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Gemini Spark is almost a dream AI assistant — except for 1 thing Perplexity does better
Using Perplexity Computer extensively revealed exactly how limited Gemini Spark is.
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Karandeep Singh / Android Authority
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I seriously thought this day would be far out in the future, but here we are. We already have AI assistants that can take instructions and execute a series of tasks (not just one at a time) without your supervision — it’s almost like having a human assistant.
Google’s Gemini Spark is one such product. In fact, it’s one of the first of its kind to be so easily and widely accessible to end users rather than enterprises. It’s so intuitive that I instinctively gravitate towards Spark whenever I need something done within the Google ecosystem. It’s supposed to work in the background, but I just can’t help marveling at an AI assistant pulling context and information from various sources, verifying it, and executing any given task as if it were a meticulous researcher. The novelty factor alone makes it so fun to use.
Besides Gemini Spark, I’ve also extensively used its direct rival, Perplexity Computer, which has been around for much longer. My experience with both tools has helped me understand how different their approaches are, and there are some meaningful ways Gemini can improve by taking a page out of Perplexity’s book.
Would you trust an AI agent to handle your work?
Google is actually the spark
Once you start looking past the flashy, automated functions of Spark, you’ll notice that its biggest strength is actually the ecosystem it lives inside. Other AI tools connect to Google Workspace apps, such as Gmail and Drive, via APIs and MCP connectors, often requiring complex setup. Gemini Spark, on the other hand, has it easy as part of that family. That means it doesn’t need any external connections to work within your Docs or to pull up any old context, and it works across supported Google services.
For instance, I recently had to file a complaint with Amazon about a defective mattress they delivered. I could either do all the digging manually, spending at least 15 minutes on a needless task and breaking my workflow on a productive Monday morning — or ask Spark to do it. And you know what I chose!
Gemini Spark pulled out my order details from Gmail with just the product name, dug out Amazon’s customer support email (it’s an incredibly taxing task, as brands are increasingly burying direct contact methods under infinite submenus in a bid to push you towards their AI chatbots rather than humans), and drafted a collated email with everything clearly stated. I just needed to give it a once-over and hit send.
I just needed to give it a once-over and hit send.
This is, of course, just a single example, but you can do a lot more complex stuff across Google services to weed out a lot of everyday digital friction. But once you step outside Google’s app ecosystem, you start seeing merit in how Perplexity Computer handles any given task.
Why rely on a single LLM when you can have more?
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Perplexity doesn’t have its own large language model, so it uses third-party LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and others to answer your queries. That means Perplexity Computer serves as an orchestrator for this bouquet of powerful LLMs, delegating subtasks to the model best suited to them. In my case, it uses <a href="https://aitoday7.com/should-we-be-polite-to-chatgpt-and-ai-in-general/” title=”Should We Be Polite to ChatGPT and AI in General?”>ChatGPT to generate high-quality images instead of Google’s Nano Banana, which has lost its edge.
Gemini Spark’s biggest strength — the closed-off Google ecosystem — also becomes its weakest link.
And just like that, Gemini Spark’s biggest strength — the closed-off Google ecosystem — also becomes its weakest link, and that’s something I can’t reasonably expect Google to change. The company is hamstrung here as it simply can’t integrate competing models into its own products, so you’re stuck with whatever latest Gemini model is available at your disposal. Spark currently runs on top of Gemini 3.7 Flash, and I personally don’t find Google’s Flash-class models as reliable as Claude and ChatGPT in understanding and responding to my queries.
That’s also evident in how Spark double-checks its own work before sharing the final results. In my experience, it let a few defects slip into the results it returned, requiring cross-checking the action in a different Google app and a bit of back-and-forth. That is not to say Perplexity Computer handles everything perfectly, but its self-assessment is evidently far more robust and is something Gemini Spark should definitely learn from.
What if I live outside the ecosystem?
Karandeep Singh / Android Authority
At the end of the day, there are only so many family vacations and birthday invitations I could ask Gemini Spark to plan for me. Its great potential would be put to better use in a more professional setting every single day. However, it’s currently missing from Google’s own business-oriented Workspace subscriptions. Perhaps regulatory requirements for enterprises are keeping Google from making Spark more widely available for businesses. But whatever the reason may be, the delay is putting it further behind the competition.
That is quite evident in how few third-party tools and integrations Gemini Spark (and even vanilla Gemini) support. They are dwarfed by the extensive list Perplexity has put together over the last several months. It works with professional tools from Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft 365, and even Google Workspace, among others. It’s honestly a better tool for those who live their professional life outside the Google ecosystem — at least until Gemini catches on.
Gemini Spark makes the scary look friendly
Karandeep Singh / Android Authority
You must have deduced by now that Perplexity Computer is oriented more towards serious work where you need to run for hours and hours at the end to meet the goal you gave it. It has had a solid head start, which did indeed pay off. The tool feels much more mature and reliable than Gemini Spark when it comes to handling your tasks. Not to forget the fact that it can use several LLMs to the best of their abilities — something that’s going to remain unrivaled by Google for a very long time. You certainly won’t regret spending $200 a month on Perplexity Computer for the kind of sheer practicality and productivity it unlocks.
One subconscious reason I regard Perplexity Computer as a more professional tool is how serious and borderline scary its interface appears. Think of Outlook versus Gmail. As with almost every Google product, Gemini Spark is much more user-friendly without feeling intimidating, even if it’s your first day with AI. That kind of accessibility also extends to its entry price.
Gemini Spark is much more user-friendly — and pocket-friendly, too.
Against Perplexity Computer’s $200 subscription, Google recently made Gemini Spark available even to its Pro tier users, which means increasingly better value for money. A $20/month Google AI subscription will get you access to perhaps the most advanced version of AI that Google has ever created. If any company has the ability to make such advanced tools available to billions of end users worldwide with a flick of a switch, it’s Google.
Gemini Spark does have a few rough edges around its corners, though that’s something you expect from a new product. None of my gripes with Spark are something Google can’t fix. Even the arrival of a new Gemini Pro model would give users more options and address my biggest gripe with it to a great degree. And that’s exactly where I see the most potential for Gemini Spark to become the default AI tool we mindlessly delegate tasks to across our devices.
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