Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Google Search App Brings Siri-Competitor to iPhone

Not a contenda. Sure, ok.

scoobydoo99 said:
You obviously are not capable of understanding the difference between internet search and integrated control of apps (messaging, calendar, reminders, etc.) Siri does a multitude of things. Search is one. It's also the ONLY thing that the Google app does.

Any app with a voice interface is not by default a "Siri competitor".
Click to expand...

Actually, it is a voice interface with an AI. While Siri might be better in many respects, Google Search does support probably the number one use case for this technology and runs on recently obsoleted hardware (which includes HW that apple still sells such as the iPad 2 and the iPhone 4).

So for many of us, whether it is a worthy "Contenda" is just not terribly relevant: It's the only game in town...

I repeat: Thank you Google....!!
 
scoobydoo99 said:
You obviously are not capable of understanding the difference between internet search and integrated control of apps (messaging, calendar, reminders, etc.) Siri does a multitude of things. Search is one. It's also the ONLY thing that the Google app does.

Any app with a voice interface is not by default a "Siri competitor".
Click to expand...

I think most are clued in enough to know the difference, while others are engaging in wishful thinking.

The differences became glaring when you try to do anything other than search...Siri just has a myriad of additional functions that are not present in Google Search.
 
Bezetos said:
Yet it is a competitor, because both applications share their main features.
Click to expand...

I don't see it as a true competitor because Google can only do one thing: a voice search.

Not only can Siri do that in my iPod touch 5, but she also can launch apps, play music, complete my shopping list, type my text messages, etc.

I asked Siri what I should get a 16-year old girl for her birthday and she listed a number of sites. Asked the same question of Google and it took me to "gifts under $25" at Yahoo.

Siri has better taste. :cool:
 
Excuse typos using my iphone: I just don't get this mindless fanboyism. Google voice search can't so everything Siri does, who cares? Do you ever use google search? If you don't you're missing out, if you do, voice search is extremely useful and practical. I have Siri, I dot use it because frankly it sucks an gets it wrong too often. Google voice search has yet to misunderstand me, an it's -fast-. How anyone can not love this is mind boggling, apple needs to step up their game. If google had access to the phones functions it would blow Siri out of the water for speed and accuracy across the board. Fanboys you should be demanding this type of performance from Siri! Or at the very least apple should let google have access to phone functions..

It blows my mind that anyone can not be impressed with what google has done. For searching the web, something we all do an awful lot, google voice search makes Siri look like a joke..
 
I just tried, "Show me a map of Toulouse, France" on Google voice search, as I have a cousin who lives there. After multiple tries, I gave up as it never interpreted my request correctly.

Siri showed me Toulouse on the map on the first try.
 
I think most people are lumping Siri's two parts, the voice recognition and the AI processing, together as if they are both the same. They are not.

Currently, Siri is using Nuance to do the voice recognition part. It is that part that compares to Google's voice recognition--and it comes up far short. To me that says a lot for Google since Nuance has been at this for decades.

Siri just accepts text queries. It doesn't matter how it gets them. If instead of Nuance Siri used this Google voice recognition it would make Siri awesome. After using Google, with its near-in-real-time recognition, it makes blindly waiting for Siri to recognize feel downright jurassic.




Michael
 
I am surprisingly impressed by the accuracy and speed of the voice search. As a search tool it works well. It isn't really a competitor to Siri, at least on iOS. I'm sure it has greater functionality on Android devices.

Ironically, when asking it "Is Google evil?", the results seems to be unanimously "Yes!".
 
Aspasia said:
I don't see it as a true competitor because Google can only do one thing: a voice search.
Click to expand...

Google Voice Search is a voice search competitor. The functionality you've mentioned are native OS features.

If you're treating GVS as a competitor in that area, then yes - GVS is not a competitor, because it physically can't do those things.

----------
aarchitect said:
Ironically, when asking it "Is Google evil?", the results seems to be unanimously "Yes!".
Click to expand...

Interesting, I just tried that and just got search results back (the first one is "Google is Evil", an article on a website).
 
qwimjim said:
Excuse typos using my iphone: I just don't get this mindless fanboyism. Google voice search can't so everything Siri does, who cares?
Click to expand...

Not a matter of "fanboyism." My reality is that Siri does a much better job typing then I do on the tiny touch 5 keyboard. That matters a lot to me.

The new Google app is great, but search is just one of many functions I use.
 
Technarchy said:
I think most are clued in enough to know the difference, while others are engaging in wishful thinking.

The differences became glaring when you try to do anything other than search...Siri just has a myriad of additional functions that are not present in Google Search.
Click to expand...

*Sigh* It's not wishful thinking. It's reality.

People use Siri mostly for Search, asking it questions and so forth. iPhone 4 users cannot use Siri at all. iPad 2 users are also left without Siri. People from outside the US have big problems with making Siri understand them - this has been improved lately, but still is inferior to Google's speech recognition.

So taking this into consideration Google Voice Search IS a Siri-Competitor.
 
Bezetos said:
*Sigh* It's not wishful thinking. It's reality.

