Google Assistant on your Google TV offers a variety of functions. Here are 10 things you can do with your Google TV that you might not know about.
TCL has a fantastic range of Google TVs that is ever-growing and evolving with Google software. Check out our award-winning TCL RC9 Series TV Remote Control which is a testament to TCL’s commitment to advancing TV technology in unison with the Google ecosystem.
By pressing and holding down the microphone button on your TCL TV remote control, you can ask Google Assistant to do pretty much anything, apart from maybe making your popcorn. Just like you would on your phone, you can tell Google Assistant to search for content, change settings, or just ask it random questions.
Content Search
Use voice commands like “Hey Google, show me comedy movies”, or “documentaries on wildlife” to search for specific content across various streaming services. Your Google TV will then display the results on your Google TV home screen giving you easy and direct access to that content on its relevant streaming platform.
Playback Control
Manage playback of movies or music with voice commands such as “Hey Google, pause”, “resume”, “rewind 30 seconds,” or “skip forward”. While it might be easier for some to just use the remote control for these actions, for anyone unfamiliar with the remote control’s layout, or has a vision impairment, this can be a handy little trick to have up their sleeve.
Volume Control
Much like playback control, volume control can also be adjusted easily with voice commands like “Hey Google, set the volume to 50%, or “mute the TV” to give you a quick noise adjustment for those times when you get an annoying phone call during a movie, or someone comes knocking on your door.
Smart Home Integrations
Control compatible smart home devices using Google Assistant via your Google TV. Commands like “Hey Google, turn off the lights” or “set thermostat to 20 degrees” can be handy without having to search for different remotes for different devices, and you don’t have to get up from the couch.
App Launching
Launch apps on your Google TV by saying “Hey Google, open Netflix” or “Start YouTube”, making switching between different streaming services convenient. Being able to launch apps easily is an important function on a Google TV because of the ever-increasing number of apps becoming available. Some of these apps are designed specifically to enhance your Google TV experience. Keep reading to find out how.
Turn Your Phone into a TV Remote
Not many people know this, but you can even turn your smartphone into your TV remote. This is handy for those situations (and it happens to us all) where the TV remote decides to play hide and seek. If you’re not in the mood for that, download the Google TV app onto your phone from the Google Play Store, follow the instructions and now your phone is a virtual Google TV remote. And if you have an iPhone, don’t worry, you can still get the app and use it on a Google TV.
Listen to Podcasts and Music via Your Google TV
This might be common knowledge to a lot of people, but it’s always surprising that people still walk around the house with their phones listening to music and podcasts when there’s a perfectly good TCL TV with superior Onkyo Hi-Fi sound sitting there shaking its head at you. Google TVs allow you to download apps such as Spotify or Google Podcasts so that you can use your stereo or surround sound systems and save your phone’s battery simultaneously. And don’t forget, using Google Assistant, you can just say “Hey, Google, play [insert name of your favourite podcast]” and then go about your chores.
Change Your Screensavers to Your Photo Library
Google does a good job of providing some pretty cool photographs for its default screensavers. But if you’d like to personalise your Google TV with your photos, like you do with your phone, then that’s easily done too. When you’re logged into your Google account on your TV you can choose pictures from your albums by following these instructions. Think of it as an extra-large, digital photo frame for your living room.
Watchlists
Another useful feature utilising the Google ecosystem is Watchlists. If you’re browsing the web and come across a movie you find interesting, you can add it to your watchlist when signed into Chrome on your PC or using your Android phone. This will automatically add it to your Watchlist on your Google TV, so when you get home it will be in your Google TV’s library menu. This will make sure that you’ll never forget about a movie or TV show you found intriguing or that was recommended to you by friends.
Google Knowledge Graph
Google’s Knowledge Graph is one of the best features of a Google TV. What once was a dedicated display for watching moving pictures is now also a giant E-reader, and if you’re someone who likes to dive down information rabbit holes, it’s a feature you will most likely appreciate.
Google built its platform on a vast and ever-expanding information database, so it’s no surprise that you can access this information, in context, on your Google TV. For example, if you search for a particular actor you like, Google will bring up their bio and recommend movies they have been in, links on where to stream these movies, reviews and more. This makes it easy to find specific content, learn more about your favourite movies and actors, and find similar content all in one place.