Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

stonetemple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 172 posts

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#51

Post by officialjunk »

SuperKlaus wrote: post #41
inopinatus wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try it on Wolfram Alpha. Actually, they all seem to me pretty limited compared to the answers you get from Wolfram Alpha. Also c.f. the responses to one of their test questions, "how much is a quarter cup of butter?". Google makes fun of the inquiry. Wolfram Alpha gives you a thorough nutritional profile, and links to variations based on international cup sizing and different types of butter.

I just learned that Canadian cups != American cups. (227g vs 218g) Who would have thought....

Wait a second. Cups are a measure of volume and not weight, though. Grams is not the right unit to compare here.

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#52

Post by balladeer »

msoad wrote: post #50

Some query patterns I use in Google that you might be interested in Translate {words} to {language} My flights My schedule My packages What time is at {city}? How tall/old/heavy is {important person}? {description of a photos} in my photos (like 'ocean in my photos') Note: if you have G+ photos. description doesn't need to be typed in the photo meta info compare {food} and {food} (nutritions)

> How tall/old/heavy is {important person}?

This!

My love affair with Google Now started with exactly this query. Me and my friends were debating over Hina Rabbani Khar's height[1].

[1] https://www.google.co.in/search?q=How+tall+is+Hina+Rabbani+K...

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#53

Post by _delirium »

officialjunk wrote: post #51
SuperKlaus wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just learned that Canadian cups != American cups. (227g vs 218g) Who would have thought....

Wait a second. Cups are a measure of volume and not weight, though. Grams is not the right unit to compare here.

There are approximate conversions for recipes, since many American recipes use volume measures and expect you to have measuring cups, while European recipes expect you to have a kitchen scale. But yes, there isn't any single conversion, since density varies: there's one cups/grams ratio for granulated sugar, one for powdered sugar, one for sifted flour, one for water, etc.

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#54

Post by wutbrodo »

b2themax wrote: post #9

FWIW, I just switched from Windows Phone to iOS -- from the 1020 to iPhone6+. Personally, I preferred Cortana over Siri. And it basically comes down to speed and responsiveness. Cortana is much quicker to launch, and much quicker to find results. I haven't noticed any discernable difference in their query results. And actually, for one of the my most used queries - "What is the weather today?" -- I dont even use it o…

> Personally, I preferred Cortana over Siri. And it basically comes down to speed and responsiveness. Cortana is much quicker to launch, and much quicker to find results.

I haven't used Cortana, and have only had disappointing experiences with Siri (after coming from Google Voice Search); how does the performance on Google Voice Search Compare? I wonder if the performance rankings are just a complete reversal of the quality rankings; If so, I wonder who's closest to the sweet spot?

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#56

Post by wutbrodo »

joshschreuder wrote: post #45
bane wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually taken to dictating most of my texts on Android. It's faster for me than typing or swype-style keyboards and it's really very accurate until I need to use a strange proper name it doesn't understand. I'd say it easily gets about 90% of what I say, and it figures out the correct context for words like "there" "their" "they're" and "to" and "too" so far completely correct. edit thought I'd add this. I just…

How do you write text messages in private and not have your messages overheard? I think I would be quite self concious that I'm talking into my phone and not directing it at anyone (I rarely use Siri for this reason)

Yea I'm with you. I do voice searches/typing CONSTANTLY when I'm at home, particularly on weekend mornings when I'm checking my schedule/weather/texting friends to organize my activities for the day while getting ready. Barring the occasional query when I'm on the sidewalk and not too near anyone, I don't really use them outside much.

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#57

Post by tdicola »

guardian5x wrote: post #55

One of the killer features of Cortana is that she gets back to you if she wants additional information. You can almost have something like a dialogue. I don't think that test has taken that into account at all.

When you're looking for the answer to something quickly why would you want to have a back and forth game vs. just getting the answer immediately?

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#58

Post by wutbrodo »

modfodder wrote: post #46
kumarm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50% is good enough if its done by Apple. 90% not good enough if its not done by Apple. This is how I interpret most responses when people talk about Apple.

Well, as accurate as I feel your statement is, I'd also say sometimes it depends on the 10% missing from the products not done by Apple. If it's an important 10% that Apple has nailed (or close enough) then sometimes the 50% is more valuable than the 90%. But we all have our biases as well. (Even as an Apple user I fully expect Google to always win the Knowledge Vault race. Its in their wheelhouse more so than Apple'…

> Its in their wheelhouse more so than Apple's.

This is exactly why I'm shocked that Cortana's accuracy is so much lower than Siri's (under the assumption that this test is reasonably valid). They've got a world-class research arm and they've run a search engine for yeaaars, and somehow they dramatically underperform a company whose biggest fans would even admit has a spotty record when it comes to services. I guess the "time on the market" advantage is a lot more dramatic than I would've thought.

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#59

Post by wutbrodo »

rayiner wrote: post #38
HelloMcFly wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak extensively for Siri (infrequent use on my iPad) or Google Now (no Android), but I've never had to repeat an instruction to Cortana for a reminder or directions. Not repeating myself when giving voice instruction is essentially my holy grail.

I haven't tried cortana. Google now is really awful at being a personal assistant because it doesn't keep much context.

I haven't used Siri in ages; what kind of context does it keep? I know that Google Voice Search will do coreference across consecutive queries (i.e. resolving "it" and "him" accurately).

Re: Google Now vs. Siri vs. Cortana – The Great Knowledge Box Showdown

#60

Post by nostromo »

tdicola wrote: post #57
guardian5x wrote: post #55

One of the killer features of Cortana is that she gets back to you if she wants additional information. You can almost have something like a dialogue. I don't think that test has taken that into account at all.

When you're looking for the answer to something quickly why would you want to have a back and forth game vs. just getting the answer immediately?

Questions are often ambiguous.

"What's the population of New York?"

Post reply on HN