During Google I/O back in June, the Android team debuted 4.1 Jelly Bean, a much smoother and faster Android experience, as well as Google Now, the voice search/voice actions we’ve all been waiting for. In various tests, it’s proven to be not only more reliable than Apple’s Siri, but also respond much faster.
Unfortunately, Google Now is only available on 4.1 Jelly Bean, that is until now. Well, actually it’s been available for Android 4.0 for a little while now, however, it wasn’t fully working and you still had to hit enter after you voiced something, and so on. Thanks to the awesome developer community, if you have an Android device with an ARMV7 processor, you can have Google Now up and working in no time at all.
Developer SilentStormer has put together several different zip files which include the proper APK’s, to choose from. The forum thread can be found here. Each version has their own little issues, however and from my current experience, it’s working really well with a particular one. Right below where it says “For ARMv7 devices, or adventurous ARMv6 users”, click the link that says “Use instructions in this post”.
From there, you’re presented with several different zip files which you’ll end up needing to flash (all the directions and details are there). Choose the one that says “No double take version”. Now, you can either download the full version which includes offline dictation, or just the online only version which doesn’t have that. It’s totally up to you, but 36.8MB for the full version takes up very little space to begin with.
Doing a quick test after following the directions which are all there and very detailed, Google Now works really well. The only issue is that sometimes when you search for something, the screen is blank, but that’s very easy to fix by just touching the screen and scrolling a little bit which causes the content to appear. Anyways, enjoy Google Now and let us know what you think!
Disclaimer: We are not responsible for any damage you may potentially cause to your device.