This Android hack lets you install Google Assistant on your Android smartphone

Google and other Android smartphone manufacturers have started rolling out Android 7.0 Nougat to devices over OTA. Android Nougat boasts of some awesome new features designed to get the best out your smartphone. But Google Assistant is arguably one of the best that Android Nougat brings to the table.  Google Assistant is a new feature that will replace Google Now and help you get on with your daily tasks more easily. Unfortunately, Google Assistant is only available at present on smartphones like the Google Pixel.

However, if you wish to jump the line and install Google Assistant on your Android smartphone there is a hack for it thanks to the guys at XDA Forums.

According to a post on XDA Forums, if your phone is rooted and you have version 6.5.35.21 or newer of the Google app, you can get Google Assistant on your smartphone. There are two ways of doing it

Method 1: Manual editing

You can edit a file with the name of build.prop to trick Google servers into thinking that it’s the Google Pixel XL smartphone. Just add or replace these lines on your build.prop:

ro.product.model=Pixel XL
ro.opa.eligible_device=true

Method 2: Flashable ZIPs by @FaserF 

You can also use a flashable image, which is available here. The flashable method is a bit risky as many smartphone users have reported problems after installing it.  Remember to backup your data before doing anything, just to stay on the safe side.  You can use this video tutorial to install the flashable zip on your non-Pixel Android smartphone.

Kindly proceed with trying to hack your Android smartphone if you have sufficient technical know-how and you are comfortable playing with the internal software of your smartphone. The risks attached to this hacks are pointed out by some users on the XDA-Developers thread, who have said that the process has been messing up features like the phone’s camera, and a number of errors have showed up.