The ‘Ok Google’ voice activation in the Google Now launcher is an impressively responsive feature, and according to a rumour from Android Police, Google is looking to bring the feature to more Google Apps in the future.
The feature would mainly be found in Nexus and Google Play Edition (GPe) devices, which is in line with the current ‘official’ availability of the Google Now Launcher. Voice commands could feature in all sorts of circumstances such as the ‘Photos’ app where you could for example issue the command ‘Ok Google, share this photo’, which could bring up a dialogue that offers options on where to share the photo to.
Along with the voice actions, there’s a hint of new navigation keys being worked on, which could co-incide with the introduction. According to Android Police, Google is looking to replace the Home key with a ‘Google’ button, this new button would trigger a search prompt in whichever app or location you are in. Google is also looking to replace the ‘Multi-tasking’ soft key with a ‘Recents’ button, the recents button would then allow you to access the home screen by swiping to the right. The Back button would retain the same look and function.
Android Police aren’t 100% sure about this, both the size and scope of the changes are understandably a massive undertaking, especially with some Android OEMs only just beginning to adopt the multi-tasking button. There would also be a massive shift in the way that people interact with and navigate around Android. The question must be asked is such a paradigm change warranted?
