Setting and stopping timer has become a conversation

[PhanTomTom]

This first started in UK English a few months ago, since then the issue has spread to US English as well and it's a huge step backward:

I used to be able to just say "hey google, timer 10 minutes" and the response would be "10 minutes... and we're starting NOW"

These days it's "hey google, timer 10 minutes" - "it seems that you would like to set a timer. Is that correct?" - "Yes" - "for how long?" - "10 minutes" ... "10 minutes... and we're starting NOW!"

Stopping a ringing timer used to be possible by just yelling "stop". That hasn't been working for many moons now, so I got used to saying "hey google, stop". When I do that now, my mini will respond with "okay, here is stop by the Spice Girls, playing on Spotify". 

How can these changes possibly make it past QA? Can we please get the old behavior back?

[PhanTomTom]

To stop my ringing timer, I actually have to now say "hey google, cancel the timer".

[ShahFurqan]

In my opinion, the idea of setting and stopping a timer becoming a conversation can have both positive and negative aspects depending on the context.

On the positive side, having a conversation around setting and stopping a timer can lead to better collaboration and communication among a group of people who are working together on a task. By discussing when to start and stop the timer, everyone can agree on the parameters for the task and make sure they are all on the same page. This can help to reduce misunderstandings and improve productivity.

On the negative side, having a conversation around setting and stopping a timer can potentially be time-consuming and distracting, especially if it happens frequently or unnecessarily. If the conversation becomes too long or goes off-topic, it can take away from the actual task at hand and hinder productivity. Additionally, if the conversation is not productive or lacks structure, it can create confusion and frustration among team members.

[PhanTomTom]

That's rather philosophical and while I see your point, what I'm trying to say is that the Google Assistant product became a lot less efficient. If I want to have a conversation about setting a timer, I'll say "hey google, set a timer". But if I give it all the information up front, I expect it to just go ahead and do what I asked for.

[Dan_A]

Hi PhanTomTom,

Thanks for posting.

I know how it feels if something’s not going the way it should — let me help you. Which Nest speakers are we working with? What troubleshooting steps have you tried? You can try the straightforward command below and see the difference:

• Set an alarm/timer for <time> called <timer name>.
• Cancel my alarm/timer.

Keep me posted.

Thanks for helping, ShahFurqan!

Best,

Dan

[PhanTomTom]

These are the "original" Home Minis we're talking about (actually, on my Samsung phone, setting a timer using Google Assistant has become impossible, but that's another problem). Not sure what else I should have tried apart from asking in a different manner and using different languages. German remains "unbroken", English is hard to use this way. Your proposed command to set a timer will result in the "it seems you want to set a timer, is that right?" which I've gotten to dislike so much!

How can we get our old behavior back?

[Princesss]

Hi PhanTomTom,

Sorry for the late response. Let's perform a complete reset on your Google Nest speakers and see if it will show the same behavior after setting it up once again. Here's the steps on how to reset your speakers: https://goo.gle/3x50Yl7

Keep me posted.

Best,

Princess

[Princesss]

Hello there,

We just want to check if you have seen our response posted above. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we'll be locking the thread.
 

Best,

Princess

[Muddi]

Hey folks,

Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need assistance, feel free to start a new thread in the community and we’ll be happy to help.
 

Cheers,

Muddi

[Princesss]

Hi there,

Chiming in to see if you still need assistance with this. Hope the previous post helped. Let us know if you have additional questions, otherwise we’ll be locking the thread.
 

Best,

Princess

[PhanTomTom]

It got better now without me doing anything. Resetting the speaker made no difference, but seemingly time did... I can now set a timer using the short "hey Google, timer 10 minutes" command again.

Is there any way beyond this forum where we can report what seem like bugs? Never sure these messages actually get to the devs.

[Dan_A]

Hi PhanTomTom,

I do know that the concerned teams were aware this is happening. Another thing that is helpful is for you to send feedback about this via your Home device. Just tell your Home to share feedback and then record your message. I really encourage anybody that is experiencing some issues to do that. 

As we got our resolution here, I'm going to mark this thread as resolved. I'll be locking this thread if we won't hear back from you in 24 hrs. Should that happen, feel free to create a new one if you have more questions or have other concerns in the future.

Kind regards,

Dan