{"slug": "i-briefly-tried-gemini-intelligence-and-im-still-not-sure-who-its-for-video", "title": "I briefly tried Gemini Intelligence, and I’m still not sure who it’s for [Video]", "summary": "Google's Gemini Intelligence, debuting on Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8, successfully booked a flight from London Heathrow to Dublin in a test, but the feature requires precise phrasing and remains in beta, leaving its broader appeal unclear.", "body_md": "With the launch of the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Samsung is also shipping the first phones with Gemini Intelligence. I managed to get it working briefly, but I can’t see why it solves for most people.\n\n[For more video content, subscribe to 9to5Google on YouTube.](https://bit.ly/9to5G)\n\nAfter being [showcased pre-IO with the Android Show](https://9to5google.com/2026/05/15/gemini-intelligence-android-spec-requirements/), we really hadn’t seen much from Google regarding Gemini Intelligence. It was expected that maybe it would debut on the upcoming Pixel 11, but likely as part of the tighter partnership with Samsung, it is launching alongside the Korean tech giant’s latest foldables and smartwatches.\n\nBefore launch, we were able to spend some time with the foldables, but were told that Gemini Intelligence would not be available until after the devices launched. However, this could have been an oversight, as I was able to do some basic things with the agentic AI tool due to how Samsung phones have certain services pre-installed.\n\nBecause they ship with a suite of apps, including Expedia, I was able to replicate a demo showcased before Unpacked. It’s fairly simple and lets you automate doing things like booking a trip, a flight, or a hotel, even an Uber if you have a rideshare app installed. Without risking hundreds of angry Uber drivers turning up looking to take me on a non-existent trip, I stuck to the simple demo given of booking a flight from an airport to a specific destination, and to my surprise, it worked.\n\nThis is effectively an expansion of the [App Automation feature that was launched alongside the Galaxy S26](https://9to5google.com/2026/03/12/gemini-android-app-automation-galaxy-s26-rollout/) and limited to a handful of mostly food ordering apps, now working on over 40+ applications and integrated into Gemini Intelligence. This new enhancement is better at understanding context or intent. While App Automation was and is if-then-else-based and limited to select apps. In theory, Gemini Intelligence should work with any app, but it isn’t available everywhere yet.\n\nFor anyone wondering, the process of launching into Gemini Intelligence is indistinguishable from regular old Gemini – yes, it felt weird typing that out.\n\nLong-press the power button or use your voice with the eponymous wake phrase, and then Gemini appears. From here, just ask for a specific task. So, in my case, as with the demo Samsung showed me before letting me loose on the new hardware, I simply asked the AI to book a flight from London Heathrow to Dublin a week in advance.\n\nHere’s the good news: it works.\n\nHowever, I found that this had to be quite precise. If I said “book a flight from X location to Y destination,” Gemini would pump out a text feed with pricing and information on upcoming flights or give me information on airline offerings.\n\nBy adding the day or date qualifier, this is when Gemini Intelligence would “activate” or wake up. That said, it would sometimes do it without this extra information snippet, which confused me further still. Technically, this is still in beta, so of the 20+ times I tried, there were instances when Gemini asked which app I wanted to use to try to book a flight or hotel. I was unable to install apps on the device, so that stopped me from exploring that further.\n\nOne thing I did find a little weird is that you don’t even need to confirm anything before it takes control. It’ll just do the work so long as apps capable of doing the thing you want or need are installed on your phone. Like App Automations, Gemini just shows a “Working on your task” notification alongside the app that is being used. You can tap a large “View progress” button to watch as this automation unfolds – more on that in a second.\n\nWhat was immediately interesting is that on Samsung phones, the pop-ups look nothing like the previews we saw during the Android Show. The pop-ups look like regular prompts and notifications that fit with the rest of One UI. I figured the company would put its own visual spin on this. Instead, it looks, well, rudimentary.\n\nThe only obvious change is a colorful glow that emanates from these pop-ups and notifications. I didn’t see a status bar icon while a task was running. I do like that it gives you running commentary of what is going on. For instance, it tells you what Gemini is typing into the search box or what time it has selected for a flight.\n\nGoogle has been selling this feature as automated, and it works away in the background. Again, as with App Automations, you can step in at any time and take over if you want, or, as I did a few times, watch the entire process within the Gemini app. You get a full running commentary of what Gemini is doing with the app screen running in a siloed window.