Gmail will soon get Gemini integration for email summaries
It was already clear that all major Google services would get Gemini integration. However, how that integration will look in the Gmail app has now been revealed. Android expert and Android Authority contributor Assemble Debug has revealed Gmail’s Gemini integration via a screenshot. He got the feature working even though Google hasn’t activated it for the public yet. As you can see in the screenshot below, there will be a ‘Summarize This Email’ button below the email’s subject line.
After clicking the Summarize This Email button, Gemini’s slide-up window will appear from the bottom. It will offer a summarized version of the email in bullet format. You can offer feedback by liking or disliking the result and copy the email summary by clicking the clipboard button. This feature should be helpful with emails that have large amounts of text.
Since this feature appears to be working without any glitches, Google may be ready to roll it out. However, the company might wait until the Google I/O 2024 event before rolling it out. At the upcoming event, scheduled for May 14, 2024, Google will fully unveil Android 15, Android TV/Google TV, ChromeOS, Wear OS 5, and advancements for Chrome, Gemini, and other services.
Google IO 2024 is approaching fast, with the big G’s festival for Android 15, Wear OS 5, Android TV and more kicking off on May 14. And we now have an official schedule to give us some hints of the software (and maybe hardware) announcements in the pipeline.
The Google IO 2024 schedule (spotted by @MishaalRahman on X, formerly Twitter) naturally doesn’t reveal any specifics, but it does confirm where we’ll see some big new software upgrades.
The keynote, which will be well worth tuning into, will kick off at 10am PT / 5pm GMT on May 14 (which works out as 3am AEST in Australia). But the details of the follow-up sessions give us a taster of what will be shown off, including our first proper look at Wear OS 5.
That’s confirmed in the ‘Building for the future of Wear OS’ session, which will help developers “discover the new features of Wear OS 5”. Considering the smartwatch platform appeared to be flirting with the Google Graveyard not long ago, that’s good news. We’ll presumably hear more about a release date at the event, and maybe even a Pixel Watch 3.
What else does the schedule reveal? Android 15 was always a shoo-in for this year’s show, so it’s no surprise that the OS will be covered alongside “generative AI, form factors” and more at Google IO 2024.
Thirdly, AI will naturally be a huge general theme, with Google Gemini a consistent thread across the event. Developers will discover “new ways to build immersive 3D maps” and how to make “next-gen AI apps with Gemini models”. Gemini will also power new apps for Google Chat and create new content from images and video, thanks to Google’s multi-modal Gemini Pro Vision model.
Fans of Android Auto will also be pleased to hear that it’ll likely get some upgrades, too, with one developer session titled “Android for Cars: new in-car experiences”. Likewise, Google TV and Android TV OS will get a mention, at the very least, with one session promising to show off “new user experience enhancements in Google TV and the latest additions to the next Android TV OS platform”.
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Because Google IO 2024 is a developer conference, its sessions are all themed around software – but we’ll almost certainly see lots of new hardware treats announced during the keynote, too.
This week, rumors about a refreshed Pixel Tablet (rather than a Pixel Tablet 2) suggested it could also make its bow at Google’s conference. A Google Pixel Fold 2 is also on the cards, though we have also heard whispers of a Pixel 9 Pro Fold instead.
As always, we can expect some surprises too, like when Google teased its live-translation glasses at Google IO 2022, which then sadly disappeared in a cloud of vaporware. Let’s hope its new ideas for this year’s conference stick around a little longer.
Google Assistant has been here for a long time, but now it’s time to move on from Google Assistant to Google Gemini. Gemini is Google’s brand-new, more intelligent digital assistant that better understands natural language and can keep a conversation going. It launched on Android phones and tablets a few weeks ago but hasn’t completely replaced Google Assistant yet.
Google Gemini might soon get Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music integration
Gemini currently lacks a few skills that Google Assistant has, including music streaming integration. However, that feature appears to be in the works. Android enthusiast @AssembleDebug has found (via Piunika Web) that Google is currently testing music streaming service integration for Gemini. They were able to make some changes to the app and find its Settings screen that shows music streaming options.
When the ‘Music’ settings page is accessed, it appears blank but says, “Choose your default music provider.” This is similar to Google Assistant’s music streaming integration page. So, it is likely that Gemini will feature integration with Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music, among others (depending on the country).
Hopefully, Google will soon finish its testing and roll out music streaming services integration to Google Gemini to fully replace Google Assistant.
Whether that will happen remains to be seen, but Googleis ending the era of free access to its Gemini API, signaling a new financial strategy within its AI development.
Developers previously enjoyed free access to lure them towards Google’s AI products and away from OpenAI’s, but that is set to change. OpenAI was first to market and has already monetized its APIs and LLM access. Now Google is planning to emulate this through its cloud and AI Studio services, and it seems the days of unfettered free access are numbered.
RIP PaLM API
In an email to developers, Google said it was shutting down access to its PaLM API (the pre-Gemini model which was used to build custom chatbots) to developers via AI Studio on August 15. This API was deprecated back in February.
