Wireless Bluetooth speakers are a must have product for some consumers, and those that value sound quality and big, punchy, bass should no doubt consider the BOOM 2 and MEGABOOM from Logitech’s Ultimate Ears brand. While the lineup of speakers from UE already offers great audio and a companion app that allows you to change up the volume and tweak the equalizer, today the company has announced that they are integrating Google Now with both the UE BOOM 2 and the UE MEGABOOM speakers to make listening to music a little more simple and a little less hands on.
The Google Now integration feature is part of the apps for each speaker from today, both of which can be found in the Play Store. With the app installed, users of either speaker can simply talk to it and request it to play a song from their library, and Google Now will take over and search for the song, find it, and play it within a matter of seconds. While the new Google Now feature is a voice function, to activate it users will have to tap the Bluetooth button on the top of the speaker first. So although it isn’t completely voice activated, there will be no more having to scroll through lists of songs on the device itself when the UE speakers are connected.
Google Now on the BOOM 2 and the MEGABOOM was designed to allow users to access songs more easily, but other Google Now functions like sending a message, placing a phone call, or searching for a nearby restaurant should function properly. Other Google Now functions and tasks may work as well. With Google Now integration built-in, it’s also possible that Ultimate Ears could take things a step further once Google Assistant launches and make more features available to users. For now, it’s simply an easier way to search for and play a song. As stated above, simply tap the Bluetooth button, wait for the audio prompt, and then ask the speaker to play a song, and that’s that. It’s not quite a replacement for something like the Alexa, but there is definitely potential for the speakers to do more with Google Now functions being integrated.