Google's Gemini Upgrades Song Identification on Android
Android's Gemini App Now Identifies Tunes, Yet Comes With a Constraint
Google's AI chatbot, Gemini, is evolving, and the latest update adds a hotly requested feature: song identification. Simply ask Gemini, "What's this song?", and it'll whip out its listening tricks, recognizing tunes from your surroundings, a playlist, or even your humming. I'm keen to see just how spot-on the humming needs to be.
But there's a catch. Although the song identification feature resides within the Gemini app on Android, it doesn't stay put when you ask that burning question. Instead, it launches a full-screen listening interface from the Google app—feeling a bit disjointed compared to Pixel's Now Playing Assistant, which handles things rather smoothly. This user handoff is a tad clunky, and it also breaks the flow of Gemini Live conversations, which feels like a bummer.
Moreover, once it discerns a tune, the results appear in Google Search, not as an inline response from Gemini—another missed opportunity to keep the experience within the chatbot's ecosystem.
For now, this feature works exclusively on Android, with no song identification for iOS users yet. If you need to pinpoint multiple tracks, you'll have to restart the full-screen Song Search interface manually.
A Closer Look at Gemini vs. Google Assistant
Google Assistant's built-in Now Playing feature is still the champion when it comes to seamlessness. You can kick it off with a voice command or lockscreen shortcut, and it sprays results right on the device interface, often with album art, and even offers offline capabilities.
Gemini's new Song Search, on the other hand, hinges on the Google app's listening interface. You need to input, "What's this song?" in Gemini, which then cracks open a full-screen search window, expecting the user to wait for a match. It may be accurate, pulling from the same song database as Assistant, but its user experience is less smooth due to app-switching and lack of integration within the Gemini ecosystem.
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In a Nutshell
Yes, Gemini can identify tunes, but its experience doesn't yet beat Google Assistant or Pixel's Now Playing feature for smoothness. However, if you're a daily Gemini user, regaining this Assistant-era capability is a good sign that Google is heeding user feedback as Gemini continues to shape up into a comprehensive voice assistant.
Extra Insight:
- Whether you hum, sing, or play a tune, Gemini's new song recognition feature is designed to work effectively, and it uses the same extensive song database as Google's existing Song Search technology for accurate results[3][4].
- While Gemini's song identification feature requires explicit activation (i.e., input or spoken prompts like "What's this song?") each time, Google Assistant's Now Playing feature works automatically and continuously in the background, providing instantaneous song info directly on the device interface without requiring user prompts[2][4].
- The clunky user experience in Gemini comes from its reliance on the Google app's listening interface and the fact that the results are displayed on a search page instead of inline in the assistant chat, whereas Google Assistant's Now Playing is more seamless and integrated, particularly on Pixel devices[1][4].
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Gemini's new song recognition feature, though effective, uses a different approach compared to Google Assistant. Unlike Google Assistant's continuous and seamless Now Playing feature, Gemini expects explicit prompts and displays results in a separate search page, leading to a less smooth user experience. Additionally, during song identification, Gemini utilizes the same extensive song database as Google's existing Song Search technology for precise results.
