We all know about Google Now, the incredibly impressive piece of software available to Android phones running Android 4.1 and higher. It keeps track of our schedule, tragic, flight information, package shipments and even what movies we should be going to see. It’s voice actions, which most starkly compete with Apple’s Siri, are powerful and precise, and provide a litany of information thanks to Google’s Knowledge Graph.
Google Now has received some sizable updates in the past, adding new cards and new actions to its arsenal, but with the introduction of Android 4.4 Kit Kat and the Nexus 5, Google Now has taken on some more functionality at the front of the user experience. With the Google Experience Launcher, Google Now is only a swipe away to the left, and includes new animations, new cards, and new voice activation that will allow you to activate it from the home screen without opening Google Now in the first place. With the exception of the voice activation from the home screen and swipe-left-to-right feature, these new features have made it to all phones running Google Now via an update to Google Search in the Play Store.
With the slew of new features being implemented, and to remind us of some of the most useful ones Google has made available, Phonebuff has decided to compile a list of Google Now’s fifty most important, interesting, helpful and silly voice commands, using the Nexus 5 and the updated Google Now as reported by Phonearena. A lot of these are really important, like the ability for Google Now to hold a conversation back and forth with you when you want to send a text or email while some of them like “Do a Barrel Roll!” will just let you waste time and show off to your friends. Regardless of this, it’s a good video to watch. It’ll be embedded below.
Hopefully Google continues to help Google Now mature, and while I’m not personally a fan of it being part of the Google Experience home screens, I hope (and predict) that Google Now will continue becoming one of the more vital parts of our Android experience.