As smartphones continue to evolve, one of the ways they have allowed users to get more out of their devices is through digital assistants and technology like Google Now. With Google Now, users have much more than just a digital voice to respond to requests and answer questions, but Google Now isn’t the first iteration of a voice assisted features on Android from Google. Through the years the voice within the Voice Search functionality has transitioned from a noticeably robotic voice to one that sounds fairly human-like, and through a recent update that seems to be rolling out to Google Now on the server side of things, Google appears to be making the voice even more natural than before.
A video posted up to YouTube by user ‘Jidery’ shows the new voice in Google Now in action as he asks it a series of questions like what the weather is like, and makes a couple of task requests like setting an alarm. While the voice may sound more natural to many users, it’s no doubt going to sound either the same or less natural than just before this voice change, which some users on Reddit are already pointing out in regards to the video, and it’s quite likely that many users won’t be able to pick up the differences.
The change is barely noticeable, but it is noticeable, and although it may not sound just like talking to a live person who is responding on the end of a phone call or in a face to face conversation, it is progression and it displays that Google is continuing their efforts to make Google Now more natural from every angle, including the way it sounds. That might be weird for some users, but to the majority it likely makes the experience more enjoyable if not a bit more comfortable. Google seems to be rolling out the change to Google Now’s voice at a pretty slow pace, and it could be days if not a week or more before most users get the update. If you use Google Now often enough, you may notice when the change has come to your own devices.