Google Gemini is about to get a lot more useful on your Android phone

by Yaron

Google isn’t planning on hitting the breaks on Gemini anytime soon. After first teasing a number of new extensions during Google I/O 2024, a recent APK teardown from Android Authority has revealed a ton of unannounced, useful new features from Gemini that are soon coming to your Android phone. Gemini is expected to get a variety of new extensions that will allow integration into Google services like Keep, Tasks, and Calendar.

Each of the extensions seems to provide useful features, and Android Authority has demo videos showcasing each. With Google Keep, you can now ask Gemini to create new notes and lists, add information to notes, and add or remove items from lists. Google Tasks now lets you use Gemini to create new tasks, including reminders. It’ll also allow you to view existing tasks and show their due dates.

The last major extension is for Google Calendar. You’re now able to create new calendar events, view all upcoming calendar events or ones on a specific date, and edit existing calendar events.

 

These extensions will join already existing ones for Google Flights, Google Hotels, Maps, Workspace, YouTube, and YouTube Music. Earlier reporting also revealed that Google Home is getting an extension that will allow users to control smart home appliances like lights and switches.

Currently, you can set Gemini as your phone’s default voice assistant, but any smart-home-related asks get pushed to Google Assistant first, which slows down responsiveness. The Google Home extension should help cut out the middleman and allow Gemini to execute the command directly.

Another extension is one for the phone app, which essentially does the same thing of cutting out the middleman. Right now, any phone call commands get handled by Google Assistant first; with the extension, Gemini will take this process over.

Lastly, there’s an extension for Utilities. This is an interesting one since it’ll allow Gemini to interact directly with your phone settings and installed apps. It’ll be able to take photos, open apps, and adjust volume on your device. Android Authority speculates that it could also allow you to lock your phone, switch to dark mode, and restart your device, all hands-free.

Gemini in Google Maps may be the best use of mobile AI yet
Google Maps on the Asus Zenfone 11 Ultra.

We scarcely need reminding that Google is putting AI into everything, but its latest push is probably one of the most interesting and immediately helpful yet, as Google Maps has now entered its Gemini era.
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Before going into the many AI updates happening across all of Google’s “Geo” (the collective name for all its mapping tools) departments, it’s helpful to understand just how rich Google’s location data already is. Collected over the last 20 years, Google’s mapping expertise is available in more than 250 countries and territories across the world, and Google Maps alone has more than 2 billion active users each month.

Google already uses AI in its mapping products, such as the Lens overlay in Maps’ AR mode, which puts live place information in front of you on the map. Google is now using AI to improve the photo-realistic 3D tour in Immersive View, a feature first launched last year, with live data on the location, including weather, parking, and turn-by-turn information. Immersive View is now set to launch in 150 cities this week and will include university campuses, too.

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This new Android phone looks like a photographer’s dream
Sharp Aquos R9 Pro

Sharp has announced an intriguing new phone aimed at mobile photographers. It’s called the Sharp Aquos R9 Pro, and while it may not have the best name, there’s a lot to talk about here.

The Aquos R9 Pro has many interesting features, starting with its gigantic camera bump on the back, which houses three powerful cameras: a 50.3-megapixel primary camera, a 50.3MP telephoto camera, and a 50.3MP ultrawide camera. The cameras are surrounded by a vegan leather backplate.

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Google Gemini is good, but this update could make it downright sci-fi
Google Gemini running on an Android phone.

Ever since seeing the “Welcome home, sir” scene in Iron Man 2, many of us have wanted a smart setup with a Jarvis-like assistant. While some may have hoped that Alexa would provide that kind of functionality, so far, the assistant is just too limited. That might change with the launch of Gemini 2.0 and Google’s Project Jarvis, though.

In a sense, this new project is Jarvis. The system works by taking stills of your screen and interpreting the information on it, including text, images, and even sound. It can auto-fill forms or press buttons for you, too. This project was first hinted at during Google I/O 2024, and according to 9to5Google, it’s designed to automate web-based tasks. Jarvis is an AI agent with a narrower focus than a language learning model like ChatGPT — an AI that demonstrates human-like powers of reasoning, planning, and memory.

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