Google Now Lets You Send Hangouts Messages via Voice Command: Report
Google has silently updated Search for Android with the ability to send Hangouts messages using Google Now voice commands, according to reports.
The Mountain View giant didn’t make any official announcement about the new integration. First spotted by Droidlife, the feature is not yet available in India. Since the feature is said to have been enabled from the server side, not all users can access it right now.
For the new feature, users can either utilise the “Ok Google” voice command or tap on the microphone icon in the Google Search app or widget followed the “Send a Hangouts message” voice command. This opens a Hangouts dialog box within the Google Search app interface, and allow users to dictate the message they want to send. Before finally sending out the message from Hangouts, the app will ask the user for sender information (name or number).
Last month, Google Now on Android 5.0 Lollipop devices enabled the ability to toggle on or off various features by simple voice commands, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and flashlight. Users with devices running Android 5.0 Lollipop are able to use this feature through Google Search voice commands or via ‘Ok Google’ hotword detection.
To toggle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and flashlight, users can simply say “Turn on” or “Turn off” followed by “Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or flashlight”, and the virtual assistant triggers a Google Now notification card and voice alert informing the user the feature has been turned on, or off.
