Google is making the Assistant smarter on feature phones

Google is doubling down on KaiOS, the "light" operating system that makes low-cost feature phones feel a little smarter. Today, the company announced that the Google Assistant will be upgraded with Voice Typing "over the coming months," allowing KaiOS users to dictate text messages, web searches and basically anything else that uses a text box. KaiOS and the Assistant can also be set to different languages, according to Google. That means you could read the phone's menus, icons and settings in English and then talk, text and search through the Assistant in Spanish. KaiOS, if you need a refresher, is a spiritual successor to the ultimately-doomed Firefox OS.