The Google Home experience continues to see steady improvements every couple of weeks. Most recently, Google pushed through 20+ improvements and changes to both the Google Home app and Gemini for Home. Now, this week, we’re getting 14 changes that might just be the improvements you’ve been waiting for.
For this new update to Gemini for Home, Google is bringing ways to quickly wrap-up conversations with keywords, more consistency with temperatures, easier-to-read text, and more reliable “stop” commands.
Diving in a little deeper there, Google says you can now finish your Gemini conversations with words like “Thank you” and it’ll know to wrap things up with “a brief, warm goodbye.”
For the easier-to-read text changes, this update increases the on-screen text scrolling speed on smart displays, so that the answers stay in sync with Gemini’s spoken response.
In the Google Home app, they are making it smoother to reorder your favorites, will show improved messaging after smoke or CO alarms, fixed several camera-related issues on iOS and Android, have redesigned lights, plugs, and switch controls, and existing Philips Hue bridges will be automatically upgraded in the background to local Matter control through Google Home hubs.
Most of that all sounds pretty self-explanatory, but the redesign to the lights, plugs, and switch controls is noteworthy. Google says they’ve given them all a refreshed look and vibe that feels more tactile and responsive when you press them.
Finally, that note about Philips Hue bridges being automatically upgraded to local Matter control might be huge. My older Philips Hue bridges and lights are often quite slow – can’t wait to see if they get quicker and more reliable.
Gemini for Home (early access)
Voice Assistant
- More natural ways to end a conversation: Improved how Gemini wraps up back-and-forth conversations. When you end a conversation on a polite or neutral note (like saying “Thank you”), Gemini now replies with a brief, warm goodbye, while staying silent and closing the microphone immediately when you give a direct command to stop talking.
- Consistent temperature units for weather: Updated weather answers to respect the home-wide temperature unit preference (Fahrenheit or Celsius) you’ve set in the Google Home app (Home Settings
Temperature Units), so spoken weather forecasts always match the rest of your home.
- Easier-to-read answers on smart displays: Increased the on-screen text scrolling speed on smart displays so visual answers stay in sync with Gemini’s spoken response.
- More reliable “stop” commands: Fixed an issue where saying “stop” could be misinterpreted as ending a conversation rather than stopping your active media playback, timers, or alarms.
- Better distinction between relaxing music and ambient sounds: Improved how Gemini routes requests for relaxing audio so asking for “relaxing music”, “spa music”, or “meditation music” plays music from your media provider instead of ambient background sounds like white noise or rain.
Google Home App
App Surfaces
- Smoother Favorites reordering: We’ve resolved drag-and-drop instability in the Favorites view, making it easier to organize your top devices.
- Improved messaging after smoke or CO alarm: The app now displays a banner when a smoke or carbon monoxide alarm clears, showing the event and time to reassure users that their home is safe.
Camera
- Faster recovery when live view gets stuck (iOS): Fixed an issue where camera tiles could stay stuck on an old snapshot instead of loading live video. The app now retries the connection automatically.
- Responsive progress bar scrubbing while paused (Android): Fixed an issue where dragging the progress bar while an event video was paused could leave the player stuck on a loading spinner.
- Fixed playback errors on snapshot events (Android): Selecting a still-image snapshot in your event history no longer shows a playback error, and the event is now highlighted correctly on the timeline.
Smart Home Controls
- Redesigned lights, plugs, and switch controls: We’ve rebuilt the core controls for third-party lights, plugs, and switches with a refreshed look and feel. Turning devices on or off, adjusting brightness, and changing colors now feels more tactile and responsive.
- Quick access settings panel: On the full-screen controller page for most devices (lights, plugs, switches, fans, air purifiers) you can now swipe up from the bottom of the screen to quickly access additional device actions and settings. Add to favorites, view device history, find help center articles, submit feedback, and access full device settings.
Matter
- Local Matter control for Philips Hue lights: Existing Philips Hue bridges now automatically upgrade in the background to local Matter control through Google Home hubs, delivering faster response times and greater reliability with no re-pairing required.
- Local control for Matter devices: If you have compatible Matter devices and a compatible Matter hub, you can now unlock faster response times and enhanced reliability, bringing the control experience closer to the feel of flipping a physical switch.
Read the original post: Google Home Gets 14+ Improvements in Fresh Update
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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