When you decide which smartphone to buy, there are probably a lot of personal factors that go into it. You have to decide what is right for you based on your current personal needs and personal income. Of all these factors, though, how many of you have considered getting a phone based solely on the help you can get when you talk to it? Well, that’s the next big thing. Everyone needs someone telling them what to do.

Siri gives iPhone an advantage

A huge reason why people have been more likely to choose the Apple iPhone over other smartphones is because the iPhone has Siri. When you speak into the iPhone asking for directions or asking it to call someone, “Siri” responds. Siri is just the name of the voice responding. Sometime, the female voice will even give you jokes or respond humorously to the things you ask. It is a great way to keep yourself entertained and get all the information you need while on the go.

Are there any other options?

In the past, there have been other competing programs attached to smartphones, but nothing that could really compete with what the Apple iPhone offered. The good news for smartphone buyers is that Android offers a voice-based search service that rivals Apple. The program has been available on Androids for a while but has just recently gotten much better than ever before. All anyone wants now and days is voice recognition technology to make our lives a little easier every day. That is why Google and Android have been working so hard to improve these technologies.

Improved ratings from last year

A test done by Gene Munster every year is what helps determine how well these voice-recognition programs are really doing. He asks both an Apple iPhone and Google Android 800 questions and then give them a grade based on how well the questions were understood. Android saw a huge increase over last year going from a D- grade to a C+ grade. The Apple iPhone has a C+ grade as well, putting them pretty much on an even playing field. Apple also showed some improvement though going up from a C grade last year, according to USA Today.

Are they even?

Yes, it is true that Apple and Google are pretty equal when it comes to voice-recognition and maps, but are they same in every other way? No. In fact, Apple’s Siri responds to much more about your life than just navigation. It helps you keep track of your contacts, talks to you, and can even do better online searches than you can. Google’s voice navigation recognition is only good for finding your way around, and sometimes you need a little more than that.

The snag with Siri is that it uses Bing for all searches instead of Google, most of the time, which could be a problem for some people who rely heavily on Google searches. It might not be terrible, though, considering past allegations that Bing just copies Google’s search results anyway.

Source:

USA Today