Siri

[krouget]

The novelty for these assistants tends to wear rather quickly, and in some cases, it takes longer to produce the users intent, than if they had just manually done so.

I tried Siri (as well as the others, including Speaktoit) for a bit, and while nice, it doesn't serve more in practical use, than Voice Search does for me now. In general, I use them because I can, not because it dramatically simplifies most intentions.

The funny thing is, I think it's tech being applied to the wrong market. The automotive and medical industries seem like they would benefit a great deal more from advancements in this area, as opposed to me, who is already a few clicks away from most content on my phone.

 

[psychotron]

The novelty for these assistants tends to wear rather quickly, and in some cases, it takes longer to produce the users intent, than if they had just manually done so.

I tried Siri (as well as the others, including Speaktoit) for a bit, and while nice, it doesn't serve more in practical use, than Voice Search does for me now. In general, I use them because I can, not because it dramatically simplifies most intentions.

The funny thing is, I think it's tech being applied to the wrong market. The automotive and medical industries seem like they would benefit a great deal more from advancements in this area, as opposed to me, who is already a few clicks away from most content on my phone.

True but voice search won't find Italian restaurants in my area, update my Facebook/Twitter or schedule an appointment on my calendar...unless I am using it wrong?

 

[A.Nonymous]

The novelty for these assistants tends to wear rather quickly, and in some cases, it takes longer to produce the users intent, than if they had just manually done so.

I tried Siri (as well as the others, including Speaktoit) for a bit, and while nice, it doesn't serve more in practical use, than Voice Search does for me now. In general, I use them because I can, not because it dramatically simplifies most intentions.

The funny thing is, I think it's tech being applied to the wrong market. The automotive and medical industries seem like they would benefit a great deal more from advancements in this area, as opposed to me, who is already a few clicks away from most content on my phone.

When I got my Android phone 1.5 years ago I played with voice commands. I loved the novelty of it and how iOS had nothing like it. As time went on I found I never used it. I use it to search Google and I use it to program my GPS. Neither of these is something I do that often though.

 

[krouget]

True but voice search won't find Italian restaurants in my area, update my Facebook/Twitter or schedule an appointment on my calendar...unless I am using it wrong?

How does this relate to what I posted? I can describe a long list of what each won't do, but I have a much smaller list of what I actually use voice to do on a regular basis (Some GPS/text input here and there). What you describe highlights the point I was making-- which is the fact that I use most voice actions because I can, not because there exist a necessity for it, especially if its in excess to what I do, above.

It's going to vary by user, but I didn't have trouble finding restaurants, etc. prior to digital assistants. The simple fact that I'm using a largely touchscreen UI, means I'm going to naturally lean towards touch to interface with it. Unless the speech tech. is good enough that it can replace a larger percent of my touch commands, it's unlikely I will make the transition.

That's not to say they can't be useful, or that they don't have potential, but for the time being, I still find it to be too situational.

 

[Stuntman]

The novelty for these assistants tends to wear rather quickly, and in some cases, it takes longer to produce the users intent, than if they had just manually done so.

I tried Siri (as well as the others, including Speaktoit) for a bit, and while nice, it doesn't serve more in practical use, than Voice Search does for me now. In general, I use them because I can, not because it dramatically simplifies most intentions.

I think that efficiency can be gained if the speech reco is accurate enough. It is easier to say a few words than to type them in on a phone (for me anyway). I find that for some things, voice reco is faster, but not for everything. If the accuracy isn't there, then you end up having to redo/resay everything and that will increase the time to look up something.

I'm not sure if the natural language interface is the most efficient way to do voice searches. There are a number of extraneous words that can be omitted to speed up the voice entry. The same could be said for the response. I do feel that the natural language seems more of a novelty right now than an efficient way to use the phone. I can see it being more convenient if you do not have your hands free.

 

[BiggestManEver]

I still don't get how this is different from Google Voice actions.

I just said "Call Costco Garden Grove" and it called, without me having to press anything to confirm.

 

[mikedt]

 

[Dante Ortega]

Try Speaktoit Assistant for Android, it looks like Siri

I don't think it looks exactly like Siri - for one, it clearly has a humanoid avatar available, there's a difference in that Speaktoit is more "approachable", if that makes sense. You can read the review over here: Speaktoit Assistant: Android Alternative To iPhone's Siri

The app really is pretty good, and can definitely save you time as it can consolidate multiple tasks into a single action on your part - just tell it what to do. No need to tap, wait, type, tap, wait, scroll, scroll, tap, read - none of that. Ask a question, get your answer. Easy. It is in beta just like Siri, but seems to be growing quickly and is very stable (with only slight glitches, like certain numbers aren't parsed correctly for speech).
Also, it is missing Wolfram Alpha integration, which would be quite epic for students - I'm sure it is coming, as this thing is getting more and more intelligent every day

 

[Dante Ortega]

I still don't get how this is different from Google Voice actions.

