A new video demonstrating Google Now for iPhone and iPad has surfaced online. The video was first
spotted by Engadget but has been pulled from YouTube. However, the site has managed to embed the video. As per the video, Google Now will be available through the Google Search iOS app by swiping up from the main screen of the app. The credibility of the video has not been established but it describes the various features offered by Google now complete with the cards interface for traffic updates, flight information, currency conversion and translation, game scores, and nearby attractions. It cannot be ruled out that the video might be part of some cancelled project or just a fanboy created fake. It would be interesting to see Google's response on the same.
For the uninitiated, 'Google Now', is a voice based information assistant and an extension of Google search. You can ask questions and the tool returns answers or search results. It uses 'cards' which are essentially small boxes that offer different sets of contextual information ranging from weather forecast, directions, traffic information, scores, appointments, and currency conversion, among others. Google Now collects information based on the user's behavior, location and even e-mail to offer information, automatically.
Google had
updated the Google Search app for iOS bringing improved voice recognition capabilities, which were available only on Android, in October 2012. The app inherited features from Google Now including the look, sounds and a voice assistant that reads the query results back to the users. However, it does not offer cards and alerts based on contextual data.