Want ‘Google Now’ Now? Here’s How

If you’re anything like the thousands of screaming hordes that droolingly watched as Google announced new shiny after new shiny at Google I/O this year, you might want to get your hands on cool things right away. One of those cool things was Google Now, a new feature in Jelly Bean designed to make it easier to search for certain kinds of information. But thanks to our friends over at XDA-Developers, you can try out Google Now without waiting for Jelly Bean–provided you have Ice Cream Sandwich, anyway.

Google says that Google Now allows you to get “just the information at just the right time,” and it worked pretty well in my casual testing. Appointments, commute time to work and back, flight data, sports, and a frighteningly accurate voice search functionality are just some of the “cards” you can scroll through inside of Google Now to find just what you need.

So, how do you get it on Ice Cream Sandwich? Well, that’s not so simple.

The XDA forum thread has full instructions, but be warned: It’s not for the faint of heart or those who don’t have experience editing the guts of your phone or tablet. You’ll have to root your Android device, modify some system files, and reboot your phone or tablet a couple times, so it’s tedious to say the least. Browse the forum thread before you make any changes, and be aware that in some cases it’s caused apps to force-close randomly on some devices and ROMs.

Let us know if it works, or even if it doesn’t!

[XDA-Developers]

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