Google Now - Who actually makes use of it?

Steve_bullockuk · 11 Apr 2013 at 03:02

...Just of curiosity mainly.

Google pushed it as one of the main features in Jellybean along with 'Project Butter' and there is no mistaking its capabilities, but does anyone actually make use of it?

The majority of the info it gives like weather and sports cards, I get from the homescreen which means I don't even need to enter an app to get it. Personally, the feature I find most useful is the places card. Its saved my a*s on numerous occasions with the traffic reports when I have had appointments arranged.

Thoughts?

Richie · 11 Apr 2013 at 06:41

I use it now and again but not much. The traffic reports it gives me (home to work and vice versa) always tend to be a couple of minutes too late and I end up in the jam with nowhere to go.

All it needs to do is tell me a couple of minutes earlier

Em3bbs · 11 Apr 2013 at 07:16

I have made use of it quite a lot, it's brilliant to be able to search for a place on Chrome on your Mac/PC and then you have navigations directions to it automagically appear on Google Now. Also useful for bus stops/times.

Kmodo · 11 Apr 2013 at 07:38

Richie said:
I use it now and again but not much. The traffic reports it gives me (home to work and vice versa) always tend to be a couple of minutes too late and I end up in the jam with nowhere to go.

All it needs to do is tell me a couple of minutes earlier

yep. This happens to me too.

Don't use it apart from that.

Myshra · 11 Apr 2013 at 08:25

Commonly use traffic, stocks, sports, appointments and weather.

AshD93 · 11 Apr 2013 at 08:52

As said above, love how it moves the map you were looking at in chrome to your phone without intervention.

tom_e · 11 Apr 2013 at 09:08

Not at all it's been disabled since I installed JB

Fillado · 11 Apr 2013 at 10:37

I used it for a bit but disabled it due to the fairly dire privacy implications.

For it to function your location history is continuously logged as is your search history.

At least it does say something positive about Google that it's easy to see the data they hold, make your own decision about Google Now and remove the data easily.

sonic_rm · 11 Apr 2013 at 10:41

I use it for Traffic, Weather, Sports. Came in handy when I was travelling, Got all the travel info, Boarding pass, Flight times etc in one place.

Rich_L · 11 Apr 2013 at 21:50

Not so much going on to it specifically but love the notifications, travel info, packages delivered from Amazon, commute home time and stuff like that.

rp2000 · 11 Apr 2013 at 23:10

Use it daily. Moreso now that the cards appear in notifications (not sure if they always did) and clicking the notification loads Google Now.

At the very least it is useful for weather (there are times when the only 2 cards I see by default are weather and time to travel home/work). I don't bother with a separate weather widget as a result.

If you travel abroad it is very useful imo (hotel check in, sightseeing, translator, currency rates, flights etc).

Noticed that it very accurately picks up closest London bus stops and gives Bus departure times, again recently-ish.

rp2000

Rimsy · 12 Apr 2013 at 01:34

Use it a few times a week. Very useful when required and it works pretty much flawlessly. Thumbs up Google.

Steve_bullockuk · 12 Apr 2013 at 01:58

rp2000 said:
If you travel abroad it is very useful imo (hotel check in, sightseeing, translator, currency rates, flights etc).

I found this the most impressive part of the whole thing when I went to Belgium. Displayed local time, UK time, current exchange rate and places of interest without me even doing anything.

Simian · 12 Apr 2013 at 06:57

I use it quite a lot for my Commute. Plus I like the integration with a search on Google maps and even Calendar if you put the location in accurately (full address including the Post Code) it will pop up with the information on that journey too including Traffic and the 'Navigate' option

Weather is good, Stocks and Shares are useful but the Sports is crap as it only seems to search American Teams!..

Some of the other cards that pop up are 'sometimes' useful and other Random!!

Bobmunkhouse · 12 Apr 2013 at 08:25

On holiday its pretty good if you have 3g or WiFi and it let's you know what's around you and about hotel and flight bookings...

Rusty! · 12 Apr 2013 at 10:01

I use it all the time, find it really useful.

benjo · 12 Apr 2013 at 13:22

I've used it occasionally, but I've just turned it off now as Maps was raping my battery.

I only ever found it useful when I'm stuck somewhere new on a night out and need to get home. It's usually quick to figure out which nightbus I need

Orcvader · 12 Apr 2013 at 13:31

I tried to use it, but after a month I disabled it. I hardly use it and it's got my home address wrong even though I changed it... not to mention the transport card going to "home" appears a tad too random.

Psycho Sonny · 12 Apr 2013 at 13:48

Rusty! said:
I use it all the time, find it really useful.

pretty much this,

the more you use it the more useful it becomes.

i searched for a product on a high street store, it then showed me directions directly to the store.

it tells me the weather and travel updates, etc.

it automatically asks me about destinations i go to frequently so i can save them, e.g. the gym.

it gives me updates on football scores for teams i have selected.

it does all of this from 1 widget, whereas previously i would have needed several.

it will also remind you of calendar entries too i believe, i never really used the calendar before apart to check dates and stuff, but i am now starting too, which will make now integration even better.

cannot wait to see how this advances over the years, much better than google glass and other projects they are working on.

Proc · 12 Apr 2013 at 22:15

Gonna sound a bit dumb but how does this work? I haven't really looked into it since I got my Nexus 4, but I like the idea of things like travel info and package tracking. So if you go through Google search for certain things, will they then show up with Google Now depending what cards you have on?