One year after Google Home made its official debut at Google I/O, it’s been revealed that the smart speaker is gaining some major new features.
Google today revealed that Google Home is gaining support for hands-free calling. This feature will support calling landlines and mobile phones in the US and Canada, and it’ll roll out to Google Home units in the US in the next few months. When calling with Google Home, you’ll be able to keep your phone number private or pair your cell number to your Home.
Also coming to Google Home is a feature called Proactive Assistance. With this feature, Google Home will try to provide you with info before you ask about it. For example, the Google Home can recognize that you have an upcoming appointment and that traffic on the way there is bad, so it can take initiative to warn you when to leave for your appointment so that you’ll get there on time.
Starting today, Google Home is also gaining support for schedule appointments, and soon you’ll be able to set reminders on Home, too.
Google Home is gaining Bluetooth support, too. This means that you’ll be able to connect your Android or iPhone device — or any device with Bluetooth support, really — and use Google Home as a plain ol’ speaker. Google Home will also support Spotify’s free service, Soundcloud, and Deezer if you’d prefer to use those services directly on your device.
Finally, Google Home will be able to have its answers shown on your TV with an update that’ll be pushed to Chromecast devices.