siri - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

Nuance Releases Dragon Mobile Assistant, Asks, 'What Google Voice Actions?'

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

For years Nuance's Dragon served as a leader in the world of voice dictation and commands. More recently, though, as Google and Apple move in on the speech control world, the company has a more pressing need than ever to distinguish itself. Enter Dragon Mobile Assistant. This app aims to "expands the natural language understanding and artificial intelligence" of Dragon Go! and "[add] the most popular personal assistant features."

At this point, most of our readers are probably aware of how voice assistants work. This one isn't much different from the usual fare. You can speak commands to set up appointments, make calls, send texts, and perform searches.

Sep

[Hands-On] Maluuba Is A Google Now Replacement You Might Actually Want To Use

Posted by David Ruddock in App Reviews, Applications, News

I make no bones of the fact that I find 3rd party voice assistants to be increasingly redundant, especially with the arrival of Google Now on Jelly Bean.

But Google Now doesn't do certain things. One of those things has annoyed me since the early days of Google's Voice Actions: you can't make calendar events through voice input. And as a person that absolute despises digital calendars, this is something of a "must have" feature. Creating a calendar event in an app, to me, is like having a root canal - in that I wish I could be unconscious for the entire experience.

Jul

Google's New Voice Assistant Pitted Against Siri: If You'd Like, I Can Search The Web For Pictures Of A Stallion

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

The uninformed consumer (read: not you, dear readers) may be forgiven for not realizing Google's voice search/voice assistant/Google Now thing is attempting to compete head-on with Siri, what with lacking a name and not being nearly as anthropomorphized. However, Google's voice powers are, indeed, aimed squarely at making the act of finding and using information far easier than Apple's automaton. In this video, the two go voice-to-voice and...okay, let's not beat around the bush. Siri gets thoroughly trashed.

Now, let's be perfectly clear. When dealing with voice searches and natural language assistants, your mileage will always vary. However, in this head-to-head comparison, it is no contest.

Jun

Rumor: Google Secretly Working On That Voice Project They Have Openly Released, But More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

You guys remember Voice Search right? That app that every Android user ever has installed on their phone or tablet? Well, the Wall Street Journal, best known for being right about a good number of things, is reporting that Google has "accelerated plans" to launch a "Siri competitor." Our super secret sources tell us that Google will "launch" this competitor in August, 2010.

The WSJ doesn't have much more information beyond that:

Google, meanwhile, has accelerated plans to launch its own Siri competitor that would work on Android-powered devices, people familiar with the matter have said.

We've known for a very long time that Google dreams of producing a Star Trek computer with voice commands at its core.

May

The Ultimate Google I/O 2012 Preview

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Rumors

Last Updated: June 27th, 2012

Google I/O is coming and it's time to get excited! It's like Christmas in June! It will be here in just a few ~~short~~ agonizing weeks - and we need to prepare. There is background information you need to know, rumors you should have in mind, and past announcements and acquisitions that need to be remembered. Google always leaves little news breadcrumbs for those that pay attention, and I pay attention. Fanatically.

This post will be part news recap, part rumor roundup, and part speculation. The last time I did this went pretty well, and now it's time for another look at what the little elves at Google HQ are working on.

May

[Weekend Poll] Voice Control Apps: Future Or Fad?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Galaxy S III, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Follow Up: Is Gaming On Android Lackluster?

Though voice control apps have been around for quite some time, it took Apple's release of Siri to bring the functionality to the mainstream. Now, competing manufacturers are trying to push out similar services. Samsung's first to the punch with a Vlingo-based "S Voice" service, though it remains to be seen how well it works. Google, too, is rumored to be working on improved Google Voice Actions, reportedly named Assistant.

Debates over the usefulness of voice control have cropped up around the Android Police offices before, with the team fairly split on the topic.

Mar

First Alpha Build Of Utter! Released With Limited Functionality, Goes By The Name Of (N)utter, Still Reads Your Mind

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News

About a month and a half ago, we posted about a highly impressive voice control app named "Utter!". Siri competitors are a dime a dozen nowadays, but Utter! is a lot more HAL than Siri:

Want a add a calendar appointment? Tell Utter, and it'll take care of it. Get travel details, find out the weather, and launch applications - all child's play for Utter, and all done using native applications instead of just simple searches.

Actually, that's just scratching the surface for Utter - if you watch the entire 22 minute video, you'll see the developer, brandall of XDA, use Utter to set his CPU governor (yes, it asks for superuser permissions), reboot into the bootloader, and even have a conversation.

Feb

[Video] Upcoming App: 'Utter!' Takes Speech-To-Text On Android To A Whole New Level With Unprecedented Interactivity And Functionality

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

We know, we know - you're tired of hearing about Siri and its respective knockoffs. But, we assure you, this one is different. Very different. In fact, it's beyond anything we've ever seen before.

The app is called Utter! and while it isn't yet available for download, it's already doing things that we could previously only imagine. Instead of just giving you a generic answer such as Siri and the like, it actually utilizes the apps that you already have installed. Want a add a calendar appointment? Tell Utter, and it'll take care of it. Get travel details, find out the weather, and launch applications - all child's play for Utter, and all done using native applications instead of just simple searches.

Jan

'Evi' Hopes To Be A Viable Android Alternative To iOS' Siri, But Server Failures Have Gotten It Off To A Rocky Start

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, Applications, News

Siri competitors for Android are a dime a dozen, but the latest alternative Evi may have the winning combination of a voice recognition engine that actually understands what you say and what (we hope) appears to be a natural language processor that can figure out what you want.

Unlike a standard search engine which performs keyword searches, Evi aims to answer your query with a specific response. So, for example, if want to know what the capital of France is, you would ask Evi "what is the capital of France?" and Evi would respond "Paris". Evi is also good with contextual questions, so if your next question is "is it dark there now?", Evi would understand that you want to know whether it is past sunset in Paris.

Jan

Editorial: Steve Wozniak Isn't Afraid To Criticize iOS's Shortcomings, And We Shouldn't Be Afraid To Call Out Android's

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials

When I read the comments of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in an interview with The Daily Beast, my first thought was "this sounds like an eminently reasonable man making some well-reasoned points." Of course, being an Android site, we took interest in Wozniak's comments on Android's superior (in some respects) voice commands, as well as his praise of its workable built-in navigation solution (something iOS currently lacks outright).

I've used Siri. It's pretty fun (and funny) at times. But in my opinion, it doesn't do many things better than Android's voice commands (word recognition is, perhaps, a little better - though I've not compared it to Android 4.0's instant STT engine, which I've heard is a big improvement).