In The Verge article [1], they mention that it had to be a unique phrase. I could see "OK Google" causing to many false activations.
[1] http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/1/4578890/this-is-the-moto-x
What's even stranger is that "OK Google" is the hotword for the Chrome Voice search thing they recently launched at IO.
Retconning "Google Now" into a voice assistant is weird because at IO they were saying how they wanted Google itself be the assistant, by modelling it after the Star Trek computer.
Also what happens when the actual, predictive Google Now comes out for Chrome?
Betcha it's something inherent to the ability to process the phrase "Google." Probably a usability thing, and a subtle one at that.
I guess we should be happy they didn't call it "OK Google Voice Search" ?
"Hello Moto"
Indeed. Another possible option is rebranding Now to something personal and unique, as is Siri
I hope its customizable or using voice commands with two phones nearby will be awkward.
They certainly want the prefix to all voice commands to be a low incidence sequence of phonemes for any language so that you don't get spurious activations and drain battery and/or accidentally execute a command, but I would think "OK Google" is a rare enough phrase that it would suffice.
A five syllable "wake up" command just seems excessive.