Earlier today, the XDA-Developers forum has claimed to have found a new hotword for the Google Assistant on Android smartphones. The supposed hotword “Hey Google” been found by the XDA during an APK teardown of the latest Google App version.
The Google App Version 7.3.28.21, which has only released for the recently launched Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones carries certain pieces of code, hints to the Hey Google detection Google App and Google Assistant app on Android smartphones. Presently, both the Google Now Voie and Google Assistant apps can be triggered only using the available hotword “Ok Google”. But Google Home and Home Mini personal assistant pods already support “Hey Google”, so we did already expect it to be passed on to smartphones too.
Here is the code excerpt which XDA offtopic had found the integration of Hey Google to the Google app on Android smartphones:
<string name="hotword_enrollment_summary_text_screen_assistant_device">Your Assistant can now recognize your voice when you say \"%1$s\" or \"%2$s\".</string>
<string name="hotword_enrollment_summary_usage_example_first">"Ok Google, what's my name?"</string>
<string name="hotword_enrollment_summary_usage_example_second">"Hey Google, what's the traffic to work?"</string>
<string name="hotword_enrollment_summary_usage_example_third">Ok Google, tell me about my day.</string>
Comparing the Google Assistant with its opponents like Microsoft Cortana, Apple Siri, both of them is to be called by using the keyword “Hey” followed by the name (Eg. Hey Cortana, Hey Siri, etc.) So it is evident that the Google is trying to get closer to the Windows/iOS users by making the task easier with a “Hey” instead of “Ok”. The new update for Google App with “Hey Google” voice support can be rolled out through the Play Store at any time sooner.