Theta Android News: Google Assistant is now available on more than just Google’s Chromebooks

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Google Assistant is now available on more than just Google’s Chromebooks

You can now get Google Assistant on Chromebooks made by other brands.

Update, September 25 2019 (2:53AM ET): Google Assistant is available on the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate, but the search giant has confirmed that it's now coming to Chromebooks by third-party brands.

Google confirmed the news on its blog, noting that the service is available on devices running the latest version of Chrome OS. Users simply need to navigate to Settings > Search and Assistant > Google Assistant to enable the service. Once you've done so, you can press the search key + a to summon the Assistant.

Read: Google pledges to reduce amount of audio recordings for Assistant

Google notes that you can ask Assistant on your Chromebook to create new documents, play music, view calendar entries, and set reminders.

The search company didn't detail any regional restrictions regarding Google Assistant on Chromebooks, so hopefully this means you can access it if your market already has the service.

Original article, September 13 2019 (1:47AM ET): Google Assistant for Chrome has been in the works for a while now, and it means that Chromebooks should get the Assistant too when the browser update eventually lands.

Now, 9to5Google has dug into the Chrome 77 code and uncovered which countries will offer Google Assistant support on Chromebooks when the feature rolls out. The list can be seen below:

Australia
Canada (English and French)
Denmark
El Salvador
France
Germany
Italy
Japan
Mexico
Netherlands (Dutch)
New Zealand
Norway (Nynorsk & Bokmål)
Spain
United Kingdom
United States

A Google commit also apparently reveals that India (albeit in English), Belgium (French), and Colombia (Spanish) are next in line to receive the digital assistant.

This wouldn't be the first time we've seen the Assistant on Chromebooks, as the Pixelbook and Pixel Slate had the feature too. It's believed that this earlier approach relied on Android app support, but this new solution should theoretically bring the feature to devices that might not have Android app integration.

9to5Google reckons that Chrome 77 with Google Assistant will arrive next week, but hopefully the search giant is quick to bring it to more countries after the initial launch.