The Google Search app got an update this morning which people running Jelly Bean may find interesting in that Google has added some additional functionality to the Google Now cards. They’ve added some new cards and also added some new voice commands. The new functions included in the update are :
- New cards
- Events nearby
- Suggestions to help with your research
- Boarding passes from Gmail (United only, more to come)
- Search by camera when at museums or shops
- Weather at upcoming travel destinations
- Approximate monthly summary of walking and biking activity
- Birthdays
- New voice actions
- Post to Google+
- Say “What’s this song?” to find the song you hear
- Say “Scan a barcode” to find product info
From testing the Voice Actions I found that the “What’s This Song” feature just does not seem to work for me at all, although people in the US report that it works just fine, this is possibly a function that requires access to Google Music to work correctly. The “Post to Google+” voice action works just fine as does the “Scan a Barcode” it worked on both UK and Australian DVDs giving me a list of retailers in a search results pane.
I have been unable to do much with the new Google Now cards which is a sad reminder that most of the Google Now cards are purely based in larger markets such as the US and Europe. I’m sure as the functionality improves Google will roll out the features to more regions such as Australia but at this stage Google Now remains largely a novelty to me. For people on Jelly Bean you can download or update the Google Search app from the Google Play Store
Have you found success with any of the new Google Now Cards or the “What’s This Song” Voice Action? Let us know in the comments.
