Quick Phrases come to Google’s Nest Hub Max

Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge

A new feature could cut the number of times you say "Hey Google" from 50 to 25. The Quick Phrases feature on the Pixel 6 phones is now live. It makes talking to the voice interface a little easier with this feature.

Quick Phrases are limited to a few preset commands in four categories: general info, lights, timers, and alarms. The phrases don't have to be exact, and the assistant can recognize common variations Phrases are included.

• “Turn the lights on.”
• “Set a timer for 2 minutes.”
• “Set an alarm for 7AM.”
• “What time is it?”
• “What’s the weather?”
• “Cancel the alarm.”

Each person in the household needs to set up the feature for their account to use Quick Phrases. You have to be standing close to the display and have Face Match enabled to use the Look and Talk feature. You can use Quick Phrases if you're within earshot of the speaker.

When you say the quick phrase, the nest hub responds with a small icon indicating it heard it and then completes the request I tried it out this morning and it worked. Not having to say the wake word before issuing a command made it easier. I felt a bit more demanding than usual.

While the "Turn the lights on" command activated smart lighting in the room the Nest Hub Max was in, I could say, "Turn the Living Room lights off" and control smart lights in another room, too.

Quick Phrases will likely mis-trigger the assistant more often. Of the three voice assistants I use, I think the most likely to be accidentally activated is the one I use on the internet, the one I use on my phone. It is possible that this will change that.

In my tests, I was able to ignore any similar commands to other voice assistants, as long as I didn't interrupt between the wake word and the wake word.