Microsoft's Cortana virtual assistant never reached the market share needed to compete with Google Assistant and Alexa, and Microsoft is starting to scale back its ambitions. The Cortana Android app has already been removed in several countries, and now Microsoft is taking it out of its Android app launcher.
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Cortana made her way onto Android devices back in 2015 but hasn't managed to gain the same popularity as its competitors. This isn't entirely surprising, considering Microsoft's digital helper hasn't been available on smart speakers and displays, leaving people to use alternative solutions. The company seems to acknowledge Cortana can't keep up with its rivals, at least on mobile devices, as it just announced the Android and iOS apps will be retired at the end of January.
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Cortana may have faded into oblivion for many, but that didn’t stop Microsoft from trying to keep the virtual assistant alive. In line with this , Play My Emails has been introduced to the Outlook app for mobile devices letting you interact with your unread emails with Cortana's help. The feature is coming to Android devices in 2020, even though it has begun rolling out to iOS handsets.
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Cortana's been on version 2 for quite a while, so users are no doubt excited to see what the next big iteration has in store. Thankfully, they don't have to wait any longer. The app's latest beta reveals version 3.0, which comes along with a major UI refresh and several feature additions, including improved conversational requests.
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Xbox One users, here's a piece news for you on Android Police, of all places. According to Windows Central, you may soon be able to control your gaming/entertainment console with voice commands, thanks to the addition of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant support.
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Most voice assistants can make calls and send texts without the user having to touch his/her screen, but that wasn't true for Cortana on Android until now. The latest update adds this capability, and even though it's nothing groundbreaking, it's sure to make your life just a little bit more convenient if you use Cortana regularly.
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Even though Cortana can't match most of Google Assistant's functionality, it's still very handy if you have a Windows 10 PC. The app can mirror notifications to your PC, sync reminders, and provide contextual information based on your email and calendar. About a year ago, the Cortana app added an optional launcher to the lock screen, and now there's another way to open the assistant.
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Over the past week, IFTTT has added 3 new channels to its hundreds of supported services for smart integrations and automations. Two of them are little known: SURY Assistant and ELA Smart Lighting, but the third one is quite important: Cortana.
Like the Google Assistant and Alexa channels, the new Cortana one has dozens of applets you can instantly try, as well as 4 triggers available: say a specific phrase, say a phrase with number, say a phrase with text, say a phrase with number and text. There are no actions available, so you can't make your Wemo slow cooker for example notify you through Cortana when it's done cooking.
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Since the demise of its own Windows Phone platform, Microsoft has been putting a lot of effort into creating a compelling suite of Android apps instead. Microsoft Launcher started life as the experimental Arrow Launcher but morphed into its current form late last year. It features a control center panel unlike any other Android home app and is unsurprisingly linked with Bing rather than Google for search.
A new beta update has just been released which integrates Microsoft's digital assistant, Cortana. It seems to work much as it does in the Cortana app (which doesn't need to be installed), but as an overlay on top of the launcher.
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With CES about to swing into gear, and Google apparently gearing up for a personal assistant blitz at the event, we've been thinking pretty hard about how Google Assistant has integrated itself into our lives.
Ignoring a few small hardware snafus, Google's solution has become an indispensable tool for many of us. But, it isn't the only personal assistant game in town. Samsung's Bixby has a following of its own, and Apple's Siri is built into MacBooks and iOS devices. There's also always Amazon's Alexa elephant in the room. So, we're curious, which one do you prefer?
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