Support for setting your own quick phrases could mean no more ‘Hey Google’
Google Assistant is a fantastically powerful tool for doing a lot of things, and for many of us a big part of that is controlling our smart homes. Whether we’re turning on lights, starting up appliances, or triggering Routines, it’s incredibly impressive that all these features are just a spoken command away. With quick phrases, Google has made those interactions even more natural-feeling, eliminating the need for a formal “Hey Google” to get thing started. Now some in-development functionality for the Nest Hub Max could greatly expand what Assistant quick phrases are able to accomplish.
We only just saw Assistant quick phrase support debut for the Nest Hub Max earlier this month, but 9to5Google has already uncovered evidence in software pointing to work on the ability for users to create their own custom quick phrases. While this isn’t yet functional, the site was able to activate the UI for adding a phrase, which makes it clear that we’ll probably be facing some degree of restriction in the words or the length of the phrase we’re able to choose — though exactly how, we don’t yet know.
It would make sense that given the lack of an explicit “Hey Google” trigger, a successful custom quick phrase might need to be suitably distinct from similar phrases, to say nothing of existing Assistant commands. The wording we see here suggests Google will attempt to guide users to better alternatives if their preferred phasing proves problematic.
That language also makes clear just how not-read-for-prime-time this all is right now, and the “salsa” Google mentions is apparently its internal nomenclature for a quick phrase task. For now, it’s not clear just how far away this might be from going public, assuming it ever does at all.