I just said "Call Costco Garden Grove" and it called, without me having to press anything to confirm.

The difference is that Siri (and Speaktoit) can do something called "Conversation Mode" (read about it here) which pretty much eliminates the need to press the mic button. It answers your question, and if it is missing something it will ask you and automatically enable the voice input (mic). This way, you don't have to hunt for the mic button every 10 seconds when you want to respond or make an inquiry.

This is actually a concrete feature that I'm pretty sure is missing from Vlingo assistant, and is what makes interactions with Speaktoit (or Siri) feel more natural (and hands free!)

 

[A.Nonymous]

The difference is that Siri (and Speaktoit) can do something called "Conversation Mode" (read about it here) which pretty much eliminates the need to press the mic button. It answers your question, and if it is missing something it will ask you and automatically enable the voice input (mic). This way, you don't have to hunt for the mic button every 10 seconds when you want to respond or make an inquiry.

This is actually a concrete feature that I'm pretty sure is missing from Vlingo assistant, and is what makes interactions with Speaktoit (or Siri) feel more natural (and hands free!)

Pannous Voice Actions does something similar. I'm a big fan of it and it's free.

 

[Dante Ortega]

Pannous Voice Actions does something similar. I'm a big fan of it and it's free.

Just checked it out, I like the minimalist approach and can appreciate that, but its definitely not very user friendly... :/

I'm gonna give it a shot for a bit, see if I can used to it. Thanks!

 

[A.Nonymous]

Just checked it out, I like the minimalist approach and can appreciate that, but its definitely not very user friendly... :/

I'm gonna give it a shot for a bit, see if I can used to it. Thanks!

I disagree. In what way is it less user friendly than any other app? You press the button and you talk.

 

[Dante Ortega]

I disagree. In what way is it less user friendly than any other app? You press the button and you talk.

Well, when you start it - it doesn't greet you, it doesn't say anything, it doesn't "introduce" or identify itself. It doesn't let you introduce yourself (so it doesn't know your name). You can't type in text commands (if you want to be quiet but leverage the force ). I wasn't sure whether to speak when the mic was green or when it was white. The responses are "Toast" responses - they fade away rather quickly, and I don't get the chance to read the response.

It's minimalist approach is great, please don't misunderstand me I like it! The user-friendliness is lacking, however. I don't personally know your mother, but if she's an average user and you recommended this app to her - I'm sure she'd just stand there, not sure what to do with it. If you gave her the Speaktoit Assistant she would feel more comfortable, and it would be a far more intuitive experience.

Just my 2-cents, but I'm looking at the world with an open mind, so - please prove me wrong and I'll thank you for it.

 

[TallyHo]

Well, when you start it - it doesn't greet you, it doesn't say anything, it doesn't "introduce" or identify itself. It doesn't let you introduce yourself (so it doesn't know your name). You can't type in text commands (if you want to be quiet but leverage the force ). I wasn't sure whether to speak when the mic was green or when it was white. The responses are "Toast" responses - they fade away rather quickly, and I don't get the chance to read the response.

It's minimalist approach is great, please don't misunderstand me I like it! The user-friendliness is lacking, however. I don't personally know your mother, but if she's an average user and you recommended this app to her - I'm sure she'd just stand there, not sure what to do with it. If you gave her the Speaktoit Assistant she would feel more comfortable, and it would be a far more intuitive experience.

Just my 2-cents, but I'm looking at the world with an open mind, so - please prove me wrong and I'll thank you for it.

I agree with you on this 100%

I wish you could combine the two of them. Voice Actions seems to have more features similar to Siri, but the user interface is lacking. Speaktoit has a much better interface, but is lacking basic features at this point.

They are both pretty cool and I can see myself using them quite often. Way more so than Voice Search.

Looking forward to updates from both.

 

[Sak01]

They should combine one of these with the new Motorola ActV. That, along with when driving, would give me a practical use for a Voice Assistant.

 

[nheminger]

I would use siri just about as much as I do 3D on my Thrill. Almost never!

Yeah, I rarely use the voice search feature either. Sometimes it's more of a pain than actually typing it out. These virtual assistants don't recognize the much used slang terms we use in this country.

