Google Assistant may not be the shiny new A.I. superstar of the moment, but it's a surprisingly useful resource just waiting to hop in and help on any Android phone you're carrying.

And some of its most helpful options are buried deep within the service's virtual bowels.

Continuing on the theme of hidden settings for a smarter Assistant Android experience, today, we'll pick up where we left off on Wednesday and explore another five easily overlooked Google Assistant Android options. Dig 'em up, check 'em out, and add 'em into your own personal Assistant setup, and you'll find your favorite familiar helper growing ever more helpful and tuned into your needs.

Few mere mortals realize it, but Google Assistant's got a whole universe of time-saving shortcuts just waiting to be activated on your favorite Android phone.

These shortcuts are highly customizable and connected to specific apps installed on your device. They're some of Assistant's most useful on-demand commands — if you figure out how to activate 'em.

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Lucky for us, it's pretty forkin' easy, once you know where to look:

Some of the custom Assistant commands you might find, depending on what specific apps you've got installed:

The options are all there and waiting. All you've gotta do is embrace 'em.

If you want to get even more ambitious with your custom Assistant command creation, make it your mission to browse through Assistant's Routines section next.

Routines are one of those things that can be a little overwhelming at first, but once you figure out some good uses for 'em, believe you me: They'll exponentially expand your Assistant-enabled efficiency.

The simplest way to think about a Google Assistant Routine is as a collection of related commands you can trigger with a single custom command on Assistant — or automate even further and set to have happen automatically on specific days and times. You can bring in all sorts of actions and controls related to your actual Android phone as well as any smart lights, thermostats, or other connected gadgets you've got associated with your account.

The possibilities are practically endless. Peek into the "Routines" area of the Assistant settings on your phone to start playing around and seeing what sorts of practical concoctions you can come up with.

By default, Assistant's a system that responds to your spoken commands (obviously, right?!). But if you're working in an office with other people — or just using your Android phone out and about in the real world, around other (alleged) humans — speaking to a screen can sometimes feel a bit...awkward.

Not to fear, though, for Assistant's got a couple compelling possibilities worth contemplating in such scenarios:

To make that change, dance back into your Assistant settings — then:

Easy peasy, wouldn't ya say?

I don't know if you've experienced this or not, but I've got a real beef with Assistant's pronunciation habits.

By default, y'see, my friendly neighborhood Assistant likes to say my first name as "Junior" (charming — but, alas, inaccurate) and my last name as "RAH-fay-ell" (an understandable error, but again, not the way it's actually said).

After many a moon of cringing in annoyance every time Assistant addressed me, I finally stumbled onto the fix:

Save those settings, whether you go the serious route or instruct your Assistant to refer to you as "Goopity Galoshes" — and whatever your wish, your Assistant will eagerly oblige.

Your name might not be the only moniker Assistant mangles — or fails to recognize when you say it properly as part of a command. So to wrap things up today, let's unearth an area of Assistant's Android settings that lets you create your own custom name for anyone in your contacts and then teach Assistant the proper way to both say and recognize it:

Hey Google: Thanks for finally getting that right.

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