Bad News, Windows Phone Fans: Google Now is the Real Deal

OH MY GOSH, google is implementing a metro-like ui style. Simply plagiarism.

It turns out that rewriting the entire operating system so it is nearly the same in functionality with the old one (but still doesn't manage to be compatible with the new desktop OS even though it was written to be that way) puts a large dent in the pool of resources that could have actually innovated new features. Who would have thought?

With that said, I made a valiant attempt to dump WP7 in favor of Android and the hesitations,bugs, horrible app curation, and risk of p0wn4ge drove me back to WP8. It doesn't matter if the phone is one step ahead of you if it freezes when making a call or reboots when listening to the Google music app.

Normal people don't talk to their phones. Google Now, just like Siri, is interesting, but is nothing more than a commercial. People who buy smartphones for gimmicks like Siri find out shortly after that they have no real use for them. I don't know anyone who was excited about Siri on the iPhone and actually uses it anymore.

If this takes off and integrates with Chrome OS in a meaningful way, Windows has a hard-core competitor coming

This is another warning to make sure you stay away from Google's products and services. All this cyber stalking in the name of personalisation is heading in a very dangerous direction. Google already have way too much power. Don't feed them your personal information.

Read the Filter Bubble if you want some perspective on the potential negative consequences. There's an old website as well.

If you need a phone to manage your life for you in that level of detail, then you're a moron who deserves a phone that gets 6 hours of battery life.

Way to rip off the Metro UI look though. "Cards". That's cute. I guess "tiles" was taken.

Seriously? This is what Google is bringing to take over the world?
First, they're continuing to build on a weak foundation of snagging other people's services and rebranding them as their own.

Second and more importantly, we're not all daily travelers who are constantly in new and exciting cities. We live in the same town and go to the same job, every day, year in and year out. I seriously don't need help with my commute, I could drive it with my eyes closed.

Again, I don't need restaurant advice. I live in a pretty big city but it isn't hard to keep track of all the places we like to eat and when something new opens.

If I'm interested in how the game is going, I'm probably watching it or I'll check espn for real details. I don't need a stock ticker while I'm buying groceries, I'm not Warren Buffet, I can wait until I get home to call my broker.

Finally, who finds out about a movie for the first time on their phone, says, "Oh hells yeah!" and orders the tickets there and then?

Its this kind of gimmicky crap that gets people excited just long enough to do something stupid, like buy into it actually being useful and then feeling stupid when they realize that it isn't telling them anything they didn't know.

I have used Siri extensively for three tasks. Literally "Set a timer for 5 minutes," "Turn off all of my alarms," "Remind me at 1PM on Wednesday to call John at 555-1234"

My friends who show me Google Now make me want to switch to Android, especially the latest version.

I've literally met one person with a Windows Phone and did play with it for a while. It was nice, but at that time it was behind on a bunch of features. Now it seems behind again... I wouldn't know unless I found someone with it set up to show me.

At least with Amiga, I knew some people who had Amigas to try. I think even if Microsoft comes out with a rebuttal to all these latest phone features, it has to find some way to get these phones into people's hands.

I would like full Windows 8 on a phone somehow, but that probably won't happen.

Microsoft acting with clarity, decisiveness and precision?

Right.

I can't think of a single recent day instance of Microsoft acting so aggressively, I can't. Say what you will about BlackBerry, but there's one thing I really like about them, it seems their managers and directors CARE about the company and its products. I haven't seen that with many Microsoft people.

Paul, early on you pushed for having Windows Phone OS on the tablet instead of Win8. Now you're pushing for having the Windows team to lead the Windows Phone effort. Are you confused?

Personally I didn't agree with putting WP on a tablet because the 10" screen size is too close to a laptop so it shouldn't be limited by having a phone OS. Though Win8 on a phone could work if the UI was optimized for it - cause now then you're looking at something like a real "pad / pc / phone" when docked.

This has always been the promise of computing from day one. An intelligent digital assistant that gives you what you need right when you need it without asking. The irony is that its coming from such a small package that nobody would of guessed had the chops to ever do so.

Google could turn water into wine and I would STILL regard them as the antichrist...sorry, but whatever awesome stuff they make, I just cannot stand the company. However people feel about Microsoft is my impression of Google ( this is about the only place I have not taken to spelling it as the "demon" geGool) ...I know, it's not a matter of who but what, I could not take it as such. Foolish, I know. =[

Google Now's smart assistant is more useful to me than a Siri clone would be. My biggest issue with Windows Phone is the glacial pace of updates and new features. I seriously believe that Microsoft needs minor updates every three months to keep the pace of innovation up, along with releasing new phones every 4 months, and making sure every single carrier has a 'hero' phone (T-Mobile anyone? Lumia 920?).

