Google's apps and services, which are part of a single ecosystem, are virtually unrelated to each other. However, the search giant has been doing a long-standing job of correcting this flaw, trying to combine different software products to increase their productivity. As a result of this initiative, Google Maps introduces a Google Play Music playback control widget and Gmail support for 'Google Calendar'. But most of all, of course, Google Chrome was lucky, which received a built-in 'Google Translate', Google Lens, and very soon will receive Google Assistant.
Google Assistant coming soon to Chrome
Google is testing an updated version of Google Chrome for Android with Google Assistant built in. He has to replace the voice search function, which has been in the browser for a long time and allows you to form search queries without typing them on the keyboard, but dictating with your voice. This feature is already available in a test build of Chrome, which means, most likely, its release will take place with the next update, scheduled for February. At the same time, it is possible that the assistant will appear not only in the mobile version of the browser, but also in the desktop one.
How to control Chrome with voice
Google Assistant will make it easier to interact with Chrome
Despite the fact that Google is going to implement Google Assistant in Google Chrome, there is no confirmation that users will be able to control the browser by giving it voice commands. However, given that owners of Google Pixel smartphones already have such an opportunity, it cannot be ruled out that everyone else will soon have it. Another thing is that there is no need to combine a browser with an assistant for this, because on the Pixel 4 both Google services work like that.
Why, then, did Google decide to integrate Google Assistant and Google Chrome? According to one of the versions, this is how the company wants to compensate for the refusal of cookies, since in this case it will be able to collect more data about users, because the assistant saves all records on Google servers. But this is obviously not the case, because Google can record not only calls to Google Assistant, but in general all cases of using dictation in any of its applications.
Why Google Assistant is needed in Chrome
Therefore, personally, I think the primary goal pursued by the search giant is, of course, to expand the capabilities of the browser, and only then – to form an interconnected ecosystem. Indeed, in this case, the user will be able to ask the voice assistant to translate the request into a foreign language, whereas under normal conditions it is required to perform the translation independently. It's actually not difficult, but it takes time, and with Google Assistant, which not only translates, but also fixes errors, you can get the desired result faster.
But Google is not alone in training its browser to handle voice commands. Recently it became known that a similar experiment was launched by Mozilla. The Firefox developer doesn't just want users to be able to give the browser commands like 'forward' or 'back', but literally interact with site elements. For this, the Speech API was released, which administrators will have to adapt for their web resources, making life easier for users who are not able to manage the site with their hands.