Amongst all the things that Google gives us to distract us (Allo and Duo, anyone), every now and then they sneak something in which actually makes Android easier to use for us all. These changes to Google Now will be quite useful to people who use their phones to manage their lives and their days, and I can say that I’ll be using these things quite regularly.
Activating Google Now brings up this panel with six easy options which, in order, allow you to do the following:
- Create a new reminder which Google Now will remind you to do
- Create a new calendar event
- Set a timer e.g. for cooking your dinner
- Set an alarm quickly
- Quickly navigate to home from wherever you are
- Navigate to work
These are things that I do on a daily basis, and Google obviously knows that a lot of people use these shortcuts more than others. This makes it so much easier to add something to you calendar… just long press on the home button (or on-screen home icon), tap event, and bam, you’re creating a new calendar entry.
That takes out a good number of clicks, depending on your setup, and makes things that you need quickly that much easier to find.
We’re seeing this on Nexus devices, Samsung’s S7 Edge and others.
Let us know if you’re seeing it, or not, on your device. Will you be using this? What other shortcuts do you think Google could use here?
