Google rolls out upgrades for Google Assistant; offers 5G support for Android Q

Google I/O, the search giant’s annual developer conference that just took place in Mountain View, California, this year, saw many announcements including upgrades to Google Assistant, new features in mobile operating system Android Q and newer security and productivity tools across products and platforms.

The company said that it has reached a new milestone with Google Assistant, which now features new speech recognition and language analysis models that reduce space consumption in cloud. While previous recognition software occupied close to 100 GB data, the newer models will now use less than half a gigabyte in cloud, the firm said in a release.

The new AI-enabled models can now be run locally on smartphones. This provides the bandwidth to process speech on the device at close to zero latency, with real-time transcription of audio, even without an Internet connection.

The new Assistant can also deliver 10 times faster answers and allows for multitasking across applications. “With Continued Conversation, you can make several requests in a row without having to say “Hey Google” each time. The next-generation Assistant is coming to new Pixel phones later this year,” said Manuel Bronstein, vice-president of product, Assistant.

Android Q

Stephanie Cuthbertson, director of product management, Android, said that Android was focusing on three key areas for its next release— innovation, digital wellbeing, and security and privacy.

“As people carry their phones constantly and trust them with lots of personal information, we want to make sure they’re always in control of their data and how it’s shared,” said Cuthbertson.

Android Q will support foldable devices and multi-tasking. It will be able to adapt to different screen dimensions, and will be the first operating system to support 5G. Android Q also offers app developer tools for faster connectivity, and gives enhanced experience for gaming and augmented reality.