On Android and iPhone, Google has renewed its app by adding an integrated service in the search application called Google Discover . Google Discover is a feature capable of making the mobile phone or tablet an assistant or a virtual secretary so that it can provide personalized information adapted to the person, which is needed at that time of the day.
READ ALSO: Activate Google Discover to get personalized news on Android and iPhone .
To understand Google Discover you can take the example of a person who wakes up in the morning, turns on the phone or tablet and immediately checks the traffic situation to go to work. During the day, you can receive notifications and information from the Calendar and search for any information directly from the search bar, without opening the browser, thanks to the integration of that Google Knowledge Graph that was recently implemented also in Italy.
Everything is powered by the Google search engine that turns into an interactive application useful especially when traveling.
NOTE: Google Now has become Google Assistant as a voice assistant .
READ ALSO: 10 things to say verbally to your Android smartphone to use it without hands
To start Google Discover on an Android smartphone, simply drag your finger from the bottom to the top of the screen and release it on the white dot with the word Google. Google Discover can also be accessed from the search bar widget, from the Google icon in the list of applications or by scrolling the Google Launcher screens to the right, to be set as default.
NOTE: Google Discover can also be used via the Google Go app for Android, which is lighter than the Google app.
The first two cards that appear automatically are the weather and the map and traffic situation .
To use the Google app on Android effectively you need to give permission for location detection which is decisive for obtaining information related to where you are. By scrolling down on, you can press the button to show other sample cards and see all the personalized info available. For each section you can access the settings in which you define when that tab should appear, when there must be notifications and then all the configuration that varies depending on the topic. You can also access the settings of a tab from the button in the upper right corner to access the settings.
The general settings are accessible by sliding your finger down on the main screen. Each section of the Google Now settings can be deactivated by the On / Off button in the upper right.
To summarize, the Google Now search app can display :
- Weather : section particularly useful for viewing the weather forecast for the day.
In the settings, you can choose when to display the card, whether in the morning, in the evening, or always, and the reference area which can be the one detected via the internet connection or GPS.
- Traffic shows the real-time situation of road traffic to get to a certain place that has been searched in Google Maps.
The map also shows the estimated time of arrival.
In the settings it is possible to configure the home and office addresses so as to have them stored and to be able to obtain the information of the journey from home to work at any time.
- Appointments shows the reminder card for meetings or appointments and, if it is an appointment in a particular place, you can also see the travel time based on the current traffic level.
- Travel appears if you visit a place with a different currency or with a different language or if you change the time zone.
- Flights appears when searching for a flight on Google (a function that is currently only available for flights to and from USA cities).
- Public transport is used to obtain timetables and other information on trains and buses when you are at a stop or station.
- Places shows restaurants, pubs and hotels nearby.
- Sport allows you to receive the results of the match of your favorite team in real time.
- Alerts to receive emergency messages such as hurricanes and earthquakes.
- Movies to know the time and schedule of cinemas if you are in the vicinity or for the release of new films that you may like.
There is also information on stock market shares, news you are interested in, events, birthdays (based on friends in Google+), research topics, monthly summary of sports activities such as distances covered on foot or by bicycle.
You may wonder how Google Now can know information such as the news you are interested in or the movie you may like. The application is all based on searches made on the internet via Google, from your mobile phone, tablet or computer if you use the synchronization of your account with Google Chrome. In practice, Google manages to know everything a person likes based on their search history, trying to guess what the needs are at any given moment. The more research you do, the better it will be to predict what you need .
Always in the general settings it is possible to define which data can be used by the application in the " Search " section.
You can then select or deselect the various sources of information of Google Now between the Chrome history, the address book, Gmail, messages and other applications such as Tripadvisor, Twitter, Wikipedia and Google Music. It does not end here because the search bar can be used not only to search websites but also to find information directly, with synthetic data sheets.
You can also activate Ok Google on Android by speaking in Italian to ask to find anything, without having to touch the phone. Say, for example, Indian restaurant to immediately open the map with marked restaurants in the area. Say " Remind me to call Andrea at 6 " to create a reminder entry. Also try asking " Who founded Google">
READ ALSO: The 10 best features of Google Discover
