had the Google nest hub next up .

Let's talk about controlling your smart home devices with the Google assistant .

The Google Assistant can work with a variety of devices including smart lights , thermostats , smart switches , robotic vacuum cleaners , home security systems , tvs , and more to add a smart device to your Google Assistant .

You'll need to download the Google home app and set up your smart devices through the app by doing this .

You'll also link them to the Google Assistant and there's a place in the app to see all of the different services .

You can potentially connect to the Google Assistant .

You can automate your smart home devices and your Google Assistant actions by using what are called Google assistant routines .

Routines allow you to set triggers to complete different Google Assistant actions .

For example , you can turn on your Christmas lights by saying a certain phrase .

Have your good morning routine .

Come on at eight AM every morning where the Google Assistant will adjust your lights , tell you the weather , current traffic conditions , turn off your fans and humidifier and start playing today's news , one of the largest differentiators with the Google Assistant compared to other voice assistants out there is its search capabilities .

Think of it like the Google search bar in the form of an assistant , you can ask it a wide variety of questions and for the most part , it's going to answer those questions correctly .

Here are a few examples .

How many Academy Awards has John Williams won .

John Williams has 51 Academy Awards .

They include the Academy Award for best original music score for Schindler's List in 1994 in the Academy Award for best original music score for E T the Extraterrestrial in 1983 .

Among others , let me know if you want me to tell you more .

What's the weather today in Raleigh in Raleigh today ?

There will be scattered thunderstorms with a forecasted high of 68 a low of 57 .

What's it look like for the rest of the week ?

Here's the forecast for Raleigh .

What are the main ingredients in gingerbread ?

On the website Braley dot com .

They say flour is the main ingredient in gingerbread cookies as in most cookies .

However , ginger and molasses are important ingredients as well as they contribute to the cookie's unique taste .

Does the apple TV ?

Remote need batteries on the website support dot apple dot com .

They say your Siri remote or Apple TV remote has a rechargeable battery , not a replaceable battery .

Moving on .

Let's talk about alarms and timers with the Google Assistant , whether you have a nest mini nest hub pixel device or other Google Assistant device like the Nova smart clock .

You can use the Google Assistant to set alarms and timers to set a timer .

Just ask Google to set a timer for however long you need the timer to be .

And then when the timer rings , just say stop and the Google assistant will stop the timer set a timer for three seconds , ok , three seconds starting .

Now stop to set an alarm .

You can ask Google to set an alarm for a specific time on a specific day on weekends or weekday or a specific uh dif different days throughout the week .

You , there are a lot of options you have with setting alarms with the Google Assistant .

And once the alarm goes off , all you have to do is say stop and Google will stop the alarm .

You can view your alarm settings through the Google Home app or on some devices like the Lenovo smart clock .

Another great feature with the Google assistant is the ability to manage lists with your voice .

This really comes in handy for shopping lists specifically .

So when you've run out of your last avocado or you're running out of olive oil , you can simply ask Google to add avocados and olive oil to my shopping list .

All right , I added those two things .

You can also create new lists as well as delete lists with the Google Assistant as well .

Create a new list called Target run .

Ok .

Starting a list called Target Run .

What do you want to add ?

Your shopping list is a default list that will already exist when you set up your Google assistant for the first time to see what's on your list .

Simply ask Google what's on my shopping list ?

You have seven things on that list .

They're olive oil , avocados , olive oil , avocados , black beans and two others .

Another quick and useful assistant function is reminders .

Google can remind you to do something on a specific day at a specific time and you can even assign a reminder to someone in your household , like reminding your spouse to take out the trash , et cetera .

Google will show you a white reminder dot On the Google assistant speakers , I have a reminder for Josh and on Google assistant displays , it'll show you what the reminder is .

Recipes are another popular feature with the Google assistant .

Say you have some chicken , but you don't quite know how you want to fix it yet .

All you have to do is ask Google , give me some chicken recipes .

OK .

Here are some recipes you can select the recipe you want and get cooking .

The Google assistant will guide you through all of the ingredients needed for the recipe and guide you through each step .

If you have a Google Assistant smart display , like the nest hub or Lenovo smart display .

The experience is a bit easier because you can actually read the recipe on the display and browse through the list of recipe results .

Next up .

Let's take a look at how to make phone calls with your Google Assistant devices .

You can set up this functionality in the Google home app so that when your Google device calls a number , the person answering will look at their phone and see that it's you that's calling them and not some random number .

You can also sync your phone contacts with the Google Assistant to make it easier to call the people you want .

At the time of this recording .

You still cannot take an incoming phone call on a Google Assistant device .

Unless that device is an android phone .

If you have a Google pixel phone , you can actually use the Google assistant to screen calls from people .

You may not know to see if the call is legitimate .

Playing the news is another useful feature of the Google assistant .

You can select what sources you want Google to play from .

When you ask it to play the news and the Google Assistant app , you can ask Google for a specific news topic as well .

Give me the latest news on Tesla .

Here's the latest from CNBC , Tesla , TSLA four Q 2019 production and delivery numbers .

Tesla said it delivered approximately 367,500 vehicles last year , an impressive 50% increase from 2018 and in line with Musk's forecast on Google Assistant displays , the Google assistant can also play your news videos as well .

Next up , let's talk about photos .

You can use the Google Assistant to search for specific types of photos on your Google assistant smart displays as well as your mobile devices .

Show me photos of tabby cats , showing your photos of tabby cats .

More impressive though is the Google Assistants integration with your Google Photos account .

If you have Google photos , you can ask the Google Assistant to show you photos from say last Christmas , show you photos of a specific person or pet you've named in Google Photos and it will even show you photos of a place you took a picture of .

All right , I know that was a lot of information and the truth is we barely scratched the surface to everything the Google assistant can do .

So if you want to learn more about what the Google assistant can do , you've got a few options .

One , make sure you're subscribed to this channel .

We do Google assistant feature update videos throughout the year .

We typically release them about one once a month or so .

So if you're subscribed to the channel , you'll never miss out on one of those .

Number two , follow Google's blog called the keyword .

Sometimes they'll announce major Google Assistant feature updates on their blog .

And number three and one of my favorite ways to figure out what's new with Google is by simply asking the Google Assistant , what can you do ?

You can say define abracadabra or play Google play music on bedside display .

Well , that does it for our overview of the Google Assistant .

I hope you found this video helpful if you'd like this video , make sure to give us a thumbs up below and subscribe to the channel to see more Google assistant and Google Assistant device related videos like this one for six months later .

I'm Josh Tedder .

Thanks for watching .