The tech giant is hoping to convert free users into paying customers by promoting the stable Gemini 1.0 Pro. “We encourage testing prompts, tuning, inference, and other features with stable Gemini 1.0 Pro to avoid interruptions,” The email reads. “You can use the same API key you used for the PaLM API to access Gemini models through Google AI SDKs.”
Pricing for the paid plan begins at $7 for one million input tokens and rises to $21 for the same number of output tokens.
There is one exception to Google’s plans – PaLM and Gemini will remain accessible to customers paying for Vertex AI in Google Cloud. However, as HPCWirepoints out, “Regular developers on cheaper budgets typically use AI Studio as they cannot afford Vertex.”
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Google appears to be working on adding quick access to its AI chatbot Gemini to the drop-down menu that appears in your address bar. If you want to talk to the bot quickly you’ll be able to type in ‘@gemini’ and get instant access to the bot.
According to Windows Report, Chrome is due to have a ‘chat with Gemini’ shortcut to the address bar, so you don’t have to go to the official Gemini website. The feature is yet to be widespread, but with the ‘chat with Gemini’ shortcut, you should be able to give it a try.
It’s not surprising to see Google forging ahead with its newest AI assistant in Chrome (and on Chromebooks) – in fact, Gemini was technically implemented into the browser back in February, when Google introduced an AI-powered ‘help me write’ feature. Microsoft has been pushing its own AI helper Copilot aggressively across everything from the Edge browser to Windows tablets. Google has demonstrated a more reserved approach to AI tools compared to Microsoft’s bull-in-a-china-shop efforts, but it makes sense that the search engine giant wants to keep pace with the competition.
How to use Gemini in Chrome right now
You can try typing out ‘@gemini’ and see if anything comes up, but as of right now it’s not functional – you can’t click on it or select it. It’s still part of a Chrome Canary patch, which is Google’s channel for testing out potential new features that enthusiasts and developers can try out and give feedback on.
If you’d like to try it out, you can launch and set up Chrome Canary, and once the test browser is installed you can enter chrome://flags in the address bar and hit enter. This should take you to the ‘Expansion pack page for the site’ and you’ll be able to enable the starter pack.
Restart the browser and you’re done! You should then be able to chat with Gemini from the address bar. Of course, as this is still in testing there’s no guarantee that it’ll work flawlessly, and we can’t be sure just yet that the feature will make it to the public version of the browser. However, if it does make it to the public it’ll be good news for Gemini fans or anyone who wants to get more familiar with the ChatGPT alternative.
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Gemini is lining up to become an even bigger part of the Android ecosystem as a toggle switch for the AI may soon appear on the official Google app. Evidence of this update was discovered in a recent beta by industry insider AssembleDebug who then shared his findings with news site Pianika Web.
The feature could appear as a toggle switch right above the search bar. Flipping the switch causes the standard Search interface to morph into the Gemini interface where you can enter a prompt, talk to the model, or upload an image. According to Android Authority, turning on the AI launches a window asking permission to make the switch, assuming you haven’t already.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because the Google app on iOS has had the same function since early February. Activating the feature on either operating system has Gemini replace Google Assistant as your go-to helper on the internet.
Gemini’s new role
You can hop between the two at any time. It’s not a permanent fixture or anything – at least not right now. Google has been making its AI more prominent on smartphones and its first-party platforms. Recently, hints emerged of Gemini possibly gaining a summarization tool as well as reply suggestions on Gmail.
It is possible to have the Gemini toggle switch appear on your Android phone. AssembleDebug published a step-by-step guide on TheSpAndroid, however, the process will take you a long time. First, you’ll need a rooted smartphone running at least Android 12 which is a complicated process in of itself. We have a guide explaining how to root your mobile device if you’re interested in checking that out. Then you’ll need the latest Google App beta from the Play Store, the GMS Flags app from GitHub, and Gemini on your device.
Even if you follow all of these instructions, there’s still a chance it may not work, so you’re probably better off waiting for the switch to officially roll out.
No word on when that’ll happen. Although we could see the feature make its official debut during next month’s Google I/O 2024 event. The tech giant is cooking up something big and we can’t wait to see what it is.
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A few months ago, Google renamed Bard to Gemini. The company’s new AI-powered personal assistant will eventually replace Google Assistant. Google is slowly improving its integration into other apps, and it looks like Gmail for Android will be the next app to integrate Gemini.
Gmail could summarize your emails, thanks to Gemini
A new report indicates that Gmail could soon offer summaries of your emails via Google Gemini. This feature was seen in the latest beta version of Gmail for Android (v2024.03.31.621006929) by code-digger AssembleDebug (via PiunikaWeb). There appears to be a ‘Summarize This Email’ button below the email’s subject line in the Gmail app, and it can create a summary of the email.
This new feature isn’t working reliably, so Google hasn’t released it to most users. It is already available for Gmail on the web but is currently limited to Google Workspace users only and through the Labs section. Once the feature is released, it will be available on most Galaxy smartphones and tablets running Android 14 (or even older, but it isn’t clear yet).
