Skip to main content

Showdown: Android Voice Actions on Motorola phones vs. Siri on iPhone 4S

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBYMDs_RFeI]

Handset maker Motorola Mobility may have found itself in an uneasy place as both Microsoft and Apple are attempting to block its $12.billion sale to Google, but the company’s marketing department is as vigorous as ever. With this week’s spotlight on the latest mobile developments showcased at Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain, the Razr-maker published three provocative clips on its YouTube channel.

The videos pit the iPhone 4S-exclusive Siri feature against Android Voice Actions running on three different handsets: The Atrix 2, Photon 4G and Electrify. In each instance, Siri runs notably slower (and therefore less useful) than Android Voice Actions on Motorola’s devices.

Both Android Voice Actions and Siri need a network connection to upload audio samples of spoken queries. The cloud does the rest–speech recognition, parsing your query and beaming down the results. With that said, the performance gap that these clips highlight stems from the faster 4G networking on Motorola’s devices and has little to do with the type of processor, the amount of memory and other hardware features.

Two more clips are right below.

Android Voice Actions for calling, texting, navigation and more debuted in August 2010 and are supported on Android 2.2 onwards through the Voice Search app. Siri, Apple’s AI acquisition, is deeply integrated as a core iOS feature of iPhone 4S. As for hardware differences, Motorola launched the Photon 4G last summer and debuted it on the Sprint network as its first 4G device. A dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 chip from Nvidia powers it. Apple’s iPhone 4S was introduced on Oct. 4, 2011, and it runs the Apple-designed A5 chip packing in two processing Cortex-A9 cores clocked at an estimated 800MHz each. Apple licensed these cores from fables semiconductor maker ARM Holdings based in the United Kingdom— same as Nvidia with its Tegra 2 chip found inside Motorola’s device.

Cross-posted on 9to5Mac.com

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bihgxpAQyXU]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6QySOKzFQk]

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Google — experts who break news about Google and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Google on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel