Google Assitant has transformed the way many people find information, control their homes and get things done – but saying ‘Hey/Ok, Google’ can be awkward, so it should be no surprise that Google is working on letting you choose the wake word for Assistant.
In a tear down of the Google App v7.20 by 9to5Google, strings within the Google App show that work is being done to allow you to customise the hotword with training also being lined up to tell it what to recognise.
<string name=”opa_first_screen_tgoogle_summary”>”You’ll be able to access your Assistant directly by saying \”%1$s\””</string>
<string name=”opa_first_screen_tgoogle_title”>Teach your Assistant to recognize \”%1$s\”</string>
<string name=”hotword_enrollment_tgoogle_summary_usage_sample_title”>Your Assistant will now respond when you say things like:</string>
This means you could be using the ‘Computer….’ for your queries very soon.
As well as customised hotword detection, another section hints at improved support for multi-lingual users allowing them to assign a primary and secondary language in the Assistant. With more languages being supported by Google Assistant this makes it a much needed option for users.
While I like the idea of ‘Computer’ as my hotword (I watch too much Star Trek), there’s a lot of options for hot words – some of which Google may not allow for being offensive. But, looking ahead to when this goes live, what will you name your Assistant?
