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

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

#101

Post by Toddarooski »

ironcrucible wrote: post #96
chetanahuja wrote: post #79

Even though the study (albeit informal) did not include personal assistant functionality, that's where Google Now (as manifested in an Android phone connected to a google account) really shines, in that like a real personal assistant, it brings you relevant information before you even ask . Around this time last year, I used to be startled by a timely reminder on the home screen widget about the next thing I was abou…

I used to be a heavy Android user until I bought my first Windows Phone about six months ago. So far, Cortana has been one of the biggest[1] reasons I haven't switched back to Android, despite what feels like a lack of commitment and focus from Microsoft[2]. Her location-based and people-based reminders have been a killer feature for me. I can open Cortana and say "Next time I talk to my mother, remind me to ask her…

Google Now does do location-based reminders. I've never tried the "Next time I'm talking to my mom" thing, though.

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

#102

Post by escapologybb »

eddieroger wrote: post #98
escapologybb wrote: post #94

Having used both of them, I really couldn't live without Siri to be honest. I'm quadriplegic, and whilst obviously I wouldn't die without Siri my life is immeasurably better with her. Some of the killer features of Siri for me are being able to to write emails, send messages and get quick answers to general questions throughout the day. She is much better at the first two than she is at the last one though, but even…

I never considered using Siri this way, which feels strange to me since I've spent a lot of time thinking about the other Accessibility features of iOS (mostly VoiceOver). Have you ever written up your experiences with iPhone accessibility? I'd be interested to read it.

You know, I haven't got round to it just yet but I definitely will do. My blog[0] is focused on using robotics to help quadriplegics like me, and that generally has some accessibility stuff on it. Will definitely post some iOS-based stuff now I know there is interest in it though!

[0]:https://robotsandcake.org/

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

#103

Post by devrelm »

gulbrandr wrote: post #80
masterjack wrote: post #10

Oh awesome, let's see... how many atoms are there in the universe? "The number of atoms in the entire observable universe is estimated to be within the range of 1078 to 1082." Thank you Google! http://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+atoms+are+in+the+uni... ]

Google doesn't seem to understand the sup element.

I imagine that they kill all html to prevent xss and styling issues (they want to decide which text to bold, for instance.)

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

#104

Post by jonknee »

eddieroger wrote: post #98
escapologybb wrote: post #94

Having used both of them, I really couldn't live without Siri to be honest. I'm quadriplegic, and whilst obviously I wouldn't die without Siri my life is immeasurably better with her. Some of the killer features of Siri for me are being able to to write emails, send messages and get quick answers to general questions throughout the day. She is much better at the first two than she is at the last one though, but even…

I never considered using Siri this way, which feels strange to me since I've spent a lot of time thinking about the other Accessibility features of iOS (mostly VoiceOver). Have you ever written up your experiences with iPhone accessibility? I'd be interested to read it.

> I never considered using Siri this way

In what way? The OP seems to use it in the most basic way possible--dictation and simple searches.

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

#105

Post by zackangelo »

ironcrucible wrote: post #96
chetanahuja wrote: post #79

Even though the study (albeit informal) did not include personal assistant functionality, that's where Google Now (as manifested in an Android phone connected to a google account) really shines, in that like a real personal assistant, it brings you relevant information before you even ask . Around this time last year, I used to be startled by a timely reminder on the home screen widget about the next thing I was abou…

I used to be a heavy Android user until I bought my first Windows Phone about six months ago. So far, Cortana has been one of the biggest[1] reasons I haven't switched back to Android, despite what feels like a lack of commitment and focus from Microsoft[2]. Her location-based and people-based reminders have been a killer feature for me. I can open Cortana and say "Next time I talk to my mother, remind me to ask her…

For the record, Siri also does location-based reminders and they sync across all of your devices (e.g. "When I get home, remind me to take fish oil").

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

#106

Post by jonknee »

mrfusion wrote: post #90
Houshalter wrote: post #67

A while back I created a toy IRC bot that answers questions like this just by searching reddit and taking the top comment. It works surprisingly well for questions that are likely to have been asked before. And when it does work, the result is much better than a dry wikipedia excerpt. I then added some simple machine learning to filter search results for the most relevant threads which improved it quite a bit.

That might actually make a new kind of search engine. You should put it on the web?

That would be huge--after all these years a Reddit search engine that works!

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

#107

Post by at-fates-hands »

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…

Agreed on Cortana.

There are some things I feel Cortana does that Siri and Google Now does.

Every morning Cortana gives me the weather, appointments on my calendar, news stories and how long my commute will take given the current traffic conditions. It also learns when I normally leave for work, so about 10 minutes before I usually leave, I get an update on how long it will take to get home given the current conditions.

To me, Cortana is more like an assistant. You can set stuff so its off limits and she will ignore, and likewise, tell her to remember certain reminders like you pointed out.

Do either Google Now or Siri have these features that actively learn stuff about your preferences?

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

#108

Post by jordanpg »

rayiner wrote: post #29

I think this analysis is kind of pointless. Who asks their phone trivia questions? You want directions, reminders, etc. Siri seems a lot smarter about following spoken context in that situation.

Strongly agree. Isn't this testing the "knowledge box", voice recognition, and NLP at once? It seems like the bulk of this could have been done in a desktop web browser.

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

#109

Post by wjoe »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #107
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…

Agreed on Cortana. There are some things I feel Cortana does that Siri and Google Now does. Every morning Cortana gives me the weather, appointments on my calendar, news stories and how long my commute will take given the current traffic conditions. It also learns when I normally leave for work, so about 10 minutes before I usually leave, I get an update on how long it will take to get home given the current conditio…

Google Now does the same with commute times, and seems to automatically work out where you live and work. Same with appointment reminders, assuming you added a specific location to your calendar event - it's a bit hit and miss for me whether these reminders actually come up, but sometimes it tells me "Leave now to get to this appointment on time".

Things like these are a much more useful part of it than voice detection, I very rarely interact with it via voice, and tend to just do searches through my normal browser. It also hooks into Gmail and can give you reminders about things like flights you've booked, although that raises questions about privacy, and whether you really want Google to be trawling through your emails.

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

#110

Post by escapologybb »

jonknee wrote: post #104
eddieroger wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never considered using Siri this way, which feels strange to me since I've spent a lot of time thinking about the other Accessibility features of iOS (mostly VoiceOver). Have you ever written up your experiences with iPhone accessibility? I'd be interested to read it.

> I never considered using Siri this way In what way? The OP seems to use it in the most basic way possible--dictation and simple searches.

> In what way? The OP seems to use it in the most basic way possible--dictation and simple searches.

I wouldn't want to put words into his mouth, but I would suggest he meant using Siri as a disability aid. Might be wrong though! :-)

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