Next-gen Google Assistant now available in Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, Singapore

Google demonstrated the power of its next-gen Assistant in a video earlier this year during Google I/O 2019. It showed that the popular virtual assistant could recognise voice commands much faster and work offline. This drastically improved Google Assistant was introduced in the Google Pixel 4/4 XL a couple of months ago but was restricted to the US market. Now, however, Google is rolling it out to the Pixel 4/4 XL other markets such as Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and Singapore.

The news of Google's new rollout comes in the form of a short and sweet text update on the Community section of the Google Assistant Help website. Available since December 12, 2019, the new Google Assistant currently works only in English. Support for other languages and locales are expected to be added soon, though we have no definite timeline. Google hasn't mentioned when or if the next-gen Assistant will be made available on non-Pixel devices.

According to Google, the next-gen Assistant is up to ten times faster in terms of voice response speed. The California-based company has apparently worked out a way to reduce the size of its speech recognition models from 100GB on the cloud to 500MB on the device, thus making it available for offline use as well. The next-gen Assistant also comes with Continued Conversation, a feature that lets the user ask follow-up questions to Assistant's responses. For example, a user can ask, “When was he born?” right after Google Assistant's response to, “Who is the artist of this song?”

The next-gen Google Assistant also incorporates a faster way to disable alarms and timers. For example, a user can say “Stop” when an alarm begins to ring to dismiss it. They needn't begin such commands with “OK Google”. In addition, saying, “Hey Google, let's drive” will bring up the new driving mode that replaces Android Auto. There, the user will find a long feed of information in sections such as ‘Just for you’, ‘Recent places’, ‘Communication’, and ‘Media’. In certain connected cars, they will even be able to modify the car's temperature remotely using Google Assistant.

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Xiaomi working on smart display to take on Amazon Echo Show, Google Nest Hub: Report

The modern smart display market in India was created practically in a year's time. It started with the launch of the Amazon Echo Show earlier this year, followed by a smaller and more affordable Amazon Echo Show 5. Shortly after that, Google brought in the Nest Hub and, more recently, Lenovo introduced its smart display portfolio. Now though, it appears these models may soon be joined by a smart display from Xiaomi. It's called XiaoAI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 and it costs CNY 599 (Rs 6,100 approx).

On Chinese electronics portal ITHome, we see leaked images of a boxed Xiaomi XiaoAI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8. It looks like a product that's ready to be shipped. If these images are anything to go by, then we can tell the new Xiaomi smart display looks quite a bit like the Google Nest Hub. Distinguishing it from the Nest Hub is the fairly tall speaker bar below the rectangular screen with rounded corners. The entire device is painted completely white with no coloured accents on the front side.

According to the text on the device's box, the Xiaomi XiaoAI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 features three inbuilt passive diaphragms, which should boost its low-frequency performance. The Hi-Fi level audio processing chip and the  high-performance amplifier made by Texas Instruments should provide high efficiency and low distortion. It also employs an advanced multi-band dynamic response control algorithm along with professional tuning from DTS.

The leaked information does not suggest when the Xiaomi smart display will be made available in the Chinese market but we expect it to go on sale sometime in the first quarter of 2020. It could even make its way to India a few months later. The price of the XiaoAI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 is listed on the website as CNY 599, which translates to about Rs 6,100. You may not be able to get your hands on the XiaoAI Touchscreen Speaker Pro 8 this year but you can always read our review of the Amazon Echo Show 5 here in case you're in the mood for gifting.

Cover image courtesy: Xiaomi Today.it

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Godfall, a New Loot Grind With Melee Combat, Is Coming to PlayStation 5 and PC

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