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Microsoft just bought the company that built Siri's voice recognition for Apple
Microsoft purchased Nuance, makers of Dragon speech-to-text tools, for $16 billion
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Cortana, Microsoft's digital voice assistant named after that hologram lady from HALO, didn't exactly set the world on fire. Most Windows users I've seen treat it like an annoyance to be avoided, instead of an integral part of the system, as Google's Assistant and Apple's Siri have become. But based on its latest corporate purchase, Microsoft might be taking another stab at voice-powered interaction.
Cortana is officially dead on Android
Your reminders, lists, and tasks are still available in the Microsoft To Do app
Back in August, we reported Microsoft was getting ready to kill its digital assistant on Android within the year. Microsoft preferred to embed Cortana into its Office applications instead of having it compete with Alexa and Assistant. As a consequence, the app no longer works on mobile devices and can't be used to access previously created content.
Microsoft is basically giving up on Cortana, Android support to die next year
It's getting axed on iOS as well
It was never going to be easy for Microsoft to have a voice assistant on Android when the Google Assistant was out there, and it looks like the company has finally thrown in the towel. Beginning in early 2021, support for Cortana will be ended on Android, iOS, and a couple of small platforms. Cortana had already been phased out in several countries a few months ago, but this change will be global.
Microsoft has been hard at work on Outlook for Android, even if some of that work is going towards pushing adoption of Bing. A few new features are rolling out to the app today, including a long-awaited function that has been on the iOS version since last year — reading your emails to you.
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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- According to Engadget, the shutdown is limited to these countries: Australia, Canada, China, India, Mexico, Germany, Spain, and the UK. It's not clear why users in the US and most countries will still have access to the digital assistant on their devices while those in the eight above won't.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In-chat assistance is not a new concept. If you've ever used Google's Allo app, you'll know what it's all about. While in a conversation with a friend, you can call upon the Google Assistant to answer a question, bring up directions, or perform a host of other helpful tasks, all without leaving the conversation. Skype will soon be getting similar functionality, as Microsoft is bringing its Cortana assistant to the messaging app.
Some companies see competition in the same field as an adversary that needs to be eliminated in the most cutthroat way, and others see it as a potential for synergistic growth. That latter approach seems to be the philosophy Microsoft and Amazon are taking when it comes to voice assistants. The two companies have just announced that their two brainchildren will be able to talk to each other by the end of the year.
Microsoft has been working on Cortana for Android quite a bit recently. The app received a major redesign with version 2.0 in December, and added lockscreen support in March. Cortana 2.9 has just been released, which changes the UI again.
The personal assistant arms race is heating up, as the latest update for Microsoft's Cortana can now easily replace the Google Assistant. If you'd like, the next time you long-press home to pull up your personal assistant, you can find the familiar oscillating purple and white dot staring back at you. The new feature comes via the latest 2.8 update to the Cortana app on Google Play. If you'd like to check out how it works, we gave it a try.
One of the hallmark features of Windows 10 when it was first introduced was deeper integration with Windows Phone (or as it was later renamed, Windows 10 Mobile). Unfortunately for Microsoft, no one uses Windows phones. Now the company has announced 'Microsoft Graph,' a service that aims to integrate your PC and mobile workflows seamlessly.
Earlier in March, Cortana got updated on Android to version 2.5 with one important feature: optional lockscreen integration. This allowed users to swipe from their lockscreen to reveal their personal feed including calendar appointments, news, and contextual information they might need. However, it didn't include the ability to interact with Cortana or ask it questions.