In this blog, I have been trying to explain the strengths and the weaknesses of both Apple and Android products, and which aspects of each company give themselves advantages over the other, and which faults provide drawbacks for each platform.
In this post, I am going to explain a cool aspect of the two platforms; voice controlled search and commands. Android calls it Google Now, and Apple calls it Siri.
Google Now
As I have said, Google Now is the voice activated search for Android. It is an amazing search tool, combining the search power of Google with the voice command system in your phone. It is configured to your voice, and is activated by any command that you choose and the default command is "Okay Google Now". It is a great app for executing almost any function that you can think of, yes, anything. Google Now connects to your phone, just like Siri, to answer your commands, so you can set reminders and calendar events, send texts, listen to your music, do Google searches, and open apps, like Youtube. Google Now's voice recognition is much much better than Siri's. The better voice comprehension simplifies the search process by an enormous amount to everybody, especially in a place with background noise. On top of that, if you are doing a search, whether if it's the weather (which will directly give you the weather of your location using your device's location services), or looking up when the Roman Empire started, it directly connects to Google so you get precise answers very, very fast. However, you cannot activate Google Now as simply as you can Siri, because the only way you can activate Google Now without physically going to the Google app in your phone is to use your programmed voice command, which has proven to be tricky in public. However, I love using Google Now on my phone for everything, because it's so easy to use and it gives me rapid results that I can rely on.
Siri
Although that I prefer Google Now for my search for everything, there are some cool aspects that Siri has that Google Now doesn't. For example, you can ask it anything you wish and it'll give you an answer, unlike Google Now, which gives you search results. For example, you can ask Siri "Siri, are you a boy or a girl?" and it will answer you, whereas Google Now will give you a Google search result on how to find out if you're baby's a girl or a boy.
Also, Siri gives you one search result instead of bringing you to Google where you have to sift through a bunch of websites to get your answer (although, sometimes Google Now can and will talk back to you, and give you the answer, depending on your search). However, Siri doesn't always give you the answers you want, because Siri answers your questions sarcastically sometimes, or doesn't give you an answer at all. Also, the Apple voice recognition for Siri is VERY unreliable and it is sometimes very difficult to do the voice search that you want to do. Siri does have the advantage, however, of being able to be activated by pressing and holding the home button.
All in all, I do prefer Google Now over Siri, because it gives me faster and accurate search results for my questions, and I can rely on it to perform tasks for me with more ease than Siri.
**I have collected my information by using both Google Now on my Android device and Siri on my Apple iPod.**
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