Google Assistant is now available on Roku devices

Google is battling against multiple other major tech companies to see who can dominate the virtual personal assistant market. Some of this has spilled over into a new product category entirely (smart speakers, smart displays, etc.) while other times it’s been an attempt to see how many 3rd-party companies they can partner up with. Amazon had a huge head start in the new product category area and Apple has generally preferred to stay in their walled garden. So this has left Google to expand with as many 3rd-party companies as possible and now their Google Assistant is currently rolling out to select Roku devices.

The partnership between Roku and Google isn’t new or anything. Back in February of this year, the two companies paired up so that YouTube TV could be accessible on a certain number of Roku devices. At the time, the announcement was that YouTube TV was being brought to the Roku 4, Roku Ultra, and the Roku Express, but it also made its way to others including the Roku Premiere, all Roku TVs, the Roku Streaming Stick, and more. With Google Assistant now rolling out to select Roku devices, it has to do with the operating system version instead of specific devices that would receive the feature.

It was a month ago that the folks over at Roku announced some of their devices would be receiving support for Google Assistant and now we’re starting to see more people report that the update is here. Google Assistant will be made available to Roku devices which are running version 8.1 of the company’s operating system. Here are some examples of voice commands that Roku has offered in their announcement article:

• “Hey Google, launch The Roku Channel on Roku”
• “Hey Google, find documentaries on Roku”
• “Hey Google, show me comedies on Roku”
• “Hey Google, pause on Roku”

Those who own a Roku TV can also ask the Google Assistant to do the following. . .

• “Hey Google, turn on Roku”
• “Hey Google, turn up the volume on Roku”
• “Hey Google, mute on Roku”
• “Hey Google, change to channel 5.1 on Roku”
• “Hey Google, switch to HDMI 2 on Roku”

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Via: 9to5Google Source: Roku