Google’s connected speaker is potentially limitless if you know how to talk to it. We have made an inventory of the different commands that she is able to interpret.
The Google Home speaker is now available in France and offers a multitude of functions, accessible by voice commands. You still have to know what to ask him and how to formulate the requests. We are going to make a non-exhaustive inventory of the subjects that the speaker is capable of understanding.
To benefit from it, however, it must be properly configured. Install the Home app on your smartphone, or update it, and check that you have specified a default audio streaming service (Deezer, Spotify or Play Music), that your Chromecast is paired and that your other elements home automation, for example connected light bulbs, are taken into account.
When configuring the Home app, it is possible to activate a function so that the connected speaker recognizes your voice. Despite a few messages in English during our test, the operation is quick (you just have to repeat a few sentences). It then allows you to obtain personalized results (schedule, playlists, etc.), available only with your voice. Google has also planned that multiple users (up to six) can use the same speaker with their own accounts. All they need to do is install the app and start the setup.
Everything is configured correctly? Here’s how to “talk” to Google, starting the sentences with “OK Google”. Note that there may be a little time to wait before getting a reaction and that you sometimes have to repeat the sentence while articulating. All orders stop by “OK Google Stop”. You can also call up the assistant with the variant “Say Google”
1 – Control devices
It is possible to control the volume of the Google speaker by commands such as “Increase volume”, “Decrease volume”, “Volume to 65 percent”, “Maximum volume” and “Minimum volume”.
If you have smart bulbs and you’ve associated them with Google Home by giving them names, they are ordered with words like Switch on, off or Thames, followed by the name of the bulb. You can also change the color of the lighting by “Put (name of bulb) in green” and adjust the brightness by “50 percent (name bulb) rule”. The Rule command can also be applied to connected thermostats. By giving names to the parts, it is possible to launch the commands “Turn on / off all the lights” or “Turn on / off the lights in the living room”.
2 – play music and watch videos
To listen to a song, just use the Play, Mets or Pass commands. It is possible to be more precise by including the name of the artist, or even that of the broadcasting service. For example “Play Get Lucky by Daft Punk” or “Play Daft Punk on Spotify”. Reading is ordered by sentences “Pause”, “Resume” and “Stop”. It is even possible to be more vague by saying “Passe du jazz” or “Mets du Gainsbourg”.
Rather, playing videos on a Chromecast dongle connected to the TV is done simply by adding “On television” at the end of the sentence. Sometimes you have to be precise to distinguish music, played from Spotify and displayed on the TV as a still image, from a video played from YouTube. For example, we must say a command of the type “Play Happy Pharrell Williams YouTube on TV”.
The Google speaker also allows you to listen to the radio with commands such as “Play France Inter” or “Play Europe 1” (the TuneIn service is then used).
3 – plan your day
In the application, the My day section of the parameters configures the different elements that will be given by the speaker with the commands “Give me the schedule for my day” or “What does my day look like?” “.
The elements are for example the weather forecast, the next appointment, the journey between home and work or the news. They are also accessible separately by saying ” What weather is it ? “,” Weather for tomorrow “,” How long is my commute to work? ” “. More generally, Google Home provides information on journeys and the weather. For example, “What’s the weather like in Grenoble? Or “How long does it take to get to Disneyland by public transport?” “.
4 – Leisure and outings
Using words like Find, Find Me, Is There and Search, one can find bars, cinemas, restaurants and other leisure places. For example, the phrase “Find me a Japanese restaurant” returns the first Japanese restaurant nearby and “Find me a bar” indicates the nearest bar. It is also possible to know a phone number by simply saying a sentence like “Sushiken Restaurant Phone Number”. For cinemas, you can search by movie by saying “Find me the film Valerian nearby”, then find the address of the cinema by “Find me the address of the Bretagne cinema”.
5 – Sports and Finances
With phrases like “Who is playing in league 1 today?” “And” What was the score of PSG? “, it is easy to get sports results. The scholarship is also part of the knowledge of Google Home by asking questions such as “What is the SFR share price? “,” Stock market price for Airbus “and” How much did SFR share open? ” “.
