Google Now On Tap: A Powerful But "Creepy" Search And Digital Assistant

Fans of digital assistants may find that Google Now on Tap just might give Siri and Cortana a run for their money. Lauren Goode of The Verge took it for a spin, and she discovered that the app is a search behemoth.

What’s creepier is that Now on Tap actually figured out that Goode was searching for a movie, in spite of the fact that her test search has two possibilities: The movie or the book. Lauren Goode used Google Now on Tap to search for information on The Martian (the movie), from a message on Facebook Messenger. Google Now on Tap proceeded to give her options, including the trailer on YouTube, the movie’s IMDb page, as well as the option to head over to Google Chrome and read more articles on the movie.

The tech insider then notes that the algorithm certainly feels “creepy,” as it seemed to note that she was searching for movie information, and not information on the book itself. It could be that the movie was the most popular search option for users around the globe, and not necessarily that Google Now on Tap could actually read her mind. Lauren Goode did note that she could have searched for information on the book by asking Google Now on Tap about “who wrote The Martian.”

Other than that, Lauren Goode was also able to find out information on a band from a friend’s Instagram and Twitter pages, a Viber message regarding attending that band’s gig, and even information on the band’s music, all from Google Now on Tap.

As Lauren Goode demonstrated, Google Now on Tap could be the Android Marshmallow’s built-in killer app. That is, for fans of digital assistants. But for those who do not want to use any digital assistants, an option to delete the app is also available.

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More of Lauren Goode’s review of Google Now on Tap on The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/5/9444039/google-now-on-tap-feature-android-m-hands-on-video