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Mobile phones come with voice activated assistants these days. iPhones have Siri, Windows phones are getting Cortana and Android devices have a variety of options including Google Now.
I now have an iPhone and I do use Siri. I primarily use it in the car with the phone on a holder attached to an air vent and connected to the cigarette lighter for power. I activate the device by saying 'Hey Siri' and, once it has responded, I can instruct the phone to dial a contact, read an unread email or message or compose a new message and send it. It's a very useful function.
Even when I'm holding the phone I'll use Siri to look up certain things for me like the weather, or the time in a specific country of location. I'll also use Siri to set alarms or timers on the clock.
It can be amusing to ask odd or unusual questions. For instance, if I say to Siri 'I love you!' it replies with 'I bet you say that to all of your Apple products'.
The big downside of all of these voice activated programs is the requirement for a data connection. If you are in an area where the data connection is slow they simply don't work.
The OK Google facility on Android phone and tablets is equally useful and devices that support the Ok Google keywords don;t need to be connected to a power source.
Who else uses a voice activated digital assistant? What experiences do you have with them?
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I am personally aware of people that purchased an iPhone while mentioning Siri as a large contributing factor. Now that all the major platforms have a version though it's more likely a negative for not having one as opposed to a positive for including it.
Personally I've been very impressed by Cortana. In my experience I prefer it to Google and it's a little better than Siri. Although I must admit I don't have a great deal of Siri experience. However, I've heard just as many stories saying the opposite. It's sometimes quite hard to get accurate feedback as people can very loyal to their brand or anti another one.
I think what we need is someone to take 5 simple tasks, do them on both platforms and then let us know how they found them.
Ok.... lets get 5 steps based around something simple, going out for a meal. So:
Step 1 - Find a local resturant, I'm feeling in the mood for Thai food.
Step 2 - Create a calendar event for the meal, with as much detail as possible
Step 3 - Get locations to the resturant (note that as this is a public forum, I propose not using your home address as the start point.)
Step 4 - Use the assistant to divvy up the bill
Step 5 - Use the assistant to post to Twitter or FB or your other Social media of choice.
Sound like a plan?
The more complex the better. As we all know the fight between starter / non starters is almost as intense as the fight between those who have soft drinks vs the alcohol drinkers. I imagine simple division is very easy, see how each assistant handles a few variables.
First test with Siri on my iPhone:
- I asked Siri for a Thai restaurant in Stoke on Trent. She replied that she could find a lot of Thai restaurants in Stoke on Trent and listed 9 places. She also asked if I needed anything more specific. Clicking one of the links took me to The Art of Siam, showed me the opening hours, phone number, website, address and a map.
- I asked Siri to schedule a calendar event for Thursday at 7pm at the Art of Siam and it did so and out it into the right calendar.
- I asked Siri to get me directions to Art of Siam starting in Stafford rather than my home address. It ignored the Stafford bit (is there a hidden message there?) and gave me turn by turn voice guided directions from home.
- I asked Siri to calculate £54 divided by 7. It responded ‘It looks like the answer is approximately £7.71429.
- I didn’t do it but Siri will post a message to Twitter etc if I ask it to.
Android to follow later
Now using Google Now on the Sony Xperia SP:
1. Same question - gave me a list of Thai restaurants in Stoke on Trent with the ability to call them, find the website or get directions.
2. Schedule an event - nothing
3. Asked for directions - brought up the Art of Siam entry on Trip Adviser but no directions but I could have got that from one click in step 1.
4. The calculation worked although it assumed I was asking about Lbs rather than £'s
5. No chance of getting Google Now to post to a social networking site.
