The video above is a quality demonstration of voice searches on Android Jelly Bean.
Jean-Louis Nguyen posted the video, titled “How to impress your friends (or annoy your iOS counterparts): 40+ voice searches thrown at Google on Jelly Bean,” on Google+ yesterday.
“I never make videos, but felt compelled to share the many new voice capabilities on +Android, some of which were not demoed on stage during Google #io12. You may be surprised by some answers, notably those provided by the Knowledge Graph,” Nguyen wrote.
As noted by Phillip Elmer-DeWitt at Fortune, Apple analyst Gene Munster published a note to clients today that contained the results of a Siri vs. Google search 1600-question showdown.
While it is not exactly a test of how well the companies’ various voice services stack up against one another (since Google Search queries were typed-in and not spoken), but it is a good indication of just how viable Siri is as an everyday mobile search product and alternative to Google. In the test, both Google and Siri were asked 800 questions in a quiet location. Another 800 questions were asked among the loud street traffic in Minneapolis. The results, according to Fortune: Expand Expanding Close
Nuance just released a significant update to its Swype keyboard software that it acquired last year.
The entire UI is revamped. Users can still quick-swipe for input, but the keyboard now offers multimodal support with the option to press keys and initiate Nuance’s “Next Word Prediction” technology. Swype’s built-in dictionary actually learns over time and crops words from emails and texts for easier communication. Users also have the ability to handwrite or trace letters, words, or symbols, or they can click the Dragon Diction button to launch integrated voice-recognition.
The latest version of Swype is now in beta, but it is not compatible with all Android devices.
We heard several reports in the past that Google was working on various evolutions of its Voice Actions platform for Android. We heard of “Project Majel” in December, which, according to reports, is the codename for a new voice-controlled assistant app similar to Siri. In March, TechCrunch reported on a similar project dubbed “Google Assistant.” According to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Google is accelerating its plans to launch a competitor to Apple’s Siri:
Google, meanwhile, has accelerated plans to launch its own Siri competitor that would work on Android-powered devices, people familiar with the matter have said.
The report does not offer any additional details on the project, but it noted: “In coming weeks, Google is expected to unveil a lower-priced Android tablet that it developed with Asustek Computer.” Google recently acquired Clever Sense, the makers of popular local recommendations app Alfred, and some have speculated the technology could be included in Google Siri competitor. Many expect the Google tablet, mentioned by WSJ,to unveil later this month at Google I/O, where we could also possibly see some of Jelly Bean and this rumored assistant feature.
Shortly after the new Siri-like voice assistant feature of Samsung’s new Galaxy S III, known as “S-Voice,” made its way to other Android devices via an available APK, reports claimed Samsung began to block non-S III users from accessing the service. XDA Developer community members confirmed (via TNW) that Vlingo, the company behind the voice recognition technology used in S-Voice, is now blocking users from trying to access its servers with devices other than the S III.
In December of last year, Nuance, the company currently powering speech in Apple’s Siri app on the iPhone 4S, acquired Vlingo. Samsung previously collaborated with Vlingo for the Voice Commander feature for the Galaxy S II. We expect Nuance has improved Vlingo since the acquisition, while Apple’s relationship with Nuance is not stopping Samsung from using the Vlingo technology. In an interview in October, Norman Winarsky, co-founder of Siri, told us Vlingo was originally used in Siri when it first developed, but noted it is rather easy for apps like Siri to implement new speech recognition technology if it comes along.
Samsung launched its Galaxy S III today with a few new software enhancements including an “S-Voice” feature that many are comparing to the iPhone’s Siri. Another new feature is called “Pop up play.” It allows you to run picture-in-picture video. The feature lets you play video in a smaller window that floats on top of the UI, which allows you to multitask while continuing to watch. You can see Pop up play in the video above at 1:48.
