Samsung has rolled out an update to its latest batch of Smart TVs to seriously boost their IQs. That’s because the South Korean company has started to bring the Google Assistant to its complete 2020 range of TVs. The intimidatingly clever AI helper, which powers the hugely popular Google Nest series of smart speakers as well as a slew of other Google products, is now available in the UK, France, Germany, and Italy for Samsung Smart TV owners.
Samsung has pledged to bring the AI assistant to Smart TV owners in 12 additional countries before the end of the year. According to Samsung, as soon as the update lands on your Smart TV, you’ll be able to use the Google Assistant to sort a number of common tasks, like switching the channels, or adjust the volume.
Better yet, you can use the Google Assistant baked into your telly to control any number of other Google Assistant-compatible smart home kit already installed in your home.
So, if you have Philips Huge smart light bulbs, a Nest thermostat, or Sonos speakers around the home – you’ll be able to use the voice assistant included in your TV to dim the lights, turn up the temperature in the living room, or pause the radio. This will save you reaching for your phone, or shouting to a Google Nest smart speaker in a nearby room.
Some features, like asking Google Assistant for the latest information on the weather or news headlines will take advantage of the big screen to display some extra information that you wouldn’t get from an audio-only product, like the Google Nest Audio. Google Assistant in Samsung Smart TVs is also deeply integrated with other Google services, including Search, Photos, Maps, and Calendar.
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This isn’t the first time that Samsung has incorporate the Californian search maestro’s assistant into its products. Samsung included Google Assistant support in its 2019 range of TVs, however, viewers would need to speak their commands into a separate device equipped with the voice assistant, like a Google Home smart speaker, placed nearby in order to pause the action on-screen, change channels, or adjust the volume.
The latest integration is much slicker, since all viewers will need to do is hold down the microphone button on the remote control to summon the Google Assistant. That’s it.
Samsung’s 2019 TVs previously integrated with Google Assistant, but back then users had to give their commands via a separate device equipped with the voice assistant like a Google Home smart speaker. With the new models, however, users can issue voice commands to their TVs directly by holding down the microphone button on its remote.
If you’re all-in with the Google Assistant and Google Home-compatible smart home devices, you can enable the feature on your Samsung TV by heading to Settings > General > Voice and then Voice Assistant. From there, Google Assistant can be picked from a menu of other options. Samsung says it will support this new AI assistant on the following models: All 2020 4K, All 8K QLED TVs, Crystal UHD TVs, The Frame, The Serif, The Sero and The Terrace.
And if you’re not a fan of Google Assistant, there’s no need to worry. Samsung Smart TVs also include support for both Alexa and its own Bixby preloaded. We’d wager that Alexa or Google Assistant will be much more popular than the latter.
