Google Rebrands Bard to Gemini; Debuts Ultra 1.0 Model & Android App

In line with earlier rumors, Google has finallyrebranded Bard to Gemini. After Bard got access to the Gemini Pro model in December last year, the discussion was ripe for a possible rebranding in due time. Besides that, Google has also unveiled its most capable, Ultra 1.0 model, which users can now access from aChatGPT Plus-like subscription called Gemini Advanced (previously expected to be called Bard Advanced). So, let’s look at everything new in Gemini!

Google Bard is Now Gemini

Google says that all your Bard tools and features are still available in Gemini. In fact, Google has improved the user interface with fewer visual distractions, better legibility, and easy navigation. The company says the rebranding is a reflection of Google’s commitment to bring access to the family of best AI models. You can still open bard.google.com (visit), which now redirects to Google Gemini, or directly navigate to the newgemini.google.com(visit) domain.

And yes, Gemini is still free to use and the company has opened up Gemini (formerly Bard) access to Canadian users as well, in both English and French.

Besides that, Google has stillnot added the vision multimodal capabilityto the standard Gemini tier even after the rebranding, which is somewhat disappointing. But you can access the multimodal Gemini Pro modelvia the Gemini API, or as mentioned above, get the new Gemini Advanced subscription.

Access Gemini Ultra 1.0 on Gemini Advanced

After announcing the Ultra AI model in December 2023, Google is finally allowing users to access this promising AI model via Gemini Advanced. However, to access the Gemini Ultra 1.0 model, you will have to move to the paid Gemini Advanced plan, whichcosts $19.99 per month(Rs 1950 in India), but Google is giving two months of free trial, which is nice.

The Gemini Advanced plan is bundled with a new Google One AI Premium subscription and it also brings 2TB of storage. You can subscribe to Gemini Advanced fromhere. Subscribers will also get instant access to other One perks, along with Gemini becoming available in Gmail, Docs, and other Google apps soon.

Gemini Ultra should bemuch better at highly complex taskssuch as logical reasoning, coding, understanding and executing nuanced instructions, and more. In many AI benchmark tests,Gemini Ultrahas beaten OpenAI’sGPT-4 modeland is considered a very close competitor.

So far, Gemini Ultra only supports image analysis via its text-and-vision model, but Google says that expanded multi-modal capabilities and better coding features are coming to Gemini Advanced in a few months. Moreover, you will be able to upload files and documents on Gemini Advanced and ask Gemini Ultra to analyze them pretty soon.

Install the Gemini App on Your Android Phone

Besides the rebranding and Gemini Ultra launch, Google has also taken the opportunity to unveil the Gemini app for Android smartphones. You can install theGemini app in the US. We can expect the Android app to roll out globally, except in the UK, Switzerland, and EEA countries in the coming days.

Currently, the Gemini app only supports the English language, but support for Japanese and Korean will be added soon. As for iPhone users, you will be able toaccess Gemini via its own dedicated tab in the Google app. So make sure to update the Google app to the latest version. Moreover, on Android, you can even set Gemini as your default assistant instead of Google Assistant. shortly, we will bring you a guide on how to do that, so stay tuned.

So what do you think about the Gemini rebranding? Are you going to move from ChatGPT Plus to Gemini Advanced? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Arjun Sha

Passionate about Windows, ChromeOS, Android, security and privacy issues. Have a penchant to solve everyday computing problems.

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