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siri vs google now (merged)

LIVEFRMNYC said:
Both are pretty nice. Seems like Siri always pops out more visible information though which might explain the millisecond delay vs Google voice. Wasn't to pleased with Google voice when setting reminders/alarms and stopping at the menu. They need to fix that. Google voice does sound much more natural, but Siri has more natural responses.

I'll give it a tie based on the video only.
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Not sure if you noticed, but Google set the reminder anyway (you can see that in the toast notification at the bottom of the screen) but offered the option to change it.

Obviously it would be better if it offered the option to change it by voice though. It could say "reminder set for 12 hours. Please say 'okay' or specify a new time." or something like that.
 
So is the Nexus the only phone Jellybean will be available on immediately once it's released? I don't really understand how android updates work since all the manufactures have their own software on the phones. :confused:
 
bad03xtreme said:
So is the Nexus the only phone Jellybean will be available on immediately once it's released? I don't really understand how android updates work since all the manufactures have their own software on the phones. :confused:
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Motorola Xoom, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, and Nexus 7 will all have Jelly Bean in July natively, or by OTA update.
 
Small White Car said:
I'm particularly talking about the part where the 2 timers get set at the same time* and he says "so that was almost exactly the same time but it looks like the Galaxy Nexus came through a little bit faster."

Ok, so they're almost exactly the same...but Google wins?

That's what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about when Google actually wins. It totally blows Siri away with the weather request. Yes, he should say so in that case. But when they're the same he still gives Google the win. Like I said, Cheerleaderish.



* (And for the record, I've paused the video, Google was about 1/4 of a second faster setting the timer. If you're human I really don't think you can call that anything but exactly the same.)
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One of the reasons he feels that Google blows Siri away is that the voice is so much more human-like than the Siri voice. He did demonstrate that in the video and I do feel he is correct in that sense. The Siri voice still seems a bit automated in comparison. There is also one case where Google displayed the correct answer without needed further prompting from the user.

I feel your allegations of his being bias is rather off base. He has gone on record that after trying a number of different devices, he still prefers using the iPhone as his primary phone.
 
Google Search (is that what it's called?) looks impressive in speed, but it seems like Siri takes the time to make clever remarks and the results are 'prettier'.

On the Reminder request though, I think Siri wins as the whole reminder can be set hands-free while the Google variant required the user to select an option for when to be reminded. Also the timer was simply set as an alarm on the Nexus, not sure if that's an error or not.

It is convenient that the Nexus can search Google instantly without having to select a "search the web" option.
 
But British voice still responds "Sorry, I can only look for businesses in the United States and when you're using U.S. English. Sorry about that" nearly nine months later.

For most of us outside US, Siri is just useless piece of novelty to set egg timers and schedule basic, simple reminders.

Also, in a car, over car built in bluetooth hands free, with background noise, British Siri cannot understand jack. It's just really bad. I even added special tags to my "favorite" names, just so it doesn't mistake contacts. It still doesn't understand who I want to call or text. The level of misunderstandings would almost be funny if it wasn't for the fact it is so darn frustrating. And that's just basics. Even the cut down ios version of vlingo app does voice calling and texting in the car properly.
 
Apple needs to update Siri more often.

Updating it once a year won't cut it.

They need to have new features when they announce the new iPhone later this year.

New features when they announce the new iPad next year.

New features at WWDC

Etc.
 
I've always enjoyed Jon's videos and have never found him to be overly biased.

Good little comparison by him IMO.

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irDigital0l said:
Apple needs to update Siri more often.

Updating it once a year won't cut it.

They need to have new features when they announce the new iPhone later this year.

New features when they announce the new iPad next year.

New features at WWDC

Etc.
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This is one of the advantages Google have compared to iOS. Ever since they stripped the core applications from the firmware and distributed them via the Play store, they've been able to provide functionality and feature updates without a new firmware release.
 
Small White Car said:
While I would award Google with the win in that contest I find the reviewer himself to be annoyingly cheerleaderish.

I'd say "Google edges out Siri to take the Win."

