At the Google for India 2019 conference in New Delhi, Google revealed a variety of new features for Google Assistant. But the most important feature will be the ability for Google Assistant to answer your queries via a toll-free number in India. You can now access Google Assistant on your 2G feature phone if you are curious about the purpose behind the feature.
You are correct. Google Assistant is now on-call. To speak to the Google Assistant, you simply dial this number toll-free 000 800 9191 000. You might find it crazy. It’s true, and the assistant can speak Hindi and English. However, you can still talk to the assistant in Indic languages.
This feature has one limitation. Google calls this the Vodafone-Idea phone line with the Google Assistant feature. It’s only available to Vodafone and Idea users.
George from the Beebom office is blessed with a Vodafone phone number, so we were able to call the Google Assistant. Although he doesn’t use a 2G feature smartphone as his daily driver, he does use the Poco F1 for demo purposes. You can see our conversation with Google Assistant here.
Google’s official press release stated that the Phone Line was tested with users in Kanpur and Lucknow before it launched. They inquired about everything, from weather forecasts and sports scores to news and traffic conditions. You can also ask about the most recent news and the honorable Prime Minister. Please see the attached demo.
Although this is a great feature of Google Assistant, it’s only one rung below Google Duplex. I’d like to see it expanded beyond the boundaries of a single telecom operator.
