Siri vs Google Now vs Cortana: Which is best?

There has been a battle of sorts between Siri, Cortana and Google Now when it comes to choosing the most useful personal assistant. Lately there were startling development on the front and you will soon see your personal assistant turning from ‘passive’ to an ‘active’ one. This way you get to do a lot of useful and exciting things. Well, now your question must be, How? That will happen by scrupulously studying your behavior and pre-empting your next move much prior to you even think of that.

It won’t be wrong to say that it’s becoming a full-fledged stalker by keeping a note of your habits.

So here’s a little introduction…

Now Apple has launched quite a few new hardware in past few months as well as there were the new iPhone SE and iPad Pro 9.7 in the month of March. However along with that did you notice the little software excitement as well behind the scenes of that event? Hearsay had that Apple is certain to introduce the Siri voice control system to the next version of Mac OS X.

Siri noted huge advancement in the last few years with it being developed into an enticing digital assistant able to deal with various task on your iOS devices, along with the latest Apple TV as well. However, with Siri being not there on the Mac didn’t please many – noting the fact that Microsoft is having its own Cortana voice-tech that runs on Windows PCs ever since Windows 10 were launched in 2015. Cortana can be used on the latest Lumia Windows phones as well and you find other rivals that line up against Siri too.

We also saw Google having a voice-search option that’s built into its apps both for Android and iOS.

apple-siri-googlenow-windowscortana1

So let’s begin with the comparison:

Who understands regional and foreign accents better?

Now you must remember that Siri didn’t claim instant success upon its launch, however this voice-recognition technology underwent constant refinement so it deals with a variety of voices, along with national and regional accents. Not anymore accents from different countries pose a problem for these voice-recognition systems. With Siri, Cortana and OK Google, it’s easy to deal with a variety of accents. However, in case of really strong regional accent, you might hear your personal voice assistant say “Sorry, I didn’t catch that”. But then too Google OK could understand even that.

In case of other voice systems, there is a good thing that you can learn and recognize your personal accents and speech patterns as they are used consistently.

 

Which works better for natural language questions?

As it comes to normal speaking voice, Siri earns the brownie points for being among the most versatile voice-recognition system and it very well to handle many kind of questions, from asking regarding the weather to finding nearby food joints or find flight times on the internet. At the same time, it successfully dealt with colloquial language, allowing it feel natural and easy to talk to.

 

Who excels in terms of Knowledge?

Siri is, however, not an ideal choice in terms of knowledge-based queries. Like, there was an instance when one searched for “film times at the Rich Mix Cinema in Shoreditch”, which left Siri in quandary whereas Cortana and OK Google worked well on that aspect.

However on other instance, Cortana was failed to answer a simple question, like “What is the date today”. However, both Cortana and the Google endeavor to predict question that you are certain to ask and offer information automatically. With Cortana you can store millions of topics you have interest in, whereas the Google app can create a set of ‘cards’ on similar topics. This way you get instant updates on the weather, share prices and other information without having to ask, however in case of Siri you simply need to wait till you particularly make a query (however, with iOS Notifications system you are updated regarding important information as well).

 

Which among them allows effective running and activation of other apps?

The great thing about Siri is that it’s designed so well that it can work with other Apple apps, like Mail and Reminders. This way you can ask Siri to “Send an email to John” and also dictate the entire email to your iPhone. This work wonders when you are driving or on other instance when you can’t use your hands. In fact some of the cars supporting Apple’s CarPlay software also have a special Siri button on the steering wheel this way it’s always available sans having to take your hands off the wheel.

Now Google too is making things work on the driving front with Android Auto. So when you use OK Google on an Android Phone then it works brilliantly with other Google/ Android apps for sending emails, creating reminders and performing various tasks just like Siri. However, it depends on the type of phone you are having that you may need to activate OK Google from within the main Google search app instead of activating that from the Home screen, as allowed in case of Siri.

With Cortana too you can work on other mobile apps on Windows devices and it easily created emails, reminders as well as notes. It could be used for launching other kinds of apps as well, like Paint graphics app on a Windows laptop, however, it came as a disappointment that Cortana failed to manage additional commands like pasting a screenshot into the app. Still, Cortana stands being the only digital assistant among others that works smoothly on variety of desktop and laptop computers as well as mobile devices.

Now Cortana is also available for iOS and this makes it all the more of an exciting deal to see Siri on to the Mac.

 

Which among the three work fastest?

All of the three voice-control systems need an internet connection, whether it’s Wi-Fi or mobile broadband. Voice recognition technology works best with great processing power so that human speech is analyzed accurately and this can slow down even the fastest smartphone or tablet. These voice assistants make things work faster as you offload your voice commands to powerful servers on the internet. Then your words are easy to analyze as well as the right response can be downloaded to your device.

This may cause delays however it was found that Siri and its numerous rivals response quite instantly and among them Cortana may come around as slowest due to its habit to at times pause briefly to update its notebook feature prior to giving response to our commands that may come around as irritating.

Which works best in controlling the smart home?

Ultimately we are aiming really big with these voice-recognition systems where you are able to control a number of devices with your voice commands. In that regard Apple is heading in the right direction owing to its ability to use Siri to tell the new Apple TV to “play Friends episodes” or to “find movies with Brad Pitt”. This way you get a picture of what potential voice-recognition technology holds for future.

With Apple’s HomeKit, Siri’s voice controls can be extended on to other devices as well, like the Philips Hue Lighting systems, or Elgato’s Eve thermostat controls. The good thing is that there are several of other companies supporting HomeKit and it’s the Amazon Echo that enjoys the top spot. With Echo, manufactures of other devices easily create skills useful at controlling their devices and the Echo even works with a variety of home-automation devices from companies like Philips, Nest and Samsung.

 

Siri vs Cortana vs Google Now: Which is the best voice-control technology?

Well, the answer is pretty obvious that Siri outshines the other two owing to its flexibility and accuracy with colloquial language that makes it the most brilliant personal digital assistants out there. However it is facing great competition and as Microsoft extends to a variety of devices and Amazon making efforts to be ahead in home automation. This way Apple and Siri needs to plan really well to stay ahead in the race.

Arun Goyal

Managing Director @ Octal Info Solution, Arun Goyal is a tech-enthusiast and visionary entrepreneur. He loves to talk about technology, and expresses his views about the trends in tech-world through this blog.