The topic Google Home app modernizes camera & media controls, Gemini voice assistant gets… is currently the subject of lively discussion — readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.
This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies’ decisions and competitors’ reactions can quickly change the picture.
Google is ending April with a rather sizable Home app and Gemini for Home voice assistant updates.
Starting with the Google Home app, an “Updated Camera Experience” is beginning to roll out. This modernization adds dynamic theming, while “key features [are] more easily accessible and discoverable,” especially at the bottom of the screen.
Similarly, the “new media control experience when using Google Home App to cast music and videos to your Google smart speakers, smart displays, Google TV Streamer and other Cast devices is now available to all users” (emphasis ours). Google might be referring to last year’s Material 3 redesign when you open a media device’s controls page.
Putting your favourite artists’ beautiful album artwork front and center and giving you better access to playback controls and device management.
Controller pages will now show “instant account-relinking prompts” when an expired partner link is behind offline devices. Finally, feedback reports now include more detailed diagnostic information to help Google “fix issues faster.”
Google Home Premium users will now benefit from account holds wherein subscriptions “will be temporarily paused rather than ending if there are payment issues, helping ensure you don’t lose your video history, familiar faces, or AI event descriptions.”
Today’s Gemini for Home voice assistant updates offer “Faster Smart Home Control.” Controlling lights and plugs could be up to 1.5 seconds faster. Google credits “optimizing how [it processes] device commands and home layouts” for this “significant speed boost.”
Then there’s “more efficient processing for near-instant execution” of alarm, timer, and reminder commands, “even when you include specific times or names.” Google says to try:
These speed improvements are live for English, French, and Spanish users in supported countries. Support for more languages is “coming soon.”
The Gemini for Home assistant is now better at “identifying when a request is a standalone command versus a follow-up.”
Based on context, Gemini can determine when to ignore irrelevant speech, which is also helpful for users who activate Continued Conversation.
Custom Routines are now better at running “without interference from other smart home commands.”