Six ways to use your voice with Gemini to get work done on Android

Android Police writer Rajesh Pandey says he went from ignoring voice assistants to using Google's Gemini by voice every day. He uses it to get through email, plan his day and catch up on busy chats, mostly when he is away from his laptop. Gemini is Google's AI assistant on Android phones.

Email by voice

Pandey gets two to three long client emails on most days. Each is full of updates and problems to sort out. He now opens an email, brings up Gemini and asks it to summarize the message and give the key takeaways. He can then ask follow-ups, such as what issues the client faces or what to handle first.

He can also give Gemini a basic overview of what to say, and it drafts the reply. He says he has let Gemini write his emails for weeks. He also asks it to summarize long Reddit threads and articles on his screen.

Planning and ideas

Each morning he asks Gemini for an overview of his day and a list of priority tasks. Gemini can see his calendar, Gmail and Drive files. So instead of just reading out calendar entries, it points out what needs finishing before a client meeting or which old email still needs an answer. He also asks it to list unread emails that need action.

On walks, he talks through ideas without worrying about structure. Then he asks Gemini to turn them into a LinkedIn or social media post. If the tone is off, he asks it to reword the text. The draft is ready to review when he gets back.

The WhatsApp catch

Pandey says WhatsApp is where much of his business talk happens. He asks Gemini for an overview of a day's conversations and then for a list of action items he can forward to his team. He says this replaced at least 30 minutes of reading group chats.

There is a limit. Gemini cannot analyze full WhatsApp group chat histories or files shared in chats directly. It can only read incoming notification pop-ups, and draft and send messages or calls through the WhatsApp extension. Results depend on what shows up in notifications.

Client requests

The sixth use is for client requests. Clients often send KPIs (the numbers they want to hit) and proposals by email or WhatsApp. When he lacks time to read them closely, he asks Gemini to summarize the request. The article text provided ends before the rest of that section.

What to try

• Open an email, then ask Gemini for a summary and key takeaways.
• Ask for a morning overview of your day and top priority tasks.
• Speak a rough idea and ask for a social post draft.
• Do not expect Gemini to read a full WhatsApp group history.