6 – Travel
Google Home provides information on flights with questions like “Flights to New York”, “What is the status of American flight 787?” “,” What time does American flight 787 arrive? “. The enclosure can even communicate train timetables through the Voyages-Sncf application (see further below). It is also possible to ask him about accommodation and activities on site, by saying sentences such as “Hotels in New York” or “Attractions in Memphis”.
7 – Conversions and calculations
Google has provided fairly simple sentences for calculations and conversions. Some examples : “12 times 13”, “square root of 9”, “10 percent of 130” and “cosine of 45 degrees”.
8 – Translation and dictionary
Need to translate a word? Just say for example “How are you, in English”, “How do you say it’s a pleasure to meet you in Spanish?” “Or” Translate Thank you into Italian “. To get its definition, use at the beginning of the sentence “Give me the definition of the word”, “What does the word mean” or “What is the definition of the word”.
9 – More general questions
Google’s speaker is able to answer a wide variety of questions, for example “How far away is Malta?” “,” Who invented the rabies vaccine? “,” How much vitamin C is in an orange? “,” How many calories in a steak? “,” How high is the Statue of Liberty? “. And to distract yourself: “Tell me a joke” or “Give me a proverb”, and even “Do you know Siri? “.
10 – Record information
It is possible to enter information such as “Remember that my car is parked in place 47”, “My name is Lionel” or “My favorite team is PSG”. It is then possible to query the speaker with questions such as ” What is my name ? “Or” Where is my car parked? “.
11 – Alarms and timers
The Google speaker can possibly serve as an alarm, or even a timer. The alarms are set by “Set an alarm for 6am tomorrow”, “Set an alarm for 5:30 pm” or “Set an alarm for 7 am every day of the week”. The command “Cancel Alarm” allows you to cancel them and “What are my alarms? “ to question them. And when an alarm goes off, just say ” Stopped “ to stop it.
Timers are less used than alarms, but can be used for example in the kitchen with the sentences “10 minute timer rule” or “20 minute pizza timer rule”. To question them, use a sentence like “Remaining time for the pizza timer” or “List of timers”. When the timer rings, just say ” Stopped “ and a sentence such as “Cancel pizza timer” allows you to cancel a timer before its end.
12 – Easily find your smartphone
Can’t find your smartphone in your house? Don’t panic, just say “OK Google, find my smartphone” and the mobile device rings.
13 – Communicate with other applications
Google answers your questions but can also hand over to other apps. To do this, start your sentence with “OK Google, speak with” followed by the name of the app. It also works with “OK Google, talk to” and “OK Google, pass me”. For now, the services available are AccorHotels (hotel reservation), Akinator (quiz), Busuu (language learning), ELLE horoscope, L’Équipe, Namatata (meditation), Plume Labs (air quality) and Voyages-SNCF (train timetables and reservations). Good news, it is not necessary to install the service app on the smartphone. Once connected to Voyages-SNCF, for example, the app takes over, asking you the questions you need to book a train ticket.
14 – Display the answers to your questions on your smartphone
After asking a question out loud, launch the Home app and swipe down from the top of the screen. This refreshes the display and the answer to your question is displayed. This works for example with questions whose answers call on Wikipedia.
15 – Use the speaker in Bluetooth
Google has provided a Bluetooth connection mode, in addition to Wi-Fi. You just have to go to the bluetooth settings on the mobile device and choose the speaker to connect to.
This is useful, for example, to play audio files stored locally on your smartphone.
16 – Customize the sound of the speaker
The Home app now has an equalizer to tailor the sound to your liking. To use it:
- Touch the icon at the top of the screen on the right, which represents a screen and a speaker.
- Find the Google speaker in the list of devices and tap the menu icon, symbolized by three vertical dots, then Settings.
- In the settings, touch Equalizer.
You can then adjust the bass and treble levels separately