There are dozens of other features Microsoft needs to add to the phone (http://wp.me/p1fLW2-4v) to make it better, and fast, including scrapping the Windows Phone tool and giving us something more akin to Zune plus auto-playlists and wireless synch.

The short version is: Microsoft, step up the pace, and advertise this phone with GOOD advertisements so it can grab more marketshare!

Paul, before you leave for Mexico, order one of the new Samsung Chromebooks. $250. Try it. Seriously. Just give it a try! See for yourself why it's #1 on Amazon.

This would be all true if any of this tech worked outside the US.
I have a Nexus 7. I live in the UK - I can't get it to do more than show me the weather! It won't do movie listings, bus times, news... the only thing it'll do is show me some birthdays, sometimes, the weather 30 miles away and how to drive to my next appointment. I don't have a car and it won't do walking or public transport directions.
This is far from 'smoking' Windows phone's system.

One thing everyone should remember. Google makes 94-97% of its revenue from Ad sales. Ad sales are fueled by information....your information.

Google Now is nothing but a nice tool that collects a ton of your information. It might seem harmless now, but 10 years from now when you car insurance goes up because Google sold the insurance companies your average speed in your car, which is over the limit....you insurance goes up. That is probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Wow. People are such haters! I've read a lot of the replies but not all of them. Let me go one by one.

1. Google stole the metro UI with Google Now using "cards interface".
Answer= Wrong buddy. The card interface was developed by palm for webOS and guess who Google hired many years ago? One of the lead developers of webOS. Hense the "developer" who is one of the lead designers who developed the card interface for webOS has designed it into one of the new apps he's in charge of. Seems like he thought his previous work was great and should continue to use it. It's not copied from Win Phone.

2. Microsoft can make their own version of Google Now.
Answer = They really can't. Google makes it's money from search and has been cataloging everything from streets to reviews to traffic and so much else that they have a clear lead on everyone. MS doesn't have the ability to do what Google Now is slowing turning into. For that matter with all the money Apple has they can't either. They thought they could with Maps and we all see how that turned out. That same result would happen with MS if they tried to do this.

3. Google Now is going to only tell you to buy or do things that corporations paid Google to tell you.
Answer = Google doesn't need to work that way to make crazy amounts of money. Here is an example. Your at home using google to search for clothing. You search for a specific name brand pants, with a specific color and size. Later you happen to be approcaching a store that sells that same extact item in the size and color you want. Google now says to you "One of the items you wanted is near by." You look at your phone and it shows that a store coming up sells those pants in that size and color you want. It shows you their price and prices from other stores and even online. This is all pretty cool. Now has does Google make money on this. That store who sells what you want that your going to pass sends a card to you offering a better deal or at least the a deal very close to the other but you can get that right now. The store gets an impulse buy since you didn't buy this yet online when you could have and the store attacks way more customers this way then an ad on tv. Best of all you a reminded of something you might want but maybe ran out of time on or didn't want to order at that point and since it on your way you decide to buy it. This is just one way Google can make money offering you free services that are great for you, for them, and for companies.

3.Google Now won't be any better then having a standard navigation on your phone.
Answer = You have your phone on your desk and your eating your breakfast and drinking your coffee as part of your morning routine. You give yourself about 35 min to do this before you have to leave for work. Today you sit down and after 5 min your phone goes off notifing you that since your calandar says you work at 8 am it's time to leave due to an accident closing down one of the lanes. By the time you would have found this out normally you would have left to late to arrive on time to work. This is how it works currently provided you put things in the calandar which home addresses attached to it. Work and Home it learns over time so if you put in your Calandar that work from 8 to 5 then it knows already that. Pretty cool. I love this.

4. This is just an app. It's no big deal.
answer = It's just an app now but as the next version of Android 5.0 comes out or maybe the next after that you can see how they could use google now as the home screen. As soon as you unlock the phone your 1st screen shows the cards that scroll down and if something is there you don't wan't you just swipe it to the right or the left and the card is gone. The screens to the right and left have your widgets or short cuts. In the future this will be Android and the apps you use will be 2nd of importance. If Google Now can tell you things that you'd like to know without you spending any time looking for it then this experience turns into "Android" and the apps will be the icing on the cake.

This is my take on this. I think Windows Phone looks beautiful and iOS was innovative when it was released. During the last few years MS was rebuilding the OS from the ground up and Apple was trying to expel Google from their phones they lost valuable time where Android caught up. As Google Now develops into a killer app or killer part of Android the game will be changed on all the phone market. You might not agree with anything I've said but ask yourself this. If your watching a SciFi movie of earth in lets say 2020 are you likely to see a phone with something like Google now or a phone that only just makes calls and runs apps. I know which I'd hope for.