It sounds like a creepier version of google now which listens for many keywords instead of just one, is it not?
Question for the experts: How much battery would it actually drain if the mic was constantly activated and the app was scanning for keywords. I mean, you could limit the scanning to times were someone actually speaks and otherwise remain in a sleep mode. The keywords are then synced only when the user opens the app.
Did anyone ever check if something similar was mentioned in the google now TOS?
Some devices are always listening for "OK, Google", if you turn that feature on (Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Samsung Note 4, according to a Google help page [0]). I vaguely remember reading something about a subprocessor in those devices, looking for that phrase, to cut down on battery usage. Most of the speech recognition processing happens remotely on Google's servers, though.
I disable and block from the net everything google on my phone. Recently I did install XDA Labs from:
http://www.xda-developers.com/xda-labs/
I installed MS's Cortana via the labs apk and it works great btw.
You could not pay me to use facebook though I do have whatsapp (via labs) installed. Never even used it either-lol.
Funny, I'd actually want that feature in my phone (S7). It could easily turn Google Now into single-room Echo alternative. Without it, Google Now's voice features are pretty useless - if I have the phone unlocked and in my hands, I may as well type what I want and get to it faster.
I've got it disabled on my phone, and you couldn't pay me to have something like an Echo at home. I feel like it would be another underused tech device I'd have to find an outlet for, and I don't ever want to feel reliant on cloud services.
Question for the experts: How much battery would it actually drain if the mic was constantly activated and the app was scanning for keywords. I mean, you could limit the scanning to times were someone actually speaks and otherwise remain in a sleep mode. The keywords are then synced only when the user opens the app.
Did anyone ever check if something similar was mentioned in the google now TOS?