No, You Really Dont Need Google Assistant On Your Smartwatch

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No, You Really Dont Need Google Assistant On Your Smartwatch

Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5 does not have Google Assistant built-in and you cannot download and install apps separately from Google Play Store. It's the latest in a line of assistant-less Android smartwatches, following the Montblanc Summit 3 and Fossil's more advanced smartwatches, but it's still a standard feature on Google's Pixel Watch.

Is Google Assistant ready for your devices? Maybe, but I wouldn't worry about it, and I definitely don't think that's why you should choose Pixel Watch over TicWatch Pro 5. Why? The smartwatch assistant isn't the selling point that Google clearly thinks it is.

Is it mandatory on a smartwatch?

Google Assistant has its uses, but when it's so widely used and available elsewhere, even the most demanding user needs to talk to their smartwatch. The Assistant is (or can be) installed on most Android phones, it's on your Nest smart speaker, and it's part of Android Auto. to name just a few ways to ask the Assistant for help. In addition, it is still quite inconvenient to use voice control, and there is no point in using the doll in public.

The Assistant's ability to look up information and present it in a concise, easy-to-read manner is impressive, and the underlying technology is fantastic. But I don't live in a movie theater, and my living room isn't a corporate bridge (unfortunately), so the Assistant's deeper capabilities are rarely used at home, let alone outside. When I'm busy, I use it for the basics: timers, messages, and reminders, but I mostly pick up the phone when someone's around.

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Whenever I use the Assistant on my Pixel Watch, it doesn't seem to perform any actions specific to the smartwatch. I can start a workout with my voice, which is very useful and saves time, but I immediately hit "Do I really want to say this out loud?" and just use the Fitbit bar silently. If I really want or need to use my voice, my phone assistant uses the same commands and works the same way.

Assistants are already everywhere

Google Assistant is too popular to be a missing feature on a smartwatch, and too annoying to use for quick tasks I can do myself. When I was testing Google Assistant on my smartwatch, my phone often woke up to perform the action or one of my Nest speakers did the same. I only need one assistant, not dozens of them fighting over my orders. Also, they all have the same protection to exit function, as one does not always interact with the other. I was so tired of Google Assistant interrupting or monitoring my Android phone (or just waking me up to have a conversation) on my Android phone that I turned off always listen in the setup process.

The attendees annoyed me so much in other ways that I happily minimized their audience. I have several Google Nest Home devices in my house and they often fail even with the most basic and repetitive instructions. Every day I ask the loudspeaker in my office for "Play Classic FM", which in theory tells it to play the radio station I requested via the world player. Yet several times a week he thinks about it longer than expected and then says, "Okay, check out this classic rock playlist on YouTube Music."

Last week I started asking for confirmation on which device I wanted to play music so I let them know. Not that it made a difference because he kept asking me and getting into some annoying moments. After shutting it down a few times, checking the Google Home app, and making some silly tweaks, I found (many) threads on the Google forums where I had complained about the same problem. I found the problem miraculously resolved this week which makes me both happy and angry.

Watches without the Google Assistant are fine

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The way Google Assistant insists I listen to Queen or Led Zeppelin , or gleefully ask the same questions over and over like an angry child, I just don't like. If it's uncomfortable at home, why would I wear it in public with the added embarrassment of talking on my wrist? Here, I go for the Google Assistant, but Siri, Alexa, and ( shudder ) Bixby aren't great.

Everyone's feature needs are different, and no doubt some will use Assistant more than I do. But I'd be very interested to know if the faithful find smartwatches indispensable, or if the same functionality can honestly be replicated with an always-listening assistant on the phone. At least the wizard is there . I know because he muscled up and grabbed the power button.

Personally, I haven't found any particular reason to use the Google Assistant exclusively on smartwatches, and its popularity has never left me, even when it's not available. It doesn't sadden me that this isn't the case with the Mobvoi TicWatch Pro 5, and I really don't want you to see that as a downside to this amazing smartwatch outperforming the Assistant-equipped Pixel Watch in almost everything else. path