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Google Today is launching a major visual overhaul of its wizarding experience on phones. While the initial vision of the assistant focused primarily on the voice, half of all interactions with the wizard actually include touch. So with this redesign, Google recognizes it and brings more and more visuals to the experience of the wizard.
If you have used one of the last smart display screens enabled by the wizard, some of the new features on this page may sound familiar. You now have controls and sliders to manage your smart devices, for example. These include sliders to dim your lights and buttons to turn them on or off. There are also commands to manage the volume of your speakers.
Even in cases where the assistant was already providing visual feedback – for example when asking for the weather – the team also reworked these results and made them more consistent with what users are already seeing on the screens Lenovo and LG smart phones. On the phone, however, this experience still seems a little more sober than on these larger screens.
With this redesign, which goes live on Android and in the iOS app today, Google is also bringing a little more experience now missed from Google Now on the phone. Although you can already view a list of upcoming appointments, travel information, recent orders, and other information about your day's wizard, this feature was hidden behind a rather strange icon that many users have surely ignored. Now, after long pressing the home button on your Android phone, you can sweep up to get the same experience. I'm not sure it's more discoverable than before, but Google is avoiding you a tap.
In addition to visually redesigning the wizard, Google has also announced today a number of new features for developers. Not surprisingly, part of this announcement is aimed at enabling developers to create their own visual assistant experiences. Google calls these "rich answers" and provides developers with a set of preconfigured visual components that they can easily use to extend their wizard actions. And since GIF files are not complete, they can now also use them in their Assistant applications.
But in addition to these new options to create more visual experiences, Google also makes it easier for developers.
Although they can already sell physical goods through their assistant shares, as of today, they will also be able to sell digital goods. These can be single purchases for a new level in a game or recurring subscriptions. Headspace, which has long had a very basic wizard experience, now lets you sign up for subscriptions directly from your phone's wizard, for example.
Selling digital goods directly in the wizard is one thing, but this sale must also be synchronized between different applications. That's why Google today launches a new login service for the wizard that allows developers to log in and link their accounts.
"In the past, linking accounts could be a frustrating experience for your users. Manually entering a username and password – or worse, creating a new account – interrupts the natural conversation flow, "explains the company. Google Sign-In, users can now create a new account by simply touching or confirming their voice. Most users can even connect to their existing accounts with your service using their verified email address. "
Starbucks has already incorporated this feature into their wizard experience to give users access to their rewards account. The addition of the new connection for the assistant has almost doubled its conversion rate.
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