Google Now

[basslover1]

I know there's a 4.1 thread already so this can be deleted if necessary.

I wanted this to be a collection of experiences every one is having with Google Now.

First up, I couldn't get it to save my favorite sports teams to show me the Sports Card, you have to enable search history in your Google dashboard. I had mine turned off, but once I turned it on the first voice search I made pulled up my favorite team.

Second, I'm car shopping and made two quick google searches on my PC (Hyundai and Kia) to check their current lineups. I look at the notification shade on my GNex, and it has driving directions already loaded up for the local Kia and Hyundai dealer, cool yet creepy.

How is this working out for everyone else? I know the sample size is probably limited currently but I'm still curious to read about the experiences of others.

 

[Red Storm]

The sports doesn't work for me, but I love that it has the traffic report ready to go when I leave in the morning and when I'm heading back home in the evening.

 

[vshah]

mine mostly shows weather since I don't have calendar appointments with addresses often. But on the weekends, it shows me directions to my in-laws place since we go there often. cool, but not that useful since I obviously know the way already. Not too into sports so can't comment on that. Overall i find it really cool though.

 

[basslover1]

The sports doesn't work for me, but I love that it has the traffic report ready to go when I leave in the morning and when I'm heading back home in the evening.

If it doesn't work and you want it to (you should since most everything relies on web history), open up Google Now > Settings > Privacy and accounts > Manage Web History.

You need to turn it on to really use the potential of GN. I know I don't really like it either that they track everything that you search, but you can clear it from time to time if you want.

 

[AstroManLuca]

The one thing that annoyed me about it was it would continually give me directions to places after I had already been there. I understand giving you directions to places of interest after searching for them, but as an example, I searched for a restaurant, drove there, ate there, and ten minutes after I left it gave me directions to go back there. As if I'd need directions to a place I had just eaten at and now knew how to get to.

Luckily you can turn that off. I have it set to only pop up directions before commutes and appointments. It's nice because it gives you an estimated travel time and lets you know if there are any delays. Good to know ahead of time if there's road construction slowing things down so I can bypass it. Although I did a reinstall yesterday and this morning it gave me really weird directions to work that involved taking the wrong exit and then turning around on the highway and going back. No idea what it was thinking there.

 

[Red Storm]

The one thing that annoyed me about it was it would continually give me directions to places after I had already been there. I understand giving you directions to places of interest after searching for them, but as an example, I searched for a restaurant, drove there, ate there, and ten minutes after I left it gave me directions to go back there. As if I'd need directions to a place I had just eaten at and now knew how to get to.

Luckily you can turn that off. I have it set to only pop up directions before commutes and appointments. It's nice because it gives you an estimated travel time and lets you know if there are any delays. Good to know ahead of time if there's road construction slowing things down so I can bypass it. Although I did a reinstall yesterday and this morning it gave me really weird directions to work that involved taking the wrong exit and then turning around on the highway and going back. No idea what it was thinking there.

As you build up more location history, it's only going to show you routes to places you go to frequently.

 

[basslover1]

The one thing that annoyed me about it was it would continually give me directions to places after I had already been there. I understand giving you directions to places of interest after searching for them, but as an example, I searched for a restaurant, drove there, ate there, and ten minutes after I left it gave me directions to go back there. As if I'd need directions to a place I had just eaten at and now knew how to get to.

Luckily you can turn that off. I have it set to only pop up directions before commutes and appointments. It's nice because it gives you an estimated travel time and lets you know if there are any delays. Good to know ahead of time if there's road construction slowing things down so I can bypass it. Although I did a reinstall yesterday and this morning it gave me really weird directions to work that involved taking the wrong exit and then turning around on the highway and going back. No idea what it was thinking there.

I wonder if checking-in with Latitude would fix that? I don't know the polling interval for location history but maybe it didn't know where you were when you were there so it thinks you still want directions.

Just a thought.

 

[vshah]

I wonder if checking-in with Latitude would fix that? I don't know the polling interval for location history but maybe it didn't know where you were when you were there so it thinks you still want directions.

Just a thought.

it is pretty frequent. i have had location history on for a few years, and i can track my movements pretty accurately for any day i choose.

 

[sygyzy]

I've had pretty good results with Google Now.

1. I did a few tests looking up scores of baseball games (I am not really a fan), and now whenever the Dodgers play, it gives me a card. I had to tell it to stop.

2. It took about a week before Now would actually tell me about traffic to my appointments. This is the feature I wanted the most.

3. It still doesn't tell me about my commute to work or home. This is probably my fault because I don't set a calendar event for "Go Home" or "Go to Work". I assume some of you do? That's weird. Similarly, I don't set an appointment for "eat dinner" but I will if it's "Meet Charlie for dinner at AJ's Bar and Grill"

4. Sometimes it tries to be too smart. I've randomly searched for the nearest pizza joint and 15 minutes later, I notice it's showing me how long it'll take to get there, even though I never told it to navigate. Similarly, if I search for a map location in my deskop browser, it'll do the same thing.

5. Lastly, a new feature I noticed - even though I haven't search for a place or checked in, a few times it asks "Is this a place you want to track/remember?" It's always some random place like a shopping plaza I visited for lunch. There's no reason why it would think those places are special but it thinks it is so it asks me if I want to remember it.

 

[thescreensavers]

I've had pretty good results with Google Now.



3. It still doesn't tell me about my commute to work or home. This is probably my fault because I don't set a calendar event for "Go Home" or "Go to Work". I assume some of you do? That's weird. Similarly, I don't set an appointment for "eat dinner" but I will if it's "Meet Charlie for dinner at AJ's Bar and Grill"

Go to maps, Click on the top left on Maps, select Location History. Now you can add home and work addresses. That should get google now to show you the cards. Atleast for me it did.

 

[sygyzy]

Go to maps, Click on the top left on Maps, select Location History. Now you can add home and work addresses. That should get google now to show you the cards. Atleast for me it did.

I have that set. But how would it know what time you are leaving for work/home? Does it extrapolate it based on your usual pattern of check ins?

 

[basslover1]

I have that set. But how would it know what time you are leaving for work/home? Does it extrapolate it based on your usual pattern of check ins?

Do you have it auto-update location history? You need that so it knows you're patterns. It should figure it out eventually, mine did only after a day or two.

 

[sygyzy]

Yup, I have all that. I can see how long I spend at home and work.

 

[basslover1]

Yup, I have all that. I can see how long I spend at home and work.

That's weird, mine shows up every morning.

On an unrelated topic, I'm not sure if this is how it's supposed to act but I'm not getting notified when new cards show up. They show up in the shade but there isn't an icon and the tone doesn't play. I don't get why I can set a notification tone/vibrate if it doesn't ever do anything.

Is it like that for anyone else or am I missing something?

 

[basslover1]

Never mind I see it, notifications are only for those set as "standard" and not "low priority."