How to impress your friends: 40+ voice searches on Jelly Bean

I never make videos, but felt compelled to share the many new voice capabilities on +Android, some of which were not demoed on stage during Google I/O 2012. You may be surprised by some answers, notably those provided by the Knowledge Graph. This is not a performance or comparison test (I don't have an iPhone 4S or a Samsung Galaxy S3).

Also, sorry about the quality. My old Canon PowerShot does NOT do justice to the beautiful screen on the Galaxy Nexus.

Disclaimer: the only edits I made were to cut time between each of my queries, as well as re-order some of the demos from the original order I recorded them in, so they would fit into categories. None of the queries themselves have been edited or cut down, and the sequences are intact. The processing time happened exactly as you see. This demo is made on the early build of Android 4.1 (JRN84D, takju build for Galaxy Nexus I/O edition), on a wifi connection. Consider this beta.

A few observations:

1. Google will give you walking or driving directions directly, if you specify it. Asking for transit or biking directions does not work at the moment.

2. Google is able to distinguish how 'long' a bridge is in length vs. how 'long' a movie is in duration. That's assuming the data already exists in the KG.

3. Local search, coupled with auto-correct, is able to properly locate and spell 'Worcester Mass' and 'Wooster College', even though these places are in different states and can be pronounced the same way (or at least, I did).

4. The voice will speak back any answer it finds in the KG; however, Google currently requires that your query somewhat matches the way attributes are labeled in the Graph. For example, asking for the 'height requirement' of Space Mountain works, but asking 'how tall do I have to be for Space Mountain' does not work at the moment, because this particular data is labeled as 'height requirement'.

5. In order for answer cards to work properly, everything on your device (and the Google Now app) must be set to US English. More languages will be available soon.

[JeanLouisNguyen]

I'm glad you asked the question, because I just discovered that it works on my Galaxy Nexus (I never knew!). Using the supplied ear buds with audio controls, you can press and hold the play/pause button, and it will prompt Google voice search. It works when listening to music too. The song stops, you speak your query, then the music will fade back to normal. It's very quick and seamless. Works with screen on or off. Also works regardless what app you're using at the moment.

[Josephcaperton]

I watched this 10 years ago. Omg the nostalgia with the old voice search.

[Drat_]

For me, the most amazing part is how natural the TTS is. Absolutely incredible.

[coper]

this is amazing, the sound quality and how she sounds is great! Can't wait til jellybean comes to my RAZR HD!

[CaleSchmitz]

OP, great vid. I've shared it via emails to individuals and in general on G+. I knew most of these but found your video in the interest of increasing my familiarity with GNow, to the end of multiplying its utility to myself. Essentially I wanted to see examples in order to increase my fluency.

Again, thank you!

P.S. Canada Day is my birthday, the Cardinals are my team, and I was disappointed you didn't demo the "askew" easter egg. All around good vid!

[svansylt]

The fact that it answered 42 to the ultimate question made me very happy for some reason.

[alextbhmusic]

This is more helpful unlike S-Voice or Siri that tends to be gimmicky.

[timtampa]

Very nicely done, probably the best demo I've seen of Google Now Voice.

[bonitapajarita]

Part 4:32-452 and the end was hilariously awesome!!! 42 FTW!!! Cant wait till this rolls out more nation wide. Thanks for making the vid, this is nice and will help those visually empared and for those that want an alternative, especially when they do things like driving.

[Lightforspirit]

Oh my gawd. I was convinced Siri was better, but this blew my mind. Smooth animations 90% of the time too.

[JisHaus]

I'm very impressed by google on their voice capability. They came out with voice first, apple came up with it second, then siri, but Google reminded apple who's boss at this game. Can't wait for the 4.1 update for my One X.

[DarKnightofCydonia]

whoa... That Space Mountain one particularly blew my mind. That is amazing. Can't wait for it to come out on my Nexus S!

[kriss]

The new voice TTS is just fantastic. Unbelievable how human sounds! I guess this is the beginning of project Majel that was rumored back in March

[wlmeng]

The service is called Google Now, and it has 2 components.
The predictive search with the card things; this one should be labeled as "Google" in your app drawer.
The voice search, as demonstrated in this video. Should be labeled "Voice Search" in the app drawer.
Both components are integrated together as Google Now.

You can also activate them with the search bar widget on your homescreen.

[AwesomeRepublic]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but you have a fantastic voice! I could definitely see you as a voice actor!

[strikeback]

This is amazing, this is already really close to sci-fi shit. It will be so nice when you can do all text based things with your phone through an earpiece with mic, and take pictures through your contact lenses. This tech won't be far away if research keeps progressing like this.

[TomZ]

This is much more useful than Siri, so I think more people will actually use this vs. just playing with siri.

[JeanLouisNguyen]

The font is called Walkway (available for free on DaFont dotcom). Specifically in this video: Walkway Expand SemiBold. If you like this type of font, also try Sansumi DemiBold.

[ikkitosen]

I just love it that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is just 42

[NathanButh]

As an owner of two Jellybean devices I can tell you it does work this perfectly. If you read the description you will see why it did that. XD