Google is bringing Continued Conversation to Assistant-powered Smart Displays, such as its Home Hub and Lenovo Smart Display.
At the I/O 2018 event, the Mountain View company officially unveiled the feature and eventually released it to Home smart speakers in June. Now it's expanding support to more devices.
Continue Conversations With Assistant
With Continued Conversation, Assistant will keep an ear open for a few more seconds — eight seconds, to be exact — for more commands after answering an inquiry. This effectively reduces the number of times users have to say, "OK Google" or "Hey Google," and in the context of a normal conversation, it makes sense since it seems unnatural to keep repeating wake words over and over.
To use this feature, just open the Google Home app, head on over to Account > Settings > Assistant tab > Continued Conversation, and set it to on.
It's also worth noting that users can end conversations immediately with the keywords "Thank you," "Thanks Google," or "I'm done."
Users will know whether Assistant is listening for more commands or not when the LED lights at the top of the Google Home are spinning or the ones on the Google Home Mini and Google Home Max are pulsing. In the case of Smart Displays, this is indicated by an icon in the top-left corner of the screen, which can also be tapped to stop the virtual assistant from listening any further, according to 9to5Google.
Confirmed But Not Yet Announced
At the time of this writing, the Google Home support page regarding Continued Conversation doesn't list the Home Hub just yet, but the company has already confirmed to Android Central that the feature is making its way to all Smart Displays.
It should start rolling out over the next few days to users in the United States. That said, Continued Conversation is available only to U.S. residents who have their Assistant languages set to English (United States).
Google's Smart Display lineup includes the Google Home Hub, Lenovo Smart Display, Harman JBL LINK VIEW, and LG XBOOM AI ThinQ WK9.
