The Google Assistant looks ready to make a major update that will help you store and remember almost all of the information and find it easily later.
According to 9to5 Google, the enhanced memory feature will be a combination of task list, scrapbook, reading list and digital file in which you can save anything for easy retrieval. It is already being tested on Google – although there is still no information on when it will be released.
Although Google Assistant already has a memory feature, it is quite limited at the moment: you can verbally tell the Assistant to remember things for you and ask to remember it later.
The new version looks much more powerful, with 9to5Google reporting that it can save a wide variety of content, including “articles, books, contacts, events, flights, hotels, images, movies, music, notes, photos, places, playlists, products, recipes, reminders, restaurants, screenshots, shipments, TV shows, videos and websites. “
The site has made a selection of screenshots of the new Memory feature, and they provide an intriguing insight into the type of things that will be possible.
After storing something, it can be viewed in a new memory feed inside the Assistant, along with the existing Snapshot feature. This will be arranged in reverse chronological order, although Google has card entries for “Older Memories” and “Today”.
And as with the recent changes to Google Photos, which saw an improved function for Lens’s visual search feature, Memory will also provide contextually relevant content along with what you save. So, if you save the flight information, for example, you can show the flight status next to it, while a list of movies can be displayed with your trailer.
There will also be a new way to store things in memory: in addition to asking the Wizard verbally, you can use a shortcut on the home screen, making it easier to add things you are seeing on the screen. Saved items can also be marked with labels, for easy localization later.
We don’t know when the Memory will be released (assuming it actually passes Google’s internal tests), but it looks like a major update. I hope it arrives soon.