After several years of criticism of the Google Assistant, Google is finally reacting: in the future, there should be no annoying repetition of the said smart home command for other smart home devices. Instead, Google wants to offer a confirmation beep as an option when smart home devices have been successfully switched on by voice command.
The signal tone has been used to control smart lamps for some time. However, this assumes that the lamps are in the same virtual room in the Google Home app as the Google Assistant device. As soon as the lamp is in another virtual room, the Google Assistant continues to repeat the previously spoken command for confirmation.
In a Announcement by Google it says that in the future there will also be a beep as confirmation for smart sockets, smart switches, smart TVs, loudspeakers, fans and blinds.
Requirements for less Google Assistant chatter
For the additional smart home devices, too, there is only a beep if the Google Assistant device and the device to be controlled are in the same virtual room in the Google Home app. Then, according to Google, there is no way to configure it, but only a beep instead of an announcement.
According to Google, this innovation was implemented in response to feedback from customers. It remains unclear why such a function had to be requested for several years before it was implemented. It is currently unclear whether the signal tone will also be used for smart home devices that will not be in the same virtual space as the Google Assistant device.
Third-party smart displays will no longer receive updates
Google has in one Support document hides an important note for customerswho have a non-Google smart display. All third-party smart displays will no longer receive any software updates from Google. So if you have a Smart Display from Lenovo (g+), for example, you will no longer receive any updates in the future. The instructions for this are in a support document about the call functions of the device. It is therefore conceivable that duo calls with these devices will soon no longer work properly.
Google did not provide any further information. It is therefore unclear how long these devices will still be usable on a regular basis. There is a risk that the smart displays will only work to a limited extent if they are supposed to access functions that Google should actually offer but may no longer be able to do.