Assistant feature missing from Google's Gemini fix list

Gemini is not yet ready to replace Google Assistant on Android. That's a user sentiment that has surfaced over the past few days, and luckily Google is aware of it, as are other Gemini “things to fix.”

Google quickly wrote in its support documentation that “Gemini does not support Google Assistant features and services.”

• media service provider: Podcasts, news, radio stations, and third-party music providers are currently not supported by Gemini.
• routine: Starting routines in Gemini is not supported. On Android smartphones, shortcuts that start routines in the Clock app and routines associated with alarms no longer work.
  • You can also start a routine using Google Assistant on your home devices, such as speakers or smart displays.
• reminder: Return to Google Assistant to set reminders and tasks.
• Interpretation mode: Switch to Google Assistant and use interpreter mode.

Google's Jack Klacik On Friday afternoon, we identified “Assistant Tasks: Expanding Calendars, Reminders, and Routines” as “something to fix ASAP.” The way Google is adding these features seems to be through extensions. Existing Google Workspace only supports Gmail, Drive, and Docs.

“Android apps: Conversational overlay input submission” is also on the list and has already been fixed. The voice input method in the new overlay panel, while otherwise very elegant, was essentially just speech-to-text that required you to hit the send icon.

As mentioned on Thursday, English support in other countries (Latin America, Africa, Asia Pacific, and Canada) will be officially rolled out starting Monday, along with Japanese and Korean. The Gemini app is “coming soon” to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, European Economic Area countries, and related territories.

Here's a list of fixes we're “working on” for the app and Gemini Advanced:

• Reject = top priority
• Coding: You need an interpreter. ah.
• Preachy Guardrails: Some Hilarious Examples, Fixed

Here are some good things for Google:

• writing style
• Creativity that helps you find the right words and ideas
• response speed
• Usage limit not reached
• online connection
• images in response
• Integration with tools (Gmail, Maps)

Meanwhile, Google specifically emphasizes that Gemini Advanced is free for the first two months. It could end up being a soft launch for a paid tier.