Обзор Google’s Gemini Live just ruined a feature I used daily

[Обзор]

Megan Ellis / Android Authority


While I was looking for a worthy Google News alternative, I moved to Gemini for my morning news fix. It felt like a natural substitute because we’ve been using Google Assistant forever to hear it narrate the day’s news like a personal TV news reporter. Whenever I have a moment to distract myself during my morning routine — say, while brushing my teeth — I get Gemini to narrate the news.


It goes well, though, only for a minute or two. As soon as I need to ask a follow-up question, I start to sorely miss Continued Conversation — a cherished Home speaker feature Google snatched away from us.

Did removing Continued Conversation affect your routine?


68 votes


, it broke my workflow

65%


, but I adjusted

9%


No, I didn’t even notice

26%


It’s such a downfall without Continued Conversation

With Continued Conversation now gone from ‘regular’ Gemini in favor of Gemini Live, my morning routine has gone for a toss. My phone’s screen is set to time out after a minute of inactivity, so the screen goes off while Gemini is mid-sentence if I don’t constantly tap it every few seconds. That’s still a minor annoyance that I work around by extending the wake time before starting the news routine.


Gemini — as an upgrade to Google Assistant — was supposed to understand context better and know how I want things, especially when I’ve explicitly told it so. I have asked it to include Indian news and local coverage from my city in its everyday briefing, but it conveniently forgets this on some days and focuses exclusively on it on others. So I have to keep tapping the mic, not out of choice but out of force.


And that’s exactly my biggest annoyance, especially when my hands aren’t free. I have to keep the screen lit and continue tapping the mic each time I need more details on a story or want updates on a particular segment. Continued Conversation used to automate all of that — I just needed to ask — but Google decided to take it away from us.


So, why don’t you use Gemini Live, Karan?

Megan Ellis / Android Authority


It’s a fair question, I agree — one that occurred to me, too. Since Google was arm-twisting me into using Gemini Live by deprecating the regular experience, I caved in, though I came back rather quickly. Getting my morning news fix is quite an anchored habit of mine, but when I asked Gemini Live to give me the news, it felt like it was simply skimming over the headlines and giving me a gist so brief that it was as good as nothing. It literally just read out a couple of news headlines during my time with it.


Even though it was easier to talk with it because of its interactive, live nature, it needed so many follow-ups just to get good context on a single news story that I’d save time reading a newspaper end to end. Gemini Live didn’t live up to my needs, even though you’d expect it to match ‘regular’ Gemini in terms of how it serves results.


This was one of the first times I noticed the disparity in my daily life, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. So I went back to the normal Gemini — yes, it’s annoying, but at least it gives me exactly what I want.


Both ways are dead ends

Ryan Haines / Android Authority


It’s like settling for the lesser of two evils because there is no better choice at this point. I literally have to choose the one that is slightly less annoying — not because of some technical limitation preventing the implementation of Continued Conversation in Gemini, but purely because of Google’s greed.


You see, Google can argue that it’s offering a much superior alternative to Continued Conversation in Gemini Live. It may be better in form, but not in function — at least in my case. However, the issue becomes serious when Google paywalls the feature. The arrival of Gemini and the new Google Home Premium has effectively turned Gemini Live into a paid feature, particularly on smart speakers.


On the other hand, Continued Conversation on Google Assistant has existed for like a decade — free and available across devices. That’s enough time for people to form habits around it, and it would naturally irk them to wake up and find the feature missing. Only a greedy corporation would monetize the very gap it created. And that’s the exact script Google followed here.


It’s on Google to open up a way


Forums have been flush with people complaining about Continued Conversation going missing as early as a few months ago. We are only now realizing why the feature suddenly vanished for so many users at once.


As end users, we don’t have many options — it’s on Google to fix what it itself broke. It would make sense to bring back Continued Conversation to regular Gemini interactions to make things easier for users. But if Google still wants to push Gemini Live, it can at least offer a limited version of it for free on smart speakers, as ChatGPT does.


Either way, what Google must absolutely do today is bring Gemini Live’s responses on par with regular Gemini. It cannot remain a loudmouth with shallow thinking for long.


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