With One UI 6.1, Samsung has released its AI-powered features, including note summarization in Samsung Notes, webpage summaries in Samsung Internet, and real-time language translation during instant messaging and voice calls. You can watch those features in action in our video below.
Despite assertions that it wouldn’t happen, Gemini Nano will in fact be making its way to the Pixel 8. Google didn’t reveal a lot of details in their announcement, so the AI’s full capabilities on the smartphone are unknown at this time. However, Gemini Nano on the Pixel 8 may perform similarly to its Pixel 8 Pro counterpart.
According to 9To5Google, it’ll be used to power two features: Summarize in Recorder and Gboard Smart Reply. The former is a tool which writes summaries for audio files saved on the Recorder app. It even highlights “key points of interest” in conversations as bullet points. Smart Reply, as the name suggests, can generate “smart replies” fully aware of a conversation’s context. Over on the Pixel 8 Pro, the feature works with Google Messages as well as third-party messaging services, like WhatsApp.
A launch date for Gemini Nano on the Pixel 8 has not been set. 9To5Google states the update will come out in June during the next Pixel Feature Drop. However, it will only be available as a developer preview, meaning there could be advanced steps to take if you want to gain access.
Previous claims
Either way, it is good to see Gemini Nano expand elsewhere. If you don’t know, the model is the “smallest version of the Gemini model family” developed specially to run on supporting Android phones. So it was strange to hear a Google engineer say during a recent episode of The Android Show it wouldn’t be showing up on the Pixel 8. They blamed hardware limitations. The base phone has 8GB of RAM while the Pro has 12GB of RAM, and that gap of 4GB apparently made all the difference.
However, as other people have said online, that claim didn’t make any sense. Industry expert Mishaal Rahman points out the Samsung Galaxy S24 starts with 8GB of RAM and it’s able to natively run Gemini Nano without a problem. Outside of some unknown hardware limitation, it should have been possible.
As it turns out, it is. Google seemingly found a way to run the AI on less memory without negatively impacting the user experience.
The question now is will the upcoming Pixel 8a receive the same support? It’s hard to say. A lot of information has leaked for the rumored budget Pixel, but there’s still much we don’t know, like the amount of RAM it’ll have at launch. If it’s anything like the Pixel 7a, the new phone will also sport 8GB of memory, so it could run Gemini Nano – barring, of course, other restrictions preventing support.
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If you’re a developer and want to try out Gemini Nano this June on your Pixel 8, you’ll have to first fill out a Google Forms page for the Android Early Access Preview program. And be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the best Pixel phones for 2024.
Last month, Google announced that it would offer Gemini in the beta version of Google Messages starting from the last week of February. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Now, almost a month later, Gemini is finally here on the messaging platform.
According to a new report from 9To5Google, the latest beta version of Google Messages offers Gemini. To access the chatbot, click on the button to start a new chat, and the app will show you the option to interact with Gemini right before the contacts list starts. Tap on it and Google Messages will open the chat with the chatbot. You can then interact with Gemini as you would in the chatbot’s app or web portal. In Google’s words, you can “draft messages, brainstorm ideas, plan events, or simply have a fun conversation.”
To access the latest feature, you will need to have a personal Google account, have the language set to English, be in one of the 165 countries, and have a Pixel 6 or newer device from Google, Pixel Fold, Samsung Galaxy S22, or a newer device from Samsung, or Galaxy Z Fold or Galaxy ZFlip series device.
We know that the Gemini generative AI chatbot is heading to Google Messages very soon – Google told us so last month – and we’ve now got some newly published screenshots that give us a preview of how the feature will look and function.
These screenshots come courtesy of some code digging by the team at TheSpAndroid (via Android Authority), and we can see Gemini generating images, pulling up details from Google Maps, and suggesting snippets of code.
It also seems as though it will pull up details from a connected Gmail account, and a Google account is required to use the chatbot – it won’t work without one. It doesn’t appear that the AI bot is configured to work in group chats either.
The report states that Gemini in Google Messages doesn’t seem to be able to analyze images and respond to prompts about them, though in a statement to Android Authority, Google said this functionality is included.
Limited availability
Image generation will be available (Image credit: TheSpAndroid)
There are no real surprises here, as Gemini in Google Messages looks to work much as it does on the web and in the Android app. However, it’s interesting to see the technology built into the default messaging app for Google’s mobile operating system.
It’s not clear when we’ll all be able to test this for ourselves, though based on this latest leak, it shouldn’t be much longer. There’s already an official support page up for the feature explaining how to start interacting with the chatbot.
At least to begin with, the feature will be limited to certain Android handsets: the Google Pixel 6 (or a later Pixel phone), the Google Pixel Fold, the Samsung Galaxy S22 (or a later Samsung Galaxy phone), or any Samsung Galaxy Z Flip or Galaxy Z Fold.
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All of this AI technology is moving forward at a rapid pace, and we should hear more about Gemini at Google I/O 2024 on May 14. We can expect a lot of AI talk from Apple too, at its own WWDC 2024 event, which should be happening sometime in June.
