Google Assistant gets plenty of new features including support for new languages

Google Assistant will be getting tons of new features. The first major one announced, as reported is that you can now just type in Assistant to perform a task instead of using your voice. This works great when you are surrounded by a lot of people and you don’t feel comfortable talking to your phone.


Another great feature announced will come in handy for those people who travel a lot as you will now get the option to translate words and sentences with the help of a digital assistant. All you have to do is tap the Google Lens icon, point the camera at the text, and Assistant will do the rest. If it translates a dish of a menu, you can then continue the conversation by saying, for example, “What does it look like?”, and images of the dish will pop up on your screen. Cool stuff!

There are more ways Assistant can make your life easier. You can point the camera towards an ad for a music concert, and it will automatically recognize the band, offer you the option of buying tickets for the show, or adding the event to your calendar. This feature may not be very useful in Nigeria though but it is nice to have it around.

In a bid to get the Assistant in as many hands as possible, Google has decided to bring it to the iPhone. Yes, the iPhone. It will go head to head with Siri, and it will be interesting to see if it will be able to convince iPhone users to ditch Apple’s solution and opt for the one offered by Google.

Additionally, the search giant now also allows any manufacturer to build Assistant into any product it’s making (speakers, toys…).

Another major feature worth mentioning is the option of ordering food via Assistant and paying for it with Google Pay. Just tell Assistant the name of the restaurant that’s supported, place an order, and use your fingerprint to approve the payment with Android Pay. I can't see much need or use for this feature unless you reside in one of the major cities like Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt

Finally, Google is adding support for more languages. Starting this summer, Assistant will be available in French, German, Portuguese, and Japanese. Support for Spanish, Italian, and Korean will be added by the end of the year.

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