Android user here who frequently uses the voice commands. The primary differences I see between what we have and what Siri offers are:
- More built-in app integration (like GPS). "Remind me to call Jennifer when I leave work" wouldn't compute. The Wolfram Alpha integration is also a nice touch.
- Improved contextual awareness. "Is it going to rain today?" or "I'm in the mood for Italian" don't work for me. I have to explicitly use keywords like asking for a "map of italian restaurants".
- 2-way conversations. I only speak a command and the voice command opens another application based on that command. Siri can talk back to you and resolve conflicts, such as calendar schedule overlaps.
Have we had voice commands on our phones for what seems like forever now? Yep. But that doesn't make me any less jealous of the neat innovations that Apple's done in the speech recognition AI field. Again, a great example of the fierce competition driving innovation, and the consumer wins.
Still, I think those are only some special cases (weather, calendar). Admittedly they are nice, but I doubt they are an AI revolution.
Also I suppose it is kind of a "desktop search" for the mobile phone. Google can not search your contacts and calendar (it could, but the Google search is not really tied into it yet, I suppose).
- More built-in app integration (like GPS). "Remind me to call Jennifer when I leave work" wouldn't compute. The Wolfram Alpha integration is also a nice touch.
- Improved contextual awareness. "Is it going to rain today?" or "I'm in the mood for Italian" don't work for me. I have to explicitly use keywords like asking for a "map of italian restaurants".
- 2-way conversations. I only speak a command and the voice command opens another application based on that command. Siri can talk back to you and resolve conflicts, such as calendar schedule overlaps.
Have we had voice commands on our phones for what seems like forever now? Yep. But that doesn't make me any less jealous of the neat innovations that Apple's done in the speech recognition AI field. Again, a great example of the fierce competition driving innovation, and the consumer wins.