AOTW: Google Now For iOS

What is the sixth sense? Well, in the world of the mobile internet, theorists suggest that it will be the ability to have easy access to any pertinent information at any time, anywhere. Right now, we are working toward that goal, with close candidates being Google Glass, a research group at MIT, and Google Now. Google Now was one of the main features on Android and is part of the reason Android has so many followers. But recently, Google released Google Now for iOS, which really opens it up for Apple users.

Google Now isn’t an app itself, it is a add-on to the already very useful Google Search app. This makes it better, for two reasons. The first one is that it is a free update to the Google Search app. You can get all of it for free, without paying for the Android phone. Secondly, if you are already a Google Search user (like me), it uses those data to tell you useful information. For instance, if you recently looked up the score of a basketball game, Google Now may have a slide showing the score live. Here are some other examples of cards:

Weather

The weather is always a curiosity. There are many weather apps out there, but Google Now fits it right in with the rest Also, you don’ have to manually change the city you are in. It does it for you. If you want to, you can also have it display cards showing the weather at you home and work.

Calendar

Almost everyone uses Google Calendar. It lets you easily plan and you life. With Google Now, you can get reminded, or even get information, about your upcoming events. This may not be the most exciting feature, but it will definitely help smooth out the wrinkles in your life.

Destinations

Destinations is a very important feature in Google Now. It takes information from Google Search and Gmail and figures out your next destination. Then, it shows you how long it will take, and if it has traffic, figures out another route. This makes it easy to go anywhere, and I suggest you try it. It works surprisingly well.

Flights

Flying is always stressful. Will I make it, is it running late, where is my boarding pass? All this passes through you mid while walking through the airport. Google Now utilities Gmail and the Google search engine to check if you have any flights coming up. If you do, it puts up a card that shows a digital boarding pass(no more printed out versions), gate number, terminal and more. All you have to do is scan in your QR code at the gate and off you go! Also, when you get there, it shows you directions to your hotel, good restaurants and more using the destination feature. Google Now makes traveling (somewhat) easy.

Translations

Going with the situation above, translations help a lot. If you are in a foreign country, Google Now will automatically show a translation card from your language to the countries language. Although translations is very useful, it is only in a set of smaller cards such as birthdays, movies, reservations, events, local events for traveling, packages, sports, Fandango, stocks, and more. Some of those are only for Android (this will probably change later), but they are still very useful.

The Translation Card

Google Now is practically a sixth sense. It gives you information whenever, wherever you are. Plus, since it is built into the search app, it gives you information on anything you want. Now that it is on iOS, everyone can use it’s awesome capabilities. Unfortunately, when Google Now switched over to iOS, it left some features behind. For instance, it left behind it’s Siri like voice capability, which allows you to orally ask it questions. Also, it left behind many card options like Reaserch Topic, where it pulls up cool articles on a certain topic. Still, if you have iOS, defiantly update or get Google Search to have this amazing app. It certainly lives up to it’s slogan: “Google Now. The right information at the right time.”