The Pixel Watch 4 has won me over with its longer battery life, faster charging, better repairability, and absolutely gorgeous new display, but one feature I keep finding myself swooning over is the new raise-to-talk gesture to invoke Gemini.
I can simply raise my wrist in the direction of my head, and the Pixel Watch will immediately trigger a blue Gemini animation, telling me it’s ready to listen to my question or command. I love this so much that it’s reduced my usage of Nest speakers and hubs around the house because it doesn’t require the dreaded “Ok Google” first.
What's your favorite way of talking to Google Assistant or Gemini? 170 votes Saying "Ok Google" or "Hey Google." 45 % Pressing a button to trigger it. 36 % Opening the Assistant or Gemini app. 6 % Raise-to-talk on my Pixel Watch 4. 12 %
I was never really a fan of “Ok Google”
Although I’ve been using the famous “Ok Google” and “Hey Google” triggers for nearly a decade now, I don’t think I was ever a fan of them. They are disruptive, awkward to say, and I never knew which phone or speaker would answer me. Plus, my speakers often got triggered when they shouldn’t and didn’t start listening when they should’ve. The only way I could ever make peace with “Ok Google” was to: Turn off the voice command on all of my phones so they don’t try to overtake my speakers. This reduces the chance that I’d get an answer from a random device around my house that isn’t near me. Enable accessibility settings on all my Nest speakers and hubs, which play an audio cue each time the speaker starts listening. Although this introduces extra lag, it allows me to make sure that I’m not talking to deaf ears if the speaker doesn’t recognize the command. It also signals to me that the speaker got triggered when it shouldn’t have, so I can quickly tell it, “This wasn’t for you.” Use the famous Italian grandma’s “Okay Goo-goo” (YouTube link) to make the command more fun and less awkward to say. No matter how universal “Hey Google” has become, I wouldn’t miss it if Google killed it tomorrow for a better alternative. As far as I’m concerned, even something as manual as pressing the power button on my phone is better because it’s more deliberate and more reliable. That’s why I’ve been waiting for a way to make talking to my smart speakers or assistant more natural and less robotic.
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Raise-to-talk is a superior way to get to Gemini
Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
Although it’s not perfect and there are still some false positive triggers, I love using the Pixel Watch 4’s new gesture to talk to Gemini. And I’m not alone, my colleague C. Scott loves it, too, and Kaitlyn praised it in her Pixel Watch 4 review. Basically, if I just tilt the watch toward me to read the time, nothing happens, but if I raise the watch and tilt it toward me, a little blue animation appears and expands into a Gemini listening screen if it detects that I’m talking.
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