will start adding Assistant to Nougat Marshmallow phones this week

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 26 Feb 2017

Assistant might be the future of voice-controlled intelligence on our devices, but hasn’t made it easy to get it. There are versions of it on Home, the new watches, in lo chats, but if you wanted the full mobile Assistant experience, you had to commit to buying one of the xel phones.

That’s all about to change with a coming ay Services update. Right on the heels of ’s declaration that the G6 would be the first third-party phone to feature Assistant, announced that it would be bringing its voice-activated concierge to all phones running Nougat Marshmallow.

As it is with the xel, users will be able to summon Assistant by saying “OK ” or long-pressing on the home button. ile Assistant’s capabilities vary depending on which device or app you’re using, it appears as though the full xel version will be used here, letting you tap into Maps Calendar, receive weather reports, control smart devices, among numerous other comms.

says Assistant will begin rolling out this week to English users in the U.S., followed by Australia, Canada, the UK, German speakers in Germany. ile Assistant on the xel also supports Hindi, panese, rtuguese, says it will continue to add more languages throughout the year.

The update will automatically deliver Assistant to eligible Android phones running Nougat Marshmallow. And with a flurry of phones due to release at Mobile rld Congress this week, it’s likely that won’t be the only new hset to build in support for it.

A-OK, : ile this move might be a bit overdue, it’s the first necessary step toward ’s goal of making Assistant available wherever we need it. Assistant isn’t just an answer to exa, Cortana, Siri, it’s a strategy to bring voice-powered comms to all devices, the only way that’s possible is to get it on as many phones as possible.