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Yesterday during the Google product event, a new Find My Phone through Google Assistant was demonstrated.  Using Assistant on your Google Home, it can locate your phone by ringing it, even if it is in Do Not Disturb, so you can find it somewhere in your house.  The question during the demo was when the feature would roll out to everyone?

The answer is right now.

The Find My Phone feature has gone live and now you can simply go to your Google Home and say, “OK Google, find my phone”.  It will then identify the phone you are wanting to find (if you have multiple phones) and will then ask you if you want it to ring your phone at full volume.  So long as you have Find My Phone enabled on your account and Android phone, the feature works – and well.

With the launch of the Google Pixel 2 and 2 XL yesterday, there are still things being uncovered about the new phones and Google’s support of them.  One thing that has come to light is the length of the upgrades and support windows for these new devices.

Traditionally, Google has had their support windows for 2 years.  That meant that you would get two major versions of Android on that device and then another year of security updates.  For example, the Google Pixel XL, my phone, shipped with Android Nougat in 2016.  That means I will get Android Oreo (which I have), and Android P.  That’ll be it for major updates but I’ll get another year of security updates.

For the Pixel 2 lineup, Google is now extending that major update window to three years.  That means that the phones announced yesterday could well see Android R.

Screener, the app that allows you to pop your screenshots into a device frame, has already been updated with frames for the new Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.  The update came almost immediately after Google’s big event yesterday and was a server-side push to the app so no new download or OTA update is required.

If you aren’t familiar with Screener, you’ve seen it in action on virtually every screenshot provided in posts here on the site.  It allows you to take a screenshot as you normally do (Power+Volume Down) and then put it in a frame of a particular device.  It gives your screenshots a much more professional look than just the screen itself.

With all of the announcements around Google Home and Google Assistant yesterday at Google’s big product event, it is not surprising that we are starting to see new functionality come into the products.  One of the new functions that you can do with Assistant is send information that you have searched for to your phone so you can get to it while on the go.  It saves you from having to do the search again from your phone.

How it works is pretty straight forward.  On your Google Home, ask Assistant about something and then follow it up with “OK Google, send this to my phone”.  For example, “OK Google, what was the score of the Rockies game?”  Google will give you the sad loss of the Rockies to the Diamondbacks last night.  As soon as Assistant finishes, say “OK Google, send this to my phone” and the results are sent to you phone via a notification.  Tap that notification and you can get that information.