 

[jerofld]

Well, when you start it - it doesn't greet you, it doesn't say anything, it doesn't "introduce" or identify itself. It doesn't let you introduce yourself (so it doesn't know your name). You can't type in text commands (if you want to be quiet but leverage the force ). I wasn't sure whether to speak when the mic was green or when it was white. The responses are "Toast" responses - they fade away rather quickly, and I don't get the chance to read the response.

It's minimalist approach is great, please don't misunderstand me I like it! The user-friendliness is lacking, however. I don't personally know your mother, but if she's an average user and you recommended this app to her - I'm sure she'd just stand there, not sure what to do with it. If you gave her the Speaktoit Assistant she would feel more comfortable, and it would be a far more intuitive experience.

Just my 2-cents, but I'm looking at the world with an open mind, so - please prove me wrong and I'll thank you for it.

I prefer the minimalist setting. I don't need a creepy AI program to simulate a girlfriend for me, who is also an assistant/girlfriend for 4 million + people. Especially if I shared that assistant/girlfriend with my mom.

The ironic thing about Siri is: I'd bet most of us shake our heads at that guy in movies that has an android/computer/machine girlfriend, thinking to ourselves that we'll never be that bad. And there are a bunch of Japanese scientists/programmers that have made robotic girlfriends that I bet most of us also chuckle at. But how many people are fawning over Siri right now? Just something I've observed and chuckle at, myself. It's not my cup of tea. If it's yours, then I hope you enjoy it. Just think about that the next time you're watching a sci-fi flick and the loner guy is talking to his android girlfriend. Hopefully a movie script will call one 'Siri' just to get the point across. Plus, calling an 'android' the name 'Siri' would be very entertaining to me.

 

[Sak01]

The ironic thing about Siri is: I'd bet most of us shake our heads at that guy in movies that has an android/computer/machine girlfriend, thinking to ourselves that we'll never be that bad.

I never shake my head at Tony Stark talking to his voice assistants. It's pretty cool. I wish I had one of those and a KITT in my car.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Well, when you start it - it doesn't greet you, it doesn't say anything, it doesn't "introduce" or identify itself. It doesn't let you introduce yourself (so it doesn't know your name). You can't type in text commands (if you want to be quiet but leverage the force ). I wasn't sure whether to speak when the mic was green or when it was white. The responses are "Toast" responses - they fade away rather quickly, and I don't get the chance to read the response.

It's minimalist approach is great, please don't misunderstand me I like it! The user-friendliness is lacking, however. I don't personally know your mother, but if she's an average user and you recommended this app to her - I'm sure she'd just stand there, not sure what to do with it. If you gave her the Speaktoit Assistant she would feel more comfortable, and it would be a far more intuitive experience.

Just my 2-cents, but I'm looking at the world with an open mind, so - please prove me wrong and I'll thank you for it.

Well, you can set your name inside the settings. It still doesn't greet you. Personally I would find something that said my name every time extremely annoying although I can see why normal people would find that more personable.

To me typing commands defeats the purpose of voice commands in the first place. I don't want a voice program that gets in the way of my other programs. I don't want to launch into an app, talk to that app, then go back to another app. I want to just launch the program, talk to it and have it not get in the way of everything else. I can definitely see where the color of the microphone is confusing. It confused me as well. It's not a perfect app, but I like it far better than the others.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Siri is a silly gal and quite confused. As everyone here knows, I am a baseball nut. The Yankes are my favorite baseball squadron. I recently rried to find some player's names so I turned to Siri:

Bob: Siri, please tell me some famous baseball player

 

[jerofld]

LOL

Makes you wonder if it actually is a person behind Siri. I bet a computer handles a lot of the traffic, but I wonder if the computer can't find anything relevant or in it's programming if it just forwards it to a human. Because that is definitely an old comedy skit.

 

[navic]

Here's a Siri-like app for Android. It doesn't do nearly as much, but it's pretty cool to take pictures with whatever name you want.

 

[CWHJr]

There are actually several siri like apps for android. This whole post seams to be an advertisement for iphone except the last one.
In the market I found :
speaktiit
Skyvi
iris
The best of these is speaktoit for my money. It responds much better. It will search your contacts and dial, turn your camera on, make wise cracks back at you when you ask it sill questions. Carry the conversation to different levels, search the weather via gps, search google if it doesn't have the answer ....

Therse are all in the market for android. There was another one but i didn't download it so I don't know how good it is.

You don't need to buy into iphone when you have an android.

The developers of Iris (siri backwards) made it in 8 hours

 

[smileyface33]

I think Siri is pretty nice but Android has basically the same thing which is as good, just not as witty but gets the work done.

 

[pixaro]

I can't believe. Siri is awesome. I am waiting for an Android App like this. I use Vlingo. it does a lot but sometimes it makes mistakes. May their future versions beat Siri.