Now is one of Android’s best features, delivering reminders, calendar updates, traffic reports automatically throughout the day. It can be a powerful assistant for students, as it takes the many details that fill your life repackages them into a series of cards.
Optimizing Now works best for those who are all-in with the company’s products like Gmail, Chrome, Search, Calendar. It also works very well as a hub for setting quick reminders, such as assignment due dates.
Now organizes information into context-based cards.
If you don’t mind sharing a lot of information about yourself with , your smartphone or tablet will feel more connected to your day-to-day life, including school.
Get going with Now
If you haven’t gotten Now up running yet, doing so is obviously the first step. Head to the Search app, enter the settings, flip the switch for Now to On.
Sign up for Now from the Search app.
The service is designed to tailor itself to your specific needs, so the more permissions you enable, the better the Now experience will be. One of the most important is to enable rsonal results, which is located under the Accounts privacy tab.
Be sure to enable rsonal Results in Now to get the most out of the service.
This lets Now mine your Gmail for dates. For example, if you discussed getting together with some classmates over email bantered about a date time, Now will pop up with a card asking if you want to be reminded about the event.
so, any appointments you have plugged in to your Calendar will present themselves as cards, which frees you from constantly needing to dig through your calendar app. It is a great way to get a preview of one’s day, as your classes, labs, or study groups could all be nicely packaged.
Find the information you want
Now has all sorts of different cards that pop up depending on your search history, which can include the desktop if searching through Chrome logged into your account. This may appear slightly invasive, as you will start seeing suggested articles, TV shows, or sports teams.
It isn’t perfect, as recently I researched mon Meringue e (the likely name for Android /a>) for an article; soon thereafter Now started giving me recipe suggestions.
However, there are several other situations where it is extremely useful. For example, if you had been researching a newsworthy topic for a class, like the current U.S. GD you may start seeing suggestions for related articles. It will also spot dates in your Gmail ask if you wish to be reminded about them.
Fortunately, you can just swipe away the card if it’s not relevant. Most cards also have a setting on the top right corner where you can answer a series of questions if you want to keep getting that kind of update. Doing this will help Now learn your preferences become a better digital assistant.
It works rather well for reminders: something you may need often when it comes to keeping track of due dates, classes, group projects. From within Now, tap the reminder button at the bottom of the app (the finger with the ribbon wrapped around it) speak or type what you need to be bugged about. Select a date time, a card will appear when requested. Or just say “OK , remind me…” say what you want to be reminded about, when.
Tell Now to remind you something based on a location.
Additionally, Now will create location-based reminders. For example, you can tell Now to remind you to e-mail your assignment when getting back to your apartment. It will use your device’s location to provide the proper notice when you get there.
To explore all of Now’s different card categories, scroll again to the bottom of your card list touch the magic w. From here, you can add in details such as your favorite sports teams, stocks, TV shows. You can even choose to hide scores in case you are stuck in class during the game want to catch it later on DVR.
Spend some time exploring this section to get an idea of what kind of updates you want. You can impress friends with the TV section, as it will suggest shows from streaming services or cable/satellite providers.
t Now one swipe away
If you are on an Android device running 4.1 or higher then get the Now uncher for the best experience, as it puts Now just one swipe away from the home screen.
The Now uncher puts the cards to the left of the home screen.
If you can’t add on the Now uncher or you prefer one of the many other choices available then consider one of the many Now widgets. Depending on the size you choose it puts one or more of the cards right on the home screen.
Another advantage is the quick access to Now’s voice comms. You can just speak, “Okay, ” perform a search, set a reminder, or any of the other supported tasks. It enables you to quickly perform these actions instead of going through the hoops of unlocking the phone, finding the search app, then typing your query.
For example, it can rapidly speed up the research process. “Okay ” works even when the phone is launched, so just say your search query research away. Because Now pulls in your desktop search history, you can revisit a search topic with a group at a coffee shop even if your computer is still back at the dorm.
Now is a major project for the company, so it gets constant tweaks updates with new features, such as the recent addition of travel suggestions from Field Trip or a card that tells you where you parked.
Updates to Now are typically dynamic web-based, so they appear without the need for any kind of update from the ay Store. So stay on the lookout for new cards how they can be tweaked to best meet your lifestyle.
