// 9TO5GOOGLE — MOBILE & WEB
Hey Google, Assistant isn’t going away quietly
Good morning. Today I’m reading about just how sophisticated OpenAI’s Hugging Face hack really was, and how we may soon talk telepathically to our AI agents. I’m finishing up Silo season 3 and actively avoiding Ted Lasso season 4. I’m also trying out Ozlo’s new Sleepbuds 2, which apparently improve on the original’s sound quality and battery life.
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“Killed by Google” is a well-known refrain for good reason: the company is famous for ignominiously sunsetting products beloved by a subset of users. From Reader to Google+ to Stadia to Inbox (😭) to Play Music, Allo, Duo, Buzz, Wave, Hangouts, Picasa, the Google graveyard is a well-manicured plot of land.
The death of Google Assistant is going down a little differently; people are mad that its replacement, Gemini — loquacious and intelligent though it is — can’t do many of the basic things Assistant was designed to accomplish. For 10 years, people have been asking it to set alarms and timers, play certain songs, and turn on the living room lights, and from phone, speaker, or television the tool has performed admirably.
But Gemini’s AI foundations make it less predictable than the semantic, rules-based outcomes of Assistant, and our commenters are pretty upset that, come September, they won’t have the option of reverting back to it.
Personally, I think Gemini for Home is getting a pretty bad rap. While its early incarnation on smart speakers was confused by many requests, it’s now in a pretty good spot, and the team behind it is constantly issuing updates. It’s also much better at responding to those longer, winding queries we all tend to ask, particularly in the morning before coffee.
Of course, time will tell whether Google can alleviate the broader concerns people have about Assistant’s replacement, which, despite its issues, has served us well for over 10 years.
If you were a Pixel owner between 2017 and 2020, you may have been blessed with what is arguably the best accessory the company has ever made (though this one is a close second): the Pixel fabric case. Right now, I use an old Pixel 5 as an offline music player in my son’s room, and every evening I look forward to picking up the phone nestled in its cozy little fabric home.
Google discontinued the cases when it debuted the Pixel 6 in 2021, and since then dozens of us have been calling for their return. While that seems unlikely, I do have a couple of recommendations that get close.
Peak Design’s Everyday Case is my go-to option for most Pixels and iPhones; they’re well-designed and comfortable to hold, and have a fabric outer layer that, while slightly denser and coarser than Google’s, makes it feel luxurious. It also has a great MagSafe solution and a bunch of accessories like a magnetic mobile wallet (that I’ve used, irrespective of phone, for four years now) and a handy, hardy wall mount.