‘Gemini Is Replacing Google Assistant On Pixel Phones, and It’s a Trainwreck’

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company’s Jared Newman: With its new Pixel 9 phones, Google Assistant is getting a demotion. In its place, Google’s will ship Gemini as the default voice assistant on its flagship phones. Gemini uses large language models to interpret questions and generate answers, which means it can respond in a more conversational way. But while Google is eager to showcase Gemini as an answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, tossing out Assistant is a mistake. Too often, Gemini fails at performing basic tasks, and it’s going to cause lots of frustration for folks who depend on their phone’s voice control features. Although Google says Gemini can now handle many of the same instructions as Assistant, that hasn’t been my experience at all. As evidence, I submit a list of useful Google Assistant actions that either aren’t possible or don’t work properly with Gemini. Here is a summary of the challenges Gemini faces, as documented by Newman:

1. Local results are worse: Gemini provides less useful information for local business queries compared to Google Assistant, lacking context and formatting.
2. Gemini can’t take notes: Unlike Google Assistant, Gemini cannot take voice notes or save them in an app like Google Keep.
3. No-can-do on to-do lists: Gemini does not support adding items to to-do lists, a feature that Google Assistant handles efficiently.
4. Weather doesn’t work right: Gemini struggles with weather forecasts, often giving incorrect locations, unlike Google Assistant which works reliably.
5. Turn-by-turn directions don’t load: Gemini fails to provide direct turn-by-turn navigation, only offering a preview, whereas Google Assistant launches navigation immediately.
6. Music and podcast requests are YouTube-only: Gemini only supports YouTube Music, unlike Google Assistant which supports multiple streaming services.
7. Video (in)capabilities: Gemini cannot directly access streaming apps for movies or shows, only suggesting content with no direct links.
8. No photo search: Gemini cannot search for photos in Google Photos, a task that Google Assistant can easily handle.
9. Bye-bye to a useful news feature: Gemini fails to play or provide recent news effectively, unlike Google Assistant’s useful daily news briefing feature.
10. No Routines: Gemini does not support the automation of multiple actions through Routines, a feature present in Google Assistant.
11. So much for Shortcuts: Gemini lacks the Shortcuts feature available in Google Assistant, offering no replacement for quick actions in third-party apps.
12. A slower experience: Responses from Gemini are slower by a second or two compared to Google Assistant when answering queries.