A few months ago, we got word that Google may soon let you give commands to your Google Assistant without necessarily saying “Hey Google”. The capability is called “quick phrases” although the nickname in-house is “Guacamole”. Back then we didn’t really know how that would work or if there will only be specific commands or if our smart devices will now be always listening for everything we say, with the latter causing much confusion and wrong triggers. Well now we know more about how these “salsas” will work.
9 to 5 Google says they were able to enable the Google Assistant settings page for these “quick phrases” that are now nicknamed “salsas”. They are the specific tasks that you can enable and you don’t have to say “Hey Google” for Assistant to fulfill the request. There’s a list of tasks that you can enable and they will only work for you through Voice Match user recognition. When you add the tasks, they will appear in the “Your salsas” section.
The tasks are divided into eight categories: Recommended, Alarms, Connect, General info, Lights, Media Controls, Timers, and To-Dos. Here’s a list of the possible quick phrases that you can enable when this feature rolls out:
– Set alarms: “Set an alarm for 7 a.m.”
– Cancel alarms: “Cancel the alarm”
– Show alarms: “What time is my alarm set for?”
– Send broadcasts: “Send a broadcast”
– Respond to calls: “Answer” & “Decline”
– Ask about time: “What time is it?”
– Ask about weather: “What’s the weather?”
– Turn lights on & off: “Turn the lights on”
– Turn lights up & down: “Increase the brightness”
– Control volume: “Turn up the volume”
– Pause & resume music: “Pause the music”
– Skip tracks: “Skip this song”
– Set timers: “Set a timer for 2 minutes”
– Cancel timers: “Cancel the timer”
– Pause & resume timers: “Pause the timer”
– Reset timers: “Reset the timer”
– Show timers: “How much time is left?”
– Reminders: “Create a reminder”
– Family notes: “Create a family note”
There will also be a list of “devices where Assistant can respond to your salsas” but that part still seems to be incomplete at this time. It will probably include smartphones, smart displays, and smart speakers as there’s mention of setting it up in the Google Home app or Assistant settings. However at this point in time, it’s still unclear what devices will be able to do this and when this will actually launch so we’ll have to wait a little longer for more leaks or even an official announcement.
