Google Announces Four Important Updates for New Samsung Devices

Google Announces Four Important Updates for New Samsung Devices

During Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked Summer 2024, the Korean company unveiled a slew of new devices, including the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Z Flip 6, and two new smartwatches, the Galaxy Watch 7 and Galaxy Watch Ultra.

As part of the event, Google announced several Google updates that are now exclusive to Samsung's new products; as detailed on Google's Blog, these updates include Gemini Suggestions and YouTube Multiview.

Google claimed to be working on some of the features back in May during Google I/O, while others are optimized for the foldable phone experience. We may see these features at the "Made by Google" event in August, when Google is expected to debut the Pixel 9 Pro Fold.

Gemini is a personal AI assistant, with apps on Android devices that can support this functionality; integration with other Google apps like Gmail, Maps, and Docs is in the works.

On the Galaxy foldable phone, Google is bringing a feature that allows Gemini to provide relevant suggestions based on what is on the screen.

To accomplish this, the user swipes a corner of the screen (which corner is not specified) or says "Hey Google" to bring up Gemini.

In the Google example, if the user is watching a YouTube video, a "Ask me a question about this video" suggestion appears.

Taking advantage of the large 7.6" display, the Gemini overlay can be moved to continue watching the video in a split screen.

This feature has not yet been released, but Google claims it will be available "in the coming months."

Circle to Search is one of the best new features introduced by Google and Samsung this year; when it was released in January, it was exclusive to the S24 lineup, but has since spread to older Galaxy phones and Google's Pixel 8 phones

While this update is minor, Google has steadily added new features to Circle to Search since its January launch, including translation and math help.

The new updates include helping users learn complex topics such as symbolic mathematics, like calculus problems. The tool also allows users to scan barcodes and QR codes on the screen, a feature that was rumored to be coming this year.

These Circle to Search updates should be available by the end of July.

Google's wearable OS has taken some hits as various companies move away from Wear OS, but Samsung is sticking with it.

During Google I/O, the company announced Wear OS 5, which brought several new fitness improvements and data points.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Watch 7 smartwatches will be the first products to feature the updated Wear OS 5. It remains to be seen if other smartwatches will feature the new OS, but Google's Pixel Watch 3 is expected to debut during the August event.

If you're a sports fan, YouTube TV Multiview is why you pay $70 a month for the app (when you do this, you'll have to cut the cable cord too). So far, this feature is only available on the TV version of the app.

With the Galaxy Z Fold 6, Multiview comes to the foldable phone, allowing you to watch up to four streams simultaneously; the 7.6-inch display is large, but what about scrambling four streams in real time?

Multiview can also feature pre-selected streams, such as a soccer game or other simultaneous sporting event, or customize what is shown on different streams, although customization is a bit finicky.

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