If you were at all worried that Santa Clause was going to get lost this year (hey, worse things have happened), fear not! Google has just updated Google Now to better suit travelers. On top of all the terrific features already included in Google Now, quite a few more have been added.
Good ol’ Kris Kringle can take advantage of the new Google Now features to find out about his most notable destinations.
Google Now will show the weather conditions for your projected destination, so now you’ll be forewarned if you’re walking into 40 degree and below climates. Of course, this information was always just a basic web search away, but the Google Now support is much more convenient.
When you arrive at the airport, Google Now will locate and pull up your boarding pass so that you can quickly get to the appropriate gate (as long as you don’t have any suspicious substances hidden near your unmentionables). Unfortunately, the boarding pass feature is only available for United Airlines flights, but Google says that more airlines will be coming soon.
Then, when you arrive at your destination, Google Now will show you all sorts of cool things to do while you’re visiting. It will recommend nearby events, places to visit, activities to partake in and local websites to browse. Surely, having a trough of new information at your fingertips is a superb asset for an overseas family holiday (yet, expensive on the wallet).
Of course, this is all in addition to the preexisting Google Now cards that are already tailored for travel. Those include a currency converter, a language translation card, and flight status updates.
The travel cards aren’t the only feature to have seen an upgrade though. Several different search features are being added to flesh out the already solid Google Now voice search. The new voice search features include the following:
- What’s this song? – Figure out what song is playing
- Scan this barcode – Quickly find product information
- Voice activated Google+ updates
As always, you’ll need to be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean or higher, to take advantage of the new Google Now features. If your device does indeed meet the requirements, you can get the latest version of Now in the Google Play store.
Luckily, we can all sleep soundly this Christmas knowing that Santa Clause will make it on time, that is, of course, provided he doesn’t run into much traffic on his journey.
Source: Google