Need hands free!

[Mark Bush1]

I had fun this weekend playing around and falling in love with my new Surface Duo. What I was not prepared for was its inability to do anything hands-free. I did lots of it on my iPhone. I'm kind of new to Android for the most part. I was hoping this device was going to have a snazzy Cortana like assistant that would read my emails read my texts or sing to me while I'm in the shower.rly: All l got was Google's basic assistant with no support for reading emails or texts. Every time I tried it either told me I had to unlock my phone or said that it did not support it yet. Is there any way to get these things right now or is it just a waiting game and hoping that we get hands-free support because right now it's very lacking in that area.

 

[SvenJ]

This is going to be a significant issue. Cortana, as a standalone AI on Android (and iOS) is going away. The Google assistant is pretty good, but assumes Google services. So, when I ask about my next appointment, it tells me nothing is on my calendar looking at the Google calendar. I loaded Cortana, knowing she is short lived, to see if it would work. Able to invoke her from my Surface earbuds, but she didn't hear what I was saying, as if she didn't know about the BT connection. Switching back Google assistant. Google heard me just fine via the earbuds.

I imagine there is a way to connect/merge my Outlook calendar with Google, but I don't want to. This being a MS device for productivity, it really needs to provide a seamless way to access my personal and business O365 information.

 

[Mark Bush1]

Were you able to get it to read texts or emails., through Google Assistant?