Google Assistant was once the standard to measure against, but it continues to crumble in the "Gemini" era.
  • Carighan Maconar@lemmy.worldEnglish
    57·
    5 months ago

    Googles approach to smart stuff is so weird and backwards.

    Google Now was truly impressive. It genuinely saved time, and it’s smartness could easily wow people.

    Assistant is already a massive step backwards from that, but compared to both Siri and in particular Alexa at least understands you better and can control most smart home stuff.

    And now Gemini shows that the only use case Google seems to be aware of is people doing searches via voice input. As if that is what people used Now/Assistant for…

    • malockin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      30·
      5 months ago

      I miss Google Now… just swipe, and all the relevant information is there. No need to prompt it, no need to wait for a response, and no audio noise to get the information I need.

      It was perfect for my needs.

      • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        6·
        5 months ago

        “But we need a better way to monetize it with buzzwords! We can’t have functional code! Quick! Create three projects redundant to this one, five of which we will cancel!”

    • Alphane Moon@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      14·
      5 months ago

      Gemini is “AI” which is good for the share price and executive bonuses. Product development does not necessarily offer such benefits.

  • BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    37·
    5 months ago

    Another example of enshittification at play. Google stops maintaining and fixing its tech to force users to migrate to its new and “better” tech.

    But the new tech is not better -its half baked and being rushed out because google is in an AI arms race deploying broken technology to keep up with its rivals and to keep its share price up. This is to benefit google and its share holders, not users.

  • BradleyUffner@lemmy.worldEnglish
    20·
    5 months ago

    About the only thing I still use it for is setting timers and asking it what time it is. It’s useless at everything else.

    • isles@lemmy.worldEnglish
      12·
      5 months ago

      My Nest just forgets about timers about 20% of the time. This is me, daily.

      • “Set a 10 minute timer”
      • “OK, 10 minute timer starting now”
      • “How much time is left?”
      • “It doesn’t look like you have any timers”
      • Lizardking13@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        5 months ago

        Omg! I feel like that is happening with my Alexa device recently… I thought it was me, but this comment is making me wonder.

    • MorrisonMotel6@lemm.eeEnglish
      3·
      5 months ago

      Same. I have moved fully to Home Assistant, with the exception of voice commands. For the most part, I don’t even need those either now that I have an ok grasp on automations

  • The Soca Vault @lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    5 months ago

    I try to use nothing Google on my phone, which I know is impossible, but I try. The only thing I use is the maps - sparingly - I prefer Here We Go, and whatever Google stuff you need to make apps go.

        • doodledup@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          5 months ago

          Website

          You can find it in any app store too: “Organic Maps”.

          It’s based on the biggest and open mapping project OSM. The maps are much more detailled and accurate than Gmaps and you’ll find mistakes and constructions corrected within hours as opposed to months late like with Google.