Google Now rebranded to Google Assistant

Google announced Google Assistant at IO 2016, but many Google fans wondered what would become of Google Now, the search engine giant’s voice command assistant that had made Google’s voice command more powerful and knowledgeable than yes, Apple’s very own Siri? Well, according to tech site Android Police, Google has decided to let Google Now be laid to rest — permanently, with Google Now rebranded to Google Assistant.

The tech site says that Google is killing off the Google Now brand name, with Google Now rebranded to Google Assistant to provide a more contextual, intelligent voice assistant that has something of a personality. I think that Google Assistant seems to be a better name than Google Now, though I hope that Google spends more time giving Google Assistant some human characteristics instead of just changing the voice command moniker.

Google is no longer even providing Google Now references in the Google Search app, with a number of Google Now (former) references being given new names: Google Now cards are now “Feed,” and Google Now On Tap, the new way to search Google by tapping away, has been renamed “Screen search.” This is something of a hint that we could see Google Now rebranded Google Assistant officially by the search engine giant. We’ve not yet been told by Google that Google Now has been rebranded, but we could always discover this or hear something formal between now and Google Assistant’s formal arrival to Android.

Google Assistant, as opposed to Google Now, would take all of the features formerly under the Google Now brand and add to them with the new “Assistant” moniker. Google Now was meant to give people information “now,” in the present moment, but Google Assistant wants to also provide information of things you did yesterday, the score of sports games from yesterday, as well as the weather and gas prices tomorrow. Google Now is only good as “this moment,” but Google Assistant would be good for every moment — even if the moment has passed or hasn’t even happened yet. I suspect that Google Assistant will be able to predict with quite a fair amount of accuracy whether or not Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will win the US presidency.

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