LG adds Google Assistant to 2018 TVs in Australia

It’s worth the wait.  If you bought a 2018 model LG TV you probably got some sense of the hype around “ThinQ” and heard the talk about Google Assistant – however the service has been limited until now as LG finalised the Google Assistant integration in this market.

Until Today.  As of today there’s a software upgrade in your TV which enables a new little “setup your TV for Google Assistant” icon in your menu which after you complete the process of linking to your Google account on your smartphone turns your TV into a Google Home and makes the screen a whole new way of interacting with Google Assistant.

The whole thing is rather complex, perhaps moreso than it should – but the good news is, that’s all behind the scenes.  All you ever need to do is press the microphone button on your remote control.  Speak to the TV and behind the scenes the TV sends those words to LG, and LG’s servers make a call – is this an LG request?  Or is this something we should send to Google?

If it’s a request to turn up the volume, switch inputs, or search for content on in-built apps – the request comes back as a ThinQ response.

However, if you’re asking for directions to a restaurant or local attraction, Google chimes in and the interface comes with a Google Assistant logo and the information is graphically displayed.

You can interact with any linked Google Assistant services, like banks, telcos or Woolies – and the graphical response, while limited to date, opens up huge new potential.

For example an eBay search will show you actual results with images on the screen.

All this will lead to a much higher use of the in-built web browser on TVs, and get more people searching and talking to Google in a group environment.

It looks bloody good.