• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

How is Siri different from Edwin?

EVU said:
Any user feedback on one being better than another?

Voice Actions & VLingo looks to be favorites for Android.
Click to expand...


I haven't tried siri, but i have tried several others and I think Vlingo is the best. I don't ever really use them though, unless I am driving and then the most I use is the microphone on the keyboard to respond to a text or voice input for navigation.
 
I decided to try out Edwin and VLingo. I felt that Edwin was rather limited in what it can do. VLingo can do more.

In comparison with Siri, I think Siri does more than either Edwin or VLingo. VLingo and Edwin seems to return web pages where as Siri seems to more often speak the answer to you if you ask it a question. Without actually trying out Siri, my comparison is incomplete. What I saw from the demos could be just additional things programmed into Siri that isn't in Edwin or VLingo. I'd be interested in trying out Siri. Perhaps I'll wander down to the Apple store some time and give it a try.
 
My understanding (which is still evolving) is that Siri is AI designed to interpret what you say, not just pick out key words from your speech and map those to predefined functions.

So a traditional voice recognition app may have a list of defined things you can say to activate certain functions. If your speech strays even a little from those pre-defined terms, the app will fail. And then you have the problem of getting the app to even hear your voice properly. Plenty of people have stated that unless you speak with a certain accent and tempo, a lot of programs get confused.

Siri is a project to make computers "smarter," to understand your meaning, not just listen for keywords. I think of Watson on Jeopardy. There's a lot of AI computation going on to be able to have a computer understand the Jeopardy question and to come up with a relevant/correct response. And Watson was good... good enough to beat Ken Jennings at times. But it would fail in rediculous ways as well.

The iPhone4S won't have the processing power of Watson. Then again, the voice commands you give it are easier to handle than Jeopardy questions. It will be interesting to see how good this AI is.

I think it's a bit naive to assume that this implementation of Siri is "just like" the run-of-the-mill voice recognition apps already out there. But I'll reserve judgment until I've used Siri on the new phone (which I'll have access to in a few more days).
 
novox77 said:
I think it's a bit naive to assume that this implementation of Siri is "just like" the run-of-the-mill voice recognition apps already out there. But I'll reserve judgment until I've used Siri on the new phone (which I'll have access to in a few more days).
Click to expand...

That's what I'm getting from Siri as well. Well...that's ONE benefit of having a iPhone addict wife ;)
 
I remember being excited about Google Voice when it was first unveiled. It turns out that the only real use I had for it was when driving.

Siri(and Edwin, Vlingo etc.) is obviously more sophisticated than GV but I still can't see myself using it apart from when in the car. I reckon a lot of people currently excited by Siri will come to the same anti-climactic conclusion in time.

Maybe there needs to be some kind of cultural change or something to overcome the awkwardness of talking to your phone before these voice apps really take off. Maybe Apple is just the kind of company that can drive that cultural change.
 
The only practical use I found for voice reco on my phone is making calls while driving and once when I wanted to look up a contact without typing. I also have not yet found it comfortable using voice commands regularly. I'm sure this will change as voice reco technology becomes more refined.
 
I'd like to try to ask Siri questions...
a) Text the last person who texted me the number of my least called contact....
b) Take the average speed of my last car trip (assuming it can calculate that based on GPS) and convert to metric.
c) Cross reference all languages containing the word "some word" with languages native to this planet
;)

(Maybe it isn't there yet, but someday...)
 
9to5cynic said:
I'd like to try to ask Siri questions...
a) Text the last person who texted me the number of my least called contact....
b) Take the average speed of my last car trip (assuming it can calculate that based on GPS) and convert to metric.
c) Cross reference all languages containing the word "some word" with languages native to this planet
;)

(Maybe it isn't there yet, but someday...)
Click to expand...


I plan to ask:

"How are my stocks weathering?" and see if it gets confused.
 
Once again, Apple sets the bar. I'm hoping that Google will now throw more reasources into voice actions, which has seen only minimal progress. Siri, love it or hate it, but it is a game changer.

The race for the best phone and OS are reaching a plateau. Yes, they will continue to improve, but these improvements will be more in areas of integration with OS, OS and HW tighter integration, etc. The next wave of innovation is going to be in perfecting what these integrations can accomplish. iOS 5 and Siri are paving the path.

*Note, I'm no iFanboy, just stating it as I see it. Long live Apple, 'cause we reap the benefits more quickly.

While I played around and used Google voice actions since Android 2.2, since Siri I've revisited a few apps and tried a new one, Pannous Voice Actions (free/$2.99). Its quite good. Based more on free conversation than specific commands its actually a lot of fun to use, and most of the time its accurate. Quite a lot of capabilities, you should check it out. From what little I know, its as close to Siri as we have on Android.
 
jcunwired said:
Once again, Apple sets the bar. I'm hoping that Google will now throw more reasources into voice actions, which has seen only minimal progress. Siri, love it or hate it, but it is a game changer.
Click to expand...

You apparently have never played with Speaktoit. Was out and running well before Siri and the iPhone 4S. Female voice and you can actually see her. Apple probably stole this idea when they decided to steal the whole notification system from Android as well.
 
psychotron said:
You apparently have never played with Speaktoit. Was out and running well before Siri and the iPhone 4S. Female voice and you can actually see her. Apple probably stole this idea when they decided to steal the whole notification system from Android as well.
Click to expand...

While i agree the notification system is almost completely the same as android's, Siri was an application on the 3Gs well before the iPhone 4s. I don't think apple copies other companies as much as people say. I also do not think google or any other company does either.

People don't usually think about it, but it takes months/years for something to get from idea to shelf. If apple comes out with a new feature on a phone and three weeks later google announces a similar feature, it is impossible for google to have copied apple. It would take much longer for a company to see an idea on another OS and implement it into their OS (kinda like the notification system now seen in iOS5 ;)).
And it works both ways--apple and other companies do not "copy" google nearly as much as the media makes it seem, but all that drama does make for good headlines.

And, as much as no one here wants to admit it, there is not an android alternative to Siri. I have used most/all similar apps on the market and none really come close. it is not the integration part that sets it apart. that part of the app may seem new and improved for iOS, but, for android, most apps already have the ability to work and integrate with stock apps. What sets Siri apart is the ability to remember. Siri is much more complex than anything on the android market. It does more than just interpret our voice, google voice data, and spit out the first thing that pops up.

I do think there will be 3rd party apps that will come up and rival it, but none of the existing apps seem to do that. Iris seems promising.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom