Google rolls out ‘Ok Google’ voice search to Chrome stable channel
Google has slowly but surely be working over the last year or so to bring many of the voice-powered functions seen on mobile devices over to our computers as well. About two months ago Chrome finally saw full Google Now-like cards arrive to the stable channel of the browser, after first arriving in Canary, alpha and beta builds. Now hands-free “Ok, Google” voice search is following suit.
While Google has had voice search for a while, previously you had to click on the microphone icon within a new tab or via Google’s main website in order for it to work. With the latest update, this functionality now works without any additional buttons clicks, provided you are in a new tab or on Google’s search page.
This is a step forward for voice control, but ultimately what many of us really want is full Google Now-like voice control regardless of what site we’re on in Chrome. Honestly this current method isn’t truly hands free (since you still need to open a tab, etc) and therefore is f limited use. Still, beggars can’t be choosers, and hopefully this opens the door to improved voice control in the future.
The Chrome update is available for PC owners rocking Windows, Mac, Linux and Chrome OS as of today. What do you think of this future, useful or not?
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