People use Siri mostly for Search, asking it questions and so forth. iPhone 4 users cannot use Siri at all. iPad 2 users are also left without Siri. People from outside the US have big problems with making Siri understand them - this has been improved lately, but still is inferior to Google's speech recognition.

So taking this into consideration Google Voice Search IS a Siri-Competitor.
Click to expand...

I doubt thats true. I'd say most people use it for setting reminders, making calls and sending text messages, even setting alarms.
 
Siri is cool for like 3 minutes then becomes overall useless IMO.


its cool to show someone who is new to iPhones and you can be a hipster and go like

"What is the temperature?"

and siri will say the temperature. People will respond with "What! thats so cool"


and then you won't use Siri again.
 
scoobydoo99 said:
You obviously are not capable of understanding the difference between internet search and integrated control of apps (messaging, calendar, reminders, etc.) Siri does a multitude of things. Search is one. It's also the ONLY thing that the Google app does.

Any app with a voice interface is not by default a "Siri competitor".
Click to expand...

Competitors don't have to perform identical tasks. The point is that Siri was thought to be so ahead of the game in its voice/language speed and accuracy. I think it's pretty clear, through using Google's service, that Siri lags FAR behind. The only thing Siri has going for it, and it's still important, is integration with the phone's functions. But remember, that's an artificial limitation imposed by Apple. If Apple allowed this Google service access to the phone's functions, then Siri would be in big trouble.

The reason people are saying it's a competitor is because it's clear Google's voice engine is better/faster. You really don't think it's a competitor? Really? Considering that Google's service controls functions on Android, you don't think anyone is comparing these services? It may not be directly comparable on the iPhone, but they are in direct competition between iPhone and Android. Stop being obtuse.
 
frayne182 said:
Siri is cool for like 3 minutes then becomes overall useless IMO.


its cool to show someone who is new to iPhones and you can be a hipster and go like

"What is the temperature?"

and siri will say the temperature. People will respond with "What! thats so cool"
Click to expand...
Except if you are me showing Siri to someone. Invariably that is when, after a 20 second delay, Siri responds with "I'm sorry, I can't help you right now." Laughter. Ugh.




Michael
 
Tinmania said:
Except if you are me showing Siri to someone. Invariably that is when, after a 20 second delay, Siri responds with "I'm sorry, I can't help you right now." Laughter. Ugh.




Michael
Click to expand...

LOL

always happens when wanting to show off tech.


"Hey man check out my new laptop!"


*Laptop freezes and dies... doesn't load anything*
 
Much much better and faster than Siri in voice recognition. First of all, Siri does not understand Finnish and this app does.

Here is my little test. Trying to search nearby gas stations in both apps.

Google Search:
I can use my native language as the app understands Finnish. Saying "huoltoasema" (gas station) and clicking Places takes about 5 seconds. It gives me the right information and shows the gas stations on Google Maps.

Siri:
Siri doesn't understand Finnish, so I have to use English. Saying "nearby gas stations" makes Siri think about 8 seconds. It responds with "I found fourteen gas stations... nine of them are fairly close to you." The problem is, none of those POIs are gas stations. They are kiosks and convenience stores, you can't refuel your car in those places.

So yeah, pretty impressive app from Google. Of course it can't do most of the things Siri can do, but this is mostly because Apple doesn't allow rival apps access to things like text messages, alarms and so on. The things Google Search can do, it does much better than Siri. As an Apple user this makes me a bit sad, but hopefully they will try a bit harder in the future.
 
unobtainium said:
That's only because Google doesn't have access to the phone's settings, as Siri does. In every way, it's a better, faster voice interpreter. Google Search is phenomenal, I have to say that I'm worried about this little competition Apple has gotten itself into...they should allow Google to do what they do best (information and search), and Apple should focus on the things they do best (simple, beautiful software and amazing hardware design).

Apple is simply not going to win when it comes to information/maps and search. Not a chance.
Click to expand...

It IS impressively fast and accurate at interpreting what you say. It's ability as a Google search tool exceeds Siri in many areas. It certainly pulls up results far faster.

But besides the obvious limitations (no access to the OS), Siri does a much better job of pulling up information in many areas.

I don't have time to detail it at the moment, but try searching for sports team records and player stats and calories in food items etc... And you will see that often Siri gives you specific answers and Google will just do a web search and you will need to dig through the results to see the specifics.

Google certainly blows Siri away speed and accuracy wise but IMHO Siri's results are much better. My opinion may change as I use it more, but that's my take so far.
 
phpmaven said:
(...)
I don't have time to detail it at the moment, but try searching for sports team records and player stats and calories in food items etc... And you will see that often Siri gives you specific answers and Google will just do a web search and you will need to dig through the results to see the specifics.

Google certainly blows Siri away speed and accuracy wise but IMHO Siri's results are much better. My opinion may change as I use it more, but that's my take so far.
Click to expand...

There are many areas where Google gives a lot more detailed answers too, like film casts, biographical information, discographies etc. so you're being quite selective.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back