google Now abroad
Stuart_h
Posts: 5,311
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Using google Now in Egypt (based on hotel WiFi) and I have to say its come on in huge bounds ! Its very useful in the UK but abroad I now have daily currency converter (with input fields), English to Arabic translator (with input fields prepopulated with a 'phrase of the day'), local things to do, local photos, flight details ..... And all without me having to do a thing. I'd suggest that even the iOS brigade try it out.
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I would rather my main device wasn't a pocket advertising revenue machine for Google thanks. Google nows lack of privacy is unacceptable to me.
That's smashing for you
Back on topic though (for those of us who simply want a great user experience) it certainly makes life a little easier. With overseas data using starting to become inclusive (sadly not in Egypt though) things like this will become more and more useful IMHO.
Even just rocking up at your local shopping centre usually has it giving you details about all the shops, or turn up at a leisure activity of some sort and it's giving details about tickets.
It's amazing, and keeps getting new things added to it. I can't even begin to list them!
It's a way of life that I have to endure advertising, but the best adverts are the ones relevant to me. So, if I can enjoy loads of services for free in return for viewing ads (or not, as nobody forces them upon me generally) then it's fine.
Then again, I am of little to no interest to the security services so if anyone else is reading my emails, good luck to them. I've got thousands of unread ones, so perhaps someone at GCHQ can email to say if there are any important ones I've missed.
exactly. i dont really want to use Google Voice Search/Siri/"The windows vice thing" but the Google Now "cards" just get better and better - i love the fact that it store where ive parked without me even having to tell it to
I was watching Danny Boyle on TV recently talking about how much information we give away at the moment and we're going to look back and see these as the dark days we gave away our lives.
Google now knows your age, where you work, where you shop, where you holiday, who your friends are, how fast you drive, how often you drive, if you go hiking , etc etc. At best it's a financial gold mine for google, at worst one day it will effect your health insurance , car insurance etc
Maybe it's anonymous right now (maybe) but your information is still sold. As an advertiser I can request to target the devices of 35 year old males who spend a lot of time driving, go mountian biking, and eat out twice a week. An google will sell that to me.
Maybe it's harmless but I choose at this point in time not to take part.
It is - so I don't have a problem with it. And at least Google are upfront about it.
Problem is you do take part - but probably in less obvious ways. Every time you use iTunes, or Amazon, or click to accept cookie policy etc ....
Each to their own though
I was really impressed by Google Now when on holiday recently and the wealth of local information it provided. But what surprised me the most was it knew when I was due to check out. I still don't know how it discovered that. Some might find it frightening but I just found it useful.
I would guess that it worked out that you were staying at a certain hotel based on where it was each night and then can get check out times from the net. Not sure if it's cool or scary though it knows!
And now I am feeling a bit peckish come to think of it!
Advertising works hey telling you what you want before you even want it. Don't go to McDonalds though, because Google Now will know. You don't want the advertising algorithms knowing you eat junk food.
They'll be selling that info to health insurance providers soon.
I can see the info being provided whilst abroad is useful, however, I don't need a phone to tell me the distance to a local mcdonalds, especially as I don't understand why it told you?
when I tried it last year on my S4 all I found was it kept giving me worthless time to home and work arrival info, out of date weather while crippling my phones battery life, I couldn't see or find a way of getting more info out if it either that wasn't as long or longer winded as just typing things into a search engine...
I had the same experience when I tried Google now, did nothing useful whilst draining the battery.
How much info it gives you will depend on how much info you share with it (for one thing, sharing your location history). And also if you travel a lot, use Amazon etc.
Given it now works out if you're on foot, driving or cycling, and knowing where you go quite a lot, it can now offer more relevant information and at certain times of the day. If you set up meetings in the calendar properly (i.e. you put in the location of the meeting) then it will tell you when you need to leave, based on traffic etc.
And you can set reminders like 'when I get home, tell me to ...' or to remind you to buy something when you get to a shop. It will now alert you when you're getting near to your stop on a train or bus (not tried that yet), as well as show upcoming buses from near your home, office or anywhere else you might be.
It's bloody fantastic and keeps getting better and more intelligent. But you can't expect much from it if you don't want Google knowing about every part of your daily life. That's how it works.
Beyond this, I guess Google Now's usefulness depends on how integrated you are in Google's services. I've been using Gmail since its very early days, and I just took a look back out of interest and my very first entry into Google Calendar was in February 2006, so I have been using these services way, way, way before Google Now was a thing. Google Calendar is my calendar, and since all my upcoming events are always already in there (complete with locations where appropriate), I have to do literally nothing to benefit from the "time to leave" notifications, which are hugely beneficial if there are traffic delays. And whenever I book tickets or hotels or flights, the email ends up in Gmail and GN can harvest this information, again, without me having to do anything.
Clearly if people don't (or won't) use Gmail and don't (or won't) use GCalendar, the vast majority of GN's usefulness is stripped away, but when integrated with these services GN is a very powerful - and very useful - thing indeed.
As for impact on battery life, I certainly haven't seen this on Nexus devices. If anything, having the info there rather than me having to spend precious SOT finding it myself has actually saved me some battery life!
Can you select what it tells you? Why did it tell someone the distance to a mcdonalds?
Every card that comes up can individually be permanently disabled if you so choose.
Google Now is simply awesome, I love the way it knows what bus stop I'm waiting at and tells me the time they are arriving, or what time my next train is, or the nearest garage when out and about.
I love the way it shows me different articles based on things I've looked at, and the way it tells me about the sports I love before they happen, and the scores after they've happened if I've missed the game for some reason.
I find Google Now to be an intricate part of my mobile device now, and it fails to amaze me how accurate it is becoming. As mentioned in the original post, when on holidays or somewhere you've never been before, the information it provides makes the experience even better as you don't have to Google everything as it knows what you want.
I love the Google experience, it's getting better every day, and those who don't understand it should give it a little time, it is mind blowing!
Mark
Journey time from my location to work... Thanks but as I've shown in Google maps I want to go home not work..
Things of Interest in my surrounding Area..? No not nearest service stations or things in the, Ohh no, I got cake makers in the area!
It seems obsessed with my work and gives me local weather or weather at work, not home. And when I turn work off I get nothing...
So seems as good as ever to me, battery vanishing at a rapid too, oh joy!