Google Assistant has supported device controls for a long time now. It lets you turn on or off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi via voice, and you’re able to even search for system updates likeAndroid 14. With theGoogle Pixel 8and 8 Pro, the company wants to supercharge these capabilities all while rubbing them under your nose in system settings.
When digging through the settings app on the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro, you’ll find occasional reminders that you can use Assistant to get help with your phone. For example, a new banner with Assistant branding at the top of the search interface asks if you “Need help with your Pixel phone?” It’s followed by a paragraph explaining, “Ask your questions and make the most of Settings with Google Assistant.”
Similar banners are sprinkled throughout different parts of the Settings app. For example, you can find a note at the bottom of the System section that says “Get help from Assistant” along with a suggestion what you can ask: “How to update my phone?”
The Pixel 8 Pro, even more than the smaller Pixel 8, feels like the clearest culmination of its work thus far, pairing Google’s best hardware yet with some massive software swings — and the promise of more on the way. The result is a phone that feels both of its time and from the future, and while it might not completely coalesce into a perfect product, it’s enough to make it my favorite piece of Google hardware in years.
— Android Police Phones Editor Will Sattelberg in ourGoogle Pixel 8 Pro review
When you follow these instructions verbatim, you’ll find that Google Assistant gained a new interface for settings questions compared to the Pixel 7 series and older. Apart from a card that suggests you look into system updates along with a deep link to the right place, you’re able to swipe further to see other ideas, like Google Play System updates or security patches.
The change makes sense as system updates have become increasingly muddled over the past few years, particularly with Google Play System updates that add yet another dimension to Google’s update machinery.
As with any such software updates for new phones, it remains to be seen whether older devices will get this redesign, too. Google also says that it improved the Assistant’s reaction time with the Pixel 8 series, along with more advanced processing of speech pauses. This could suggest that the Assistant makes use of some processor advancements that could be exclusive to the Tensor G3, the new chipset inside the Pixel 8. Only time will tell.
Google Pixel 8
The Google Pixel 8 is Google’s best phone yet, and it’s the most distinct regular model when compared to the Pro version. It comes with a wonderful form factor that fits well in the hands and has the usual software prowess that you expect from a Pixel.
Google Pixel 8 Pro
The Google Pixel 8 Pro is the company’s latest flagship, boasting a new Tensor G3 chip, an impressive 2,400 nits of peak brightness, and an all-new object temperature sensor. While the cameras have been modestly improved to capture even more light, as usual, the real power lies in Google’s Tensor chip.