\n\nMy biggest problem with how it works is how long it seems to take. In some cases, it could take a couple of minutes to do the legwork before you’re asked to step in. On my phone, I could probably do this faster and more accurately than Gemini. Which leaves me scratching my head as to who this really benefits.\n\nFor instance, I had no input on the exact flight time, and I couldn’t even choose my preferred airline. Gemini Intelligence didn’t ask me any of these details before it went off, nor did it ask me during the process. A site like Expedia might offer thousands of flights from various airlines, and so this feels like an important omission. A human wouldn’t make that mistake, as those parameters are clearly very important to a person.\n\nAs I said, you can jump in at any time and course correct. Once you have done that, you can let Gemini take over again and complete the task.\n\nI am not sure if this is the case for every Gemini Intelligence automation, but you have to take over when you reach a customer data screen, such as adding passenger information. This might not be the case for every single task, and I don’t know if you are logged in to apps, but this can probably be populated automatically if that is the case.\n\n## Does it really save any time?\n\nI’m aware that I’ve used only a snippet of the potential of Gemini Intelligence. Google said you can do much more, like take a photo of a brochure and have your device search for it, but in lieu of that, I had to try to do it using voice commands. Nor was I able to get an email of PC parts, then add them to my cart on PCpartpicker.\n\nEven in those cases, I’m unsure that this would be of much value to all but the most terminally online tech nerd. AI is great when directed correctly, but there’s still too much hand-holding, and this feels like a perfect example of that.\n\nGemini Intelligence clearly works, and it works fairly well, provided you give it clear guidance. Even so, I don’t think I would ever be confident enough to handle important tasks like booking a flight or even a food delivery without going through them manually and checking all the intricacies.\n\nIt’s a great concept. A concept that I don’t think many people will use all that often. Maybe there are edge cases like getting in line for gig tickets or checking in to things. Maybe I could see myself booking an Uber, but it doesn’t really save enough time to be all that valuable. I don’t think anyone I know would use or trust Gemini to book a flight based on a brochure they found or an ad they saw, and I don’t think I would either.\n\nThe minimal effort required to do those tasks is so trivial that this feels like taking a sledgehammer to a nut. Yes, it works, but it’s inefficient and, dare I say it, a bit pointless.\n\nTime to temper my critique a little bit. App Automations have been available in the US and Korea since the S26 launched, so I hadn’t had the opportunity to try that precursor. I was also missing some of the key integrations and personalizations to really take advantage of the agentic aspects of Gemini Intelligence.\n\nThis was a very basic demo and not truly representative of the “full” experience due to various limitations on pre-release units. Even so, I can’t help but feel that Gemini Intelligence is a cool tech demo and not much more. I’m sure many will disagree, and in some ways, I probably will when something “clicks” once I’ve spent an extended period of time with the full suite. Then again, we need strong messaging on how it will be a benefit to the average person who is still happy doing the legwork on their everyday tasks right now.\n\n*Let me know what you think in the comments section. I’m intrigued as to what people want from an agentic AI service running on their phone, and I love hearing what you have planned.*\n\n*Follow Damien: Threads, Bluesky, Instagram*\n\n*FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.* [More.](https://9to5mac.com/about/#affiliate)\n\n[our homepage](http://9to5google.com/)for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on\n\n[exclusive stories](https://9to5google.com/feature/exclusive/),\n\n[reviews](https://9to5google.com/guides/reviews/),\n\n[how-tos](https://9to5google.com/guides/how-to/), and\n\n[subscribe to our YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/9to5google)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-briefly-tried-gemini-intelligence-and-im-still-not-sure-who-its-for-video", "canonical_source": "https://9to5google.com/2026/07/23/i-briefly-tried-gemini-intelligence-and-im-still-not-sure-who-its-for/", "published_at": "2026-07-23 15:30:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-23 15:42:55.697960+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-agents", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Google", "Samsung", "Galaxy Z Fold 8", "Gemini Intelligence", "Expedia", "Uber", "9to5Google"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-briefly-tried-gemini-intelligence-and-im-still-not-sure-who-its-for-video", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-briefly-tried-gemini-intelligence-and-im-still-not-sure-who-its-for-video.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-briefly-tried-gemini-intelligence-and-im-still-not-sure-who-its-for-video.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/i-briefly-tried-gemini-intelligence-and-im-still-not-sure-who-its-for-video.jsonld"}}