Google Assistant Commands That Work on Google Home, Pixel and Allo
Google Assistant is a powerful tool, but it doesn’t work the way the Pixel does on Google Home, and both are different from the Android phone you already own. We’ve put together a spreadsheet to help you understand what each device is capable of.
Google Assistant is the new name for a personalized voice assistant that works on new phones like Google Pixels , Google Home , and as a chatbot in the new Google Allo messaging app . Even more confusing, most older devices use voice commands built into Google search. The old assistant used to be called Google Now, but now it’s just called Google because Google can’t name things . This diagram shows what each device is capable of, as Google is not very clear about it.
Some of the differences make sense at least a little. For example, Google Home cannot give you directions because it is inside your home. It also can’t create reminders or calendar events, but apparently that’s because you don’t want the whole house to be able to edit its schedule. Then again, why would you give the whole house a chance to read your schedule if that is the case? Other gaps in functionality are related to technical constraints. You cannot make phone calls from home, because, for example, this is not a phone.
However, some of Google’s decisions don’t make sense. Older phones can recognize songs, but this feature was completely removed with the Google Assistant rebrand. Google Home can control your Chromecast, which makes sense for a device in your living room, but it’s unclear why your phone can’t do the same. Hopefully over time Google will fill those gaps, but there are already a lot of things on the to-do list.