Google unveiled its own voice assistant at Google I/O this week, which is a smart, conversational extension of Google that many are calling the answer to Amazon’s Alexa. The simply titled Google Assistant will live inside Google hardware similar to how Alexa lives inside the Echo, and Cortana lives inside Microsoft hardware.
Google Assistant can be brought up from wherever you are to help you no matter what you need or in what context you need it. The company is first making Assistant available through a new piece of hardware called Google Home, and a new messaging app called Allo.
Allo is a messaging app which, like Facebook Messenger, can be accessed using only a phone number. What sets it apart from other messaging apps is the inclusion of Google assistant, which you can either interact with one on one, or call upon for assistance during your chats with friends. When chatting with the Assistant one on one you can ask it to perform various tasks based on its understanding of you:
“Because the assistant understands your world, you can ask for things like your agenda for the day or photos from your last trip. If you’re planning a dinner with friends, you can ask the assistant to suggest restaurants nearby, all in one thread.”
Google Home is a voice activated consumer product that’s very similar to Amazons Alexa. It brings the power of Google Assistant to whichever room it is placed in. You can ask it to perform a multitude of tasks from watching movies, to setting an oven timer, to simply giving answers to questions. Sounds a lot like Google Assistant brought to life with the added ability to control connected devices in your home.
Allo and Home will be available later this year, with hopefully more information to come leading up to the official release.
