Google Assistant To Non-Pixel Phones On Feb. 26; Everything We Know So Far

Android fans who are planning to get a Google Pixel phone just to experience Google Assistant can hold their plans for the mean time.  They can try first to get their hands on an alpha version of the Google app, version 6.13, and try to sideload the update on their Android devices.

The Google Assistant was primarily developed for the Pixel and Pixel XL, Google's own smartphone, but it has been reported to work on other Android phones too.  As Android Headlines noted, it works on a Nexus 6P and a Samsung Galaxy Note5.

The digital assistant was also believed to require Android Nougat (7.0) to work, which the Nexus device is equipped with and is not a surprise at all.  However, the Note5 was running Android Marshmallow, version 6.0.1 to be exact.  The Android community is now speculating that Google could have been secretly planning to roll out Google Assistant to non-Pixel and non-Nexus smartphones after all.

On both devices, the Google Assistant was activated via the home button, which other devices could also access in the future once the company decides to make it available to a wider audience.  It remains unclear when will it become official, but the community is expecting the release of Android Marshmallow version 6.13 soon.

Officially, the non-Pixel Google Assistant was released to the beta testers of the company, although it is also reported to be available in the wild.  One simply needs to find the right APK (Android application package) and install it on their Android device.  It should also be noted that since this is still an alpha version, it may not work perfectly for the time being.  

Meanwhile, LG has just released a teaser about their digital assistant that would arrive together with their upcoming G6.  The date has already been set to happen on Feb. 26, Tech Radar reports.

There are many speculations presented by the community that the South Korean consumer electronics giant could release on the event.  It could use Google Assistant as its AI, which has been long rumored or it could incorporate Amazon's Alexa instead.  The upcoming device could also use both. There are also rumors that LG could have created a new one, a more intelligent AI, as the company teaser suggests.

The LG G6 is scheduled to be unveiled on Feb. 26 during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 in Barcelona.  Watch "How to get Google Assistant In Any Android Phone:"

TagsGoogle, Google Assistant, LG G6, LG, Pixel Phones, Non-Pixel Phones