Perplexity Launches Perplexity Assistant to Replace Gemini on Android – How to Install and Use
But what sets it apart from Gemini, and is it worth switching? Let’s dive into the details.
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What is Perplexity Assistant?
Perplexity Assistant is a voice-based AI chatbot, much like Gemini or Siri. However, it is only available on Android for now.
you may ask Perplexity Assistant any question, and it will answer using its AI search engine. However, the company says its main focus is getting things done byperforming actions on your phone, like making calls, controlling apps and settings, and more. It also leverages AI to provide intelligentreminders, analyze your screen, and even interact with what’s around youusing your phone’s camera. I’ll go through the things you can do with Perplexity below.
It’s available in15 languages, including English, Spanish, French, and Hindi, and Perplexity has made itfree to usefor now. While Perplexity Assistant is still a work in progress with some bugs, early adopters seem to be impressed with what it can do.
How to Replace Gemini with Perplexity Assistant on Android
If you’re ready to give Perplexity Assistant a try, here’s how you can replace Gemini or any other assistant on your Android device:
That’s it. Now Perplexity is your default assistant—just long-press the power button, swipe up from the bottom corners, or press and hold the home button to activate it. However, currently, you cannot activate it with a wake word like Gemini.
What Can You Do with Perplexity Assistant?
1. Make Calls and Send Messages
To make a call or send a message, you can simply say, “Call [contact name]” or “Send a message to [contact].” In our experience, Perplexitystruggled to access contacts, often resulting in, “I could not find [contact] in your contacts.” Even when it placed a call, it often called a random number or a different contact without confirmation, requiring me to intervene and cut the call immediately.
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2. Set Intelligent Reminders
One standout feature is its smart reminders. For instance, you can say, “Remind me to watch the next season ofSquid Gamewhen it comes out,” or “Set a reminder to book tickets for the FIFA World Cup when they’re available.” Perplexitysearches online for dates and sets remindersaccordingly.
However, if the event date changes later or hasn’t been officially announced, it can falter. For example, if you set a reminder for the next season ofThe Boysbefore an official announcement, Perplexity won’t know the exact date and might return an error or, worse, set a reminder based on a speculated date it gathered from a random blog post.
3. Analyze Your Screen
you’re able to ask Perplexity to “Fact-check this article” or ask “What am I looking at?” and it will check your screen and respond. Unlike Gemini, which takes a screenshot of your screen and responds, Perplexity directly accesses your screen, making the process seamless.
I was genuinely impressed by Perplexity’s performance. It analyzed on-screen content withnear-perfect accuracyalmost every time. The generated summaries of PDFs and online articles were precise and well-crafted. When I tested it with a chat, it grasped the context effortlessly and provided an accurate explanation. While it can occasionally be a bit slow, it delivers reliable results about 90% of the time.
4. Use Your Camera for Real-Time Assistance
Just point your phone’s camera at a book, monument, or even a math problem, and Perplexity Assistant will deliver an answer. Like its screen analysis, the AIhandled camera inputs impressively. However, itstruggled with complex math problems, often giving incorrect answers. Despite this, it excelled at most tasks, particularly those involving online searches.
5. Get a Notification Summary
Have a lot of unchecked notifications? you may ask Perplexity to “Catch me up on my notifications,” and it will summarize them for you. It did a decent job summarizing, similar to its screen analysis capabilities.
However, it wasn’t perfect. Itmissed some notifications, so relying on it doesn’t guarantee you’ve reviewed everything. Oddly, it included promotional notifications, like Domino’s offers, but skipped important ones from Slack. On top of that, Perplexity assistantwas slow—scrolling through your notifications manually would likely be faster. When I asked, “Have I got any messages from [contact]?” it confidently said no, but it turned out to be wrong.
6. Book Rides and Make Reservations
Need a ride or a dinner reservation? Perplexity Assistant has you covered. Just say, “Get me an Uber to [location],” and it will book the ride for you. You can also ask it to find local restaurants and reserve a table. Theexperience was smoothand intuitive. It opened the app and searched for the destination. I just had toselect the type of rideandtap the Choose button to book.
7. Play Songs and Videos
Finally, you can also ask Perplexity to play some songs. Simply describe what you want, like, “Play Weightless,” and it willfetch and play the track from Spotify or YouTube. Also, Perplexity can understand the song even by descriptive prompts. For example, you can say “Play me the iconic guitar solo fromBohemian Rhapsodyby Queen” and it identifies the song you are asking for.
Is Perplexity Assistant Worth a Try?
Perplexityhas its advantages. It shines in areas like booking rides, searching online, analyzing screens, helping through the camera, and playing songs. However, it’s a bit slow, and tasks like making calls feel like a downgrade. It stands up to Gemini but doesn’t come close to Gemini Live or ChatGPT 4.0.
That said, it’s still worth trying if you’re curious about a new assistant.
Ravi Teja KNTS
Tech writer with over 4 years of experience at TechWiser, where he has authored more than 700 articles on AI, Google apps, Chrome OS, Discord, and Android. His journey started with a passion for discussing technology and helping others in online forums, which naturally grew into a career in tech journalism. Ravi’s writing focuses on simplifying technology, making it accessible and jargon-free for readers. When he’s not breaking down the latest tech, he’s often immersed in a classic film – a true cinephile at heart.