He calls it a "Complete blowout."

Is this a video from Google or something? It would make more sense then, if it was actually marketing.
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It's worth noting that this guy is a hardcore Apple/iOS fanboy. For him to say something like this about Google, he must really believe it.
 
Che Castro said:
Siri took longer cause it was saying "ok" a lot of the time in that video
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What's your point? Clearly Siri says "Ok" every time it begins to process the input and search for an output. That has nothing to do with speed, if Apple removed the "ok" response it's speed would not change.
 
DanteMann said:
Wow the voice quality for Google Voice is amazing. Way more human.
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I really hope that's sarcastic. Seriously? John Rettinger should not be doing tech reviews. The VOICE is better? Who cares! I want things to get done and what I asked! I don't care about the voice. It does nothing for me.
 
I don't think this was a good review, for reaaons already stated, it doesn't go in depth. Siri isn't good because it can process static commands, we've had things like that for years, Siri is good because of the artificial intelligence it uses.

I'm not sure how these tests would go, because I'm not familiar with the new Google Voice, but how about saying things like:

"Remind me when I get to my Dad's to call Mom and let her know I arrived."

"When is my next meeting with Scott?"

"Am I free tomorrow at 11am?"

"Is it going to rain this weekend?"

"Wake me up in 8 hours"

"Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30"

"Reschedule my appointment with Dr. manning to next Monday at 9am"

"Shuffle my workout playlist"

"Tell my girlfriend I'll be 10 minutes late"

"Remind me when I leave, to pick up milk"

"Did my girlfriend send me an email today?"

"Show me my last email from my Mom"

"Is my son still at school?"

It's Siri's intelligence that sets it apart from just dictating the words into a Google search. Does the new Google Voice have these capabilities?
 
N e e k said:
I really hope that's sarcastic. Seriously? John Rettinger should not be doing tech reviews. The VOICE is better? Who cares! I want things to get done and what I asked! I don't care about the voice. It does nothing for me.
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YOU not caring about the voice automatically translates to nobody caring? Interestingly, plenty of people, in this very thread, have commented that they prefer the voice.
 
DodgeV83 said:
I don't think this was a good review, for reaaons already stated, it doesn't go in depth. Siri isn't good because it can process static commands, we've had things like that for years, Siri is good because of the artificial intelligence it uses.

I'm not sure how these tests would go, because I'm not familiar with the new Google Voice, but how about saying things like:

"Remind me when I get to my Dad's to call Mom and let her know I arrived."

"When is my next meeting with Scott?"

"Am I free tomorrow at 11am?"

"Is it going to rain this weekend?"

"Wake me up in 8 hours"

"Move my 3pm meeting to 4:30"

"Reschedule my appointment with Dr. manning to next Monday at 9am"

"Shuffle my workout playlist"

"Tell my girlfriend I'll be 10 minutes late"

"Remind me when I leave, to pick up milk"

"Did my girlfriend send me an email today?"

"Show me my last email from my Mom"

"Is my son still at school?"

It's Siri's intelligence that sets it apart from just dictating the words into a Google search. Does the new Google Voice have these capabilities?
Click to expand...

Good point, I'd like to see a video on that too.
 
The problem with a lot of these tech sites is that they are basically enthusiasts rambling about product.

If you want to be a credible site you really need to have a good testbed for reviews no matter how smaller.

A review or bake-off of voice enabled technology should entail testing speed, testing accuracy of results, testing semantics (different ways people say things) and testing the complexity of utterances.

As DodgeV83 says ...relative static questions are low hanging fruit and don't tell us much about how complex a given tool may be over another.
 
nuckinfutz said:
As DodgeV83 says ...relative static questions are low hanging fruit and don't tell us much about how complex a given tool may be over another.
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EXACTLY what Android users say of iOS's capabilities compared to Android.
 
lordofthereef said:
YOU not caring about the voice automatically translates to nobody caring? Interestingly, plenty of people, in this very thread, have commented that they prefer the voice.
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That's wonderful. Why would a voice have to do with how well it preforms?
 
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