Get Google Assistant on your Nougat device

When Google Allo first premiered, people were actually most impressed – not by the messaging platform’s features, which were lacking – but by the Google Assistant companion that accompanied it. It was the first glimpse we got of an entity that’s slated to reside not only in Allo, but also in Google Home and Pixel devices. But now it appears that any device running Nougat, even if they aren’t #MadeByGoogle, can house the search giant’s affable assistant.

Admittedly, it’ll take a little bit of tech knowhow to get Assistant up and running. This is obviously something of a workaround and not a built in feature. However, the folks over at XDA have come up with a quick and easy way to enable Assistant on your device just as if you owned a Pixel. The only prerequisites are that you have a device running Android Nougat and have the Google app 6.5.35.21 or newer.

See also: How The Onion and Pixar helped build Google Assistant16

Honestly, if you’re already running Nougat and have interest enough in this topic to read the article, then you’re probably savvy enough to get Assistant operational on your device. For the full rundown on how to do it, head over to the XDA forums right over here.

Google Assistant is important because it represents a major stride toward making our interaction with technology more intrinsically conversational. While the likes of OK Google, Siri, and Amazon’s Alexa have paved this trail, Google Assistant takes the journey much further by increasing the AI’s personality and search capabilities.

What are your thoughts regarding Google Assistant? Is this, as Google seems to be indicating, the future of the search bar, or nothing more than a passing trend? Let us know your take in the comments below!

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