Google (Android) widget, speech-based reminder creation not working

[Isaac]

About 6 mo. ago I became enamored of a particular feature of my phone. On the little Android Google desktop widget, I found that it was pretty good at doing (at least) one specific thing: Setting reminders.

I could press the Microphone icon and say: "Set a reminder for 4:30 PM buy toilet paper". and lo and behold, it would create the reminder screen, all ready, then all I had to do was press SAVE.

But as of a few days ago, it stopped working. When I say my thing, it does a Google search with that exact text - everything I said.
After the 3rd time yelling at it "SET A REMINDER FOR 4:30 PM BUY TOILET PAPER!", my wife wonders if I am OK.

Anyone else notice this change or has something been altered in how you're supposed to do it? I am up to date in my Play store updates.

 

[AccessBlaster]

We have friends that use the speech-to-text feature on smartphones, it's like trying to decipher hieroglyphs.

 

[Gasman]

I can do that via Google Assistant?
No need for a mic, just have it open?

 

[Isaac]

We have friends that use the speech-to-text feature on smartphones, it's like trying to decipher hieroglyphs.

My wife's experience is totally like that - but then again English is her second language. My son's luck with it is also a bit mixed.
Maybe I got lucky, it likes my voice or something ha ha, but my speech to text is 99% accurate.......and I've finally learned to check before I send.
I love my mom's texts, they are filled with the literal word "Dash",

 

[Isaac]

I can do that via Google Assistant?
No need for a mic, just have it open?

I tried google assistant but didn't like it. On my phone at least, it is VEEEERY slow. It takes a minute to open & initialize, very slower than normal to recognize what I say and react to it - by the time I'm done it's taken me much longer to set a reminder using Assistant than would have been manually. (it might just be my cheap phone, though!)
That's why I liked the system of just hitting the google widget - the same widget I use to do Searches. My son just told me his seems to have stopped working too.

 

[Gasman]

I must admit, if I was going to use it a lot, I'd leave it open in the background?
Mine is pretty nippy on a cheap android phone (Oukitel C15 Pro)

 

[Isaac]

I must admit, if I was going to use it a lot, I'd leave it open in the background?
Mine is pretty nippy on a cheap android phone (Oukitel C15 Pro)

I'll give it a shot, thanks for the tip. Will see if I can get back to my nirvana of laziness that I so enjoyed!

 

[Isaac]

Well, that was fast - 2 min. and I'm back. I thank you @Gasman for making that suggestion. I still don't get what happened to the old method, but I officially installed Google Assistant and put it's little round shortcut on my desktop. Pressed it, told it to set a reminder for 4:30 to buy something, and it immediately created AND saved it - no longer do I have to press 'Save' to confirm. Better off than I was.

Thanks Gasman, you da man!
(do they say that phrase where you are? anyway, it's complimentary!)

 

[Gasman]

No, they don't
I have seen it in movies though


I have several Google minis, dotted around the house. I just set a reminder for my covid test 15 minutes ago. It is a shame it cannot announce what the reminder is actually for though. :-(
I ask the one in the bedroom the time a lot and cast my music to them all the time.

I do find that a feature will break, but then come back. they muck around a lot with the AI
I will ask the one in the living room to switch the uplighter on, and it will say it cannot find it. I ask again (sometimes a little stronger ) and then it miraculously finds it?
s

 

[Isaac]

No, they don't
I have seen it in movies though


I have several Google minis, dotted around the house. I just set a reminder for my covid test 15 minutes ago. It is a shame it cannot announce what the reminder is actually for though. :-(
I ask the one in the bedroom the time a lot and cast my music to them all the time.

I do find that a feature will break, but then come back. they muck around a lot with the AI
I will ask the one in the living room to switch the uplighter on, and it will say it cannot find it. I ask again (sometimes a little stronger ) and then it miraculously finds it?
s

Very interesting. I've never had one of those gadgets, but it would be fun to try it out.

 

[Sun_Force]

.....and put it's little round shortcut on my desktop. Pressed it, told it to set a reminder for 4:30 to buy something, and it immediately created AND saved it - no longer do I have to press 'Save' to confirm. Better off than I was.

You actually don't need to even press the button. If you turn on Hey Google in assistant settings, you can ask it to do anything or search even if the phone is on sleep mode. You don't even need to turn your phone On.
In case of your wife, she can add her native language in the settings and talk both in English or other language. I have 5 languages in my settings and I can talk to it in any of them.

This may help.

Access Google Assistant with your voice - Android - Google Assistant Help

Important: To access this feature on some devices, you must have Voice Match. When you say “Hey Google,” this allows you to get hands-free help as it voice-activates your

support.google.com

 

[Isaac]

You actually don't need to even press the button. If you turn on Hey Google in assistant settings, you can ask it to do anything or search even if the phone is on sleep mode. You don't even need to turn your phone On.
In case of your wife, she can add her native language in the settings and talk both in English or other language. I have 5 languages in my settings and I can talk to it in any of them.

This may help.

Access Google Assistant with your voice - Android - Google Assistant Help

Important: To access this feature on some devices, you must have Voice Match. When you say “Hey Google,” this allows you to get hands-free help as it voice-activates your

support.google.com

Whenever I've tried the hey Google or OK Google trigger, the resulting process seems kind of slow and cumbersome to me. Maybe it's just my phone? But for some reason whenever I trigger it that way I seem to struggle more with using it. Thanks for the tip though, at least there are multiple ways .