Apple needs a feature like Google's Call Screen – TechCrunch



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Google has taken a leap forward in Apple by tackling a problem with mobile phone owners in the United States: spam calls. The company's flagship smartphone, Pixel 3, is the first to introduce a new call screening feature that leverages the built-in Google wizard. The filtering service transcribes the caller's request in real time, allowing you to decide whether you want to reply or not, and gives you a way to answer.

Despite the many leaks on Google's new hardware, Call Screen and the launch of Duplex for restaurant reservations were big surprises at yesterday's event organized by Google.

It can be argued that these developments are even more important than the new features of the camera, even if Group Selfie and Top Shot are interesting additions to the new Google phone.

Apple has nothing to do with this call filtering feature, there are only third-party call blocking applications, also available on Android.

Today, Siri is simply not able to answer the phone, politely ask the caller what he wants, and transcribe his answer instantly. He must catch up and quickly.

Half of the calls will be spam in 2019

Call Screen, based on Google's Duplex technology, is a big step forward for our smart devices. We do not ask our assistant for help with various tasks, nor for the latest news and weather, but we also take care of the phone assistant to solve real problems.

In addition to calling restaurants for information on the tables, Assistant will now help us protect ourselves from the growing flood of spam calls.

This is a major problem that all smartphone owners can subscribe to and that one of the major mobile phone groups has not yet solved.

Nearly half of all mobile phone calls next year will come from fraudsters. And their tactics have been much worse in recent months.

Today, they often deceive people by claiming to be the IRS, a bank, government officials, and so on. They claim that you are in a kind of legal problem. They say that someone stole your credit card. They claim that you owe taxes. In addition, they often use phone number spoofing tips to make their calls look local so recipients can respond.

The National Register of Excluded Telecommunications Numbers has not solved the problem. And despite the heavy fines imposed by the FCC, the epidemic continues.

A.I. manages spammers

In light of an industry solution, Google turned to A.I.

The system was designed to look more natural, intervening for the type of tasks we do not want, like calling reservations or filtering our calls by asking first "Who is it, do you like it?"

With Call Screen, as Google explained yesterday, Pixel device owners will be able to press a button when a call arrives to send it to the new service. Google Assistant will answer for you at the call: "Hello, the person you are calling is using a Google filtering service and will receive a copy of this conversation. Go ahead and say your name and why you are calling."

The caller's response is then transcribed in real time on your screen.

These transcripts are not being recorded, but Google says they could be stored later in your call history.

To manage the caller, you can press a variety of buttons to continue or end the conversation. Based on the demo and support documentation, this is:Who is it? "" I'll call you back "," Tell me more "," I can not understand ", or "Is it urgent?"

You can also use the wizard to say things like: "Please delete the number from your contact list. Thank you and goodbye," the demo showed, after the recipient hit the "Mark as spam" button.

Although Google's Google Voice technology was able to filter incoming calls, it was little more than asking for the name of the caller. Call Screen is a higher level element, it is the least that one can say.

And everything happens on the device, using A.I. – It's not necessary to use your Wi-Fi or mobile data, says Google.

As Call Screen is adopted on a large scale, Google will actually build its own database of fraudsters. It could then possibly block spam calls or telemarketers on your behalf as a function at the operating system level in the future.

"You will never have to talk to another telemarketer," Prime Minister Google Liza Ma said Monday at the event.

Google has the best A.I. Phone

The news of Call Screen, and more generally Duplex, is another shot on the arc of Apple.

The smartphone hardware is basically enough, and has been for some time. Modern smartphones from Apple and Google also take great pictures. New developments on the front of the camera are more important for photography enthusiasts than for the average user. The phones are fine. The cameras are good. So what can the phones do?

The next battle for smartphones will concern A.I. Technology.

Apple is aware that this is the case.

In June, the company introduced what we call its "A.I. phone "- an iPhone infused with Siri technologies to customize the device and improve support. It allows users to create optimized workflows to automate tasks, to talk more naturally to Siri with the commands they invent and applications to make suggestions instead of sending notifications. ;interruption.

But much of Siri's capabilities still involve manual adjustments of the components.

You record custom Siri voice commands to control the applications (you must then remember your Siri key phrase so you can use them). Workflows must be pinned together in a separate Siri Shortcuts application that exceeds all users, except for experienced users.

These are great features for iPhone owners, of course, but they do not exactly automate A.I. technology seamlessly. These are Apple's first steps towards creating A.I. more of what it means to use an iPhone.

Call Screen, meanwhile, is a use case for A.I. This does not require a ton of user education or manual labor. Even if you did not know it existed, pressing a "Call on Screen" button when the phone rings is pretty simple.

And it's not just a Pixel 3 feature.

Google, the owners of Pixel 3 in the United States are just starting to get it. It will also be deployed on older Pixel devices next month (in English). Presumably, however, it will come to Android itself in time, when these first tests come to an end.

After all, if the battle of the mobile OS must be over, A.I. there is no reason to keep A.I. the advances related to Google's only hardware devices.

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