Gemini is no longer as useless as it was two years ago.
The Gemini AI virtual assistant, first launched in 2023, initially had limited functionality. Worse still, Google essentially forced people to switch from Google Assistant to Gemini, whether they wanted to or not. Many people have resisted the switch – until now.
After two long years, some people have finally decided to change the default virtual assistant on their Android phones from the old Google Assistant to Gemini. The reason for this change is that Gemini has finally become as useful as Google Assistant used to be. Using it doesn't feel like a step backward in functionality.
What has prevented people from using Gemini as the default virtual assistant on Android?
A disastrous start rendered Gemini AI unusable as a virtual assistant.
There are several reasons why many people don't switch from Google Assistant to Gemini. When they first tried Gemini in 2023, they quickly became frustrated within a week or two and realized Gemini needed more time to develop and improve. It lacked essential features, such as in-app integration. It also frequently crashed, and its overall performance was inferior to other AI assistants.
Google has addressed these issues with updates. The latest version, Gemini 2.5, is now one of the most advanced AI assistants available on Android. It's not just a basic assistant; it can help you get things done and even perform tasks on your behalf.
Why is now a good time to use the Gemini AI assistant?
The latest Gemini assistant (Gemini 2.5) brings significant improvements over previous versions. It's faster, smarter, and more helpful; Gemini AI has been improved in almost every aspect.
Gemini AI is now faster and smarter.
With Gemini 2.5 Flash, artificial intelligence operates twice as fast as before. When you submit a query, it quickly searches the web and completes the task almost instantly. Additionally, thanks to the new optimized cloud infrastructure, ghosting is significantly reduced.
New multimodal capabilities make it more human-like.
Gemini now includes multimodal capabilities that allow it to handle complex tasks twice as fast and support native image, audio, and video analysis.
These features include deep thinking models that provide reasoning capabilities to improve accuracy, along with the Flash Image model (known as Gemini's Nano Banana), which creates consistent images while maintaining subject matter across different images. Gemini can edit and correct images for you, and has an easy-to-use on-demand image creation feature.
Understanding the Google ecosystem
Gemini can now interact with applications within the Google ecosystem, such as Google Workspace. There, it can connect to Google Sheets to manage your data, Drive to manage and summarize content, or Gmail to reply to or summarize your emails. Simultaneously, Gemini works with Calendar to help you organize your schedule, Keep to handle notes, and Tasks to mark completed items on your lists.
You can add tasks, edit or delete events in Calendar, summarize documents in Drive, and summarize, send, or reply to emails in Gmail using Gemini.
Integration within applications and connected applications
Since the launch of Gemini 2.0 in March 2025, Google has introduced in-app integrations that allow Gemini to interact with various system apps, including Clock, Maps, Dialer, and Messenger, among others.
These integrations allow you to perform tasks hands-free using Gemini. For example, you can set timers or alarms in the Clock app, navigate to a location using Maps, make phone calls, or send text messages to contacts. All of these functions are performed through Gemini's in-app integrations.
Gemini Gems
Finally, Gemini Gems allows Gemini AI to act as a personal mentor; you can create a customized Gemini AI tailored to your specific needs. This helps you focus on a particular topic while maintaining a professional demeanor. While it can't replace a real expert or mentor, it can certainly assist you with some basic tasks and provide a solid foundation on that subject.
