When Google ruined Voice UI

When Google ruined Voice UI

There are plenty of good examples of a company making a tone-deaf move to attempt to develop its business. Whether it is Tennis’ ATP keeping sexism alive and well, or brands making tone-deaf discriminatory adverts, there are plenty of unfortunate and badly thought through business choices.

In April 2017, Google made a change that wasn’t at all discriminatory, but it was mind-bendingly annoying. They moved my shopping list from the Google Keep app on my Android phone to the Google Shopping List in Google Home / Express, and some folks were pretty unhappy about it. Google haven't ported much of the Keep functionality into the new shopping list, and of course they've stuck and ad next to every item, and cluttered the rest of the screen with ads too.

Ron Amadeo from Ars Technica highlights the differences

It took me a few weeks to even realise that had happened. There wasn’t a notification of the change. Because my shopping list in Keep was shared by two other people, the fact that my shopping list items, added through Google assistant, weren’t making it to my Keep ‘Shopping List’ went unnoticed. I originally thought that someone else had deleted the entries. Maybe we didn’t need more toothpaste after all?

Eventually I twigged. Google was putting shopping list items in a new place, the Google Home Primary Shopping List – whatever and wherever that is.

After a little more ‘Googling’, I found the list online and also potentially through the ‘Google Home’ Android app. I downloaded that, and not being at home at the time, it was as good as useless. I don’t own any ‘Google Home’ devices, and digging through the UK version of the app didn’t get me to my Primary Shopping List. So the webUI is now the only way to see my shopping list – which is pretty useless given the terrible data coverage in the majority of UK large grocery shops.

So, I wanted to go back to using Keep for my shopping list, and there is simply no way to do this with voice unless you want to faff with IFTTT recipes and Keep lists that aren’t called “Shopping List”.

Simply put, Google has hijacked the “Ok Google, add something to my shopping list” function. It is obvious why they’ve done this in the US. They want to be able to sell adds which pop up next to the Primary Shopping List items and point you to retailers like Target & Walmart, who could fulfil your needs. That would generate a reasonable sum in advertising revenue and possibly through vendor kickbacks for successful sales. But not in the UK. Google Express isn’t yet in UK, and at best is a niche solution in US where Amazon Prime does a far better job of connecting shoppers with product, in all categories.

In the meantime, while Google messes around with our user experiences for critical apps like note-taking and voice UI, in a way that is irrelevant and frustrating to UK consumers, Amazon are taking over. Alexa works brilliantly, Amazon Fresh is bringing well priced fast delivery grocery shopping to UK homes, and premium video content to our TVs.

Voice UI is certainly the future of the smart home, and when I’m shaving it’s the perfect moment for me to add shaving foam to my shopping list using my voice. My Google assistant will no-longer be used, I’m putting my Echo Dot in the bathroom.