Samsung just unveiled the Galaxy S III in London, and the new smartphone boasted a ton of new features, such as “S-Voice.” The built-in feature is Samsung’s equivalent of Siri, but it does much more than Apple’s offering. It manages certain functions and is customizable with up to four wake-up commands. For example, set it to respond with the phrase “Wake up,” and it will automatically unlock the smartphone’s screen. The voice-control tech is also integrated with applications, such as the camera app. Just say, “Hi! Galaxy, picture,” and then say “Cheese.” Walah!—The picture is captured. Oh, and S-Voice can even control music.
The last we heard, Apple was working with developers of Siri alternatives such as True Knowledge, the developers behind “Evi,” to iron out similarities between the app and the iPhone 4S‘s flagship feature. Apple is quick to warn developers who are submitting Siri-like apps not to mimic native features of the OS. Apple wants an app’s features to remain “distinctly different from the iOS behaviors and interfaces to avoid causing user confusion.” Developer Sparkling Apps reached out to let us know Apple rejected its latest app submission called “Voice Answer,” with Apple telling the developer the Wolfram Alpha-powered alternative is “too similar to Siri.” The good news for Android users is the developers have decided to release an Android-only version on available Google Play now.
Apple is not flat-out rejecting all Siri alternatives/competitors. Sparkling Apps already has an app called “Voice Ask” on the App Store that sits in the top charts of the Reference category. Evi remains on the App Store as well. However, the Voice Ask app employs the same True Knowledge database as Evi. While Apple did not offer a specific reason for why the app was rejected, it is possible that Apple is more inclined to reject Siri-like apps using Siri’s Wolfram Alpha knowledge base. Unsurprisingly, the developers instead decided to release Voice Answer as an Android-only app on Google Play.
The app provides spoken answers, optional keyboard input, and configurable items stored in the app’s memory. According to the developer, Voice Answer’s “speech recognition works better than that of Siri, especially with foreign accents,” and the app includes a chatbot called “Eve” that you can teach answers. While most of these features are also baked into Evi, it is unclear exactly why Apple is working with some developers to coexist peacefully with Siri, and then flat-out rejecting others without discussion. Fortunately, the app did not have any issues making its way onto Google Play, and it is even marketed as the “Voice Answer- just like Siri.” We told you in January about the number of Siri clones hitting the market with the release of Evi for Android. The Voice Answer Android app is now available on Google Play for $3.99, and the developers promised that support for messaging and email is on the way.
Google is reinventing its Web-search technique with direct information for queries to better maintain the majority market share.
The Wall Street Journalsaid Google aims to replace some Web links with summarized answers and facts. The search formula transition will roll out over the next few months as the search engine begins to merge relevant results with semantic search, which attempts to understand the meaning of words versus keyword identification. One source said the change could influence 10 percent to 20 percent of all search queries.
Under the new strategy, a search for “Mount Everest” will display key attributes, such as the mountain’s location, altitude, or geographical history, aggregated from Google-indexed websites. Longer queries might uncover a real answer instead of links to websites. For example, the question “What are the 10 largest mountains in the United States?” would subsequently reveal a list of mountains and not ambiguous links to various state parks or hikers’ fan pages.
Google’s top executive Amit Singhal told WSJ that the new search results are the product of hundreds of millions of “entities” stored in a database. The company’s Metaweb team of 50 engineers painstakingly gathered particulars on people, places, and things over the last two years to build an immense collection for associating different words through semantic search.
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.
Google is on a roll these days in regards to interesting patent filings. The company filed a patent for Android’s pattern unlock feature in November, and a new filing suggests more unlocking methods with one involving voice recognition and the other based on a two-icon methodology. Today, Patently Applepointed to another document the search company filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on Sept. 29, 2011.
Being made public only recently, it describes methods and apparatus for a Google TV remote that lets you search for televisions shows, movies, music and other media simply by asking. This sounds a lot like Apple’s Siri voice assistant the rumor-mill speculates could enhance an alleged Apple-branded HD TV set.
The difference, per the publication:
Apple has had a similar feature under Remote for several years now, but it doesn’t relate to live TV as Google’s will. Google’s real competitor on this particular front will come from Samsung who just announced their latest TV remote with voice controls and a touch pad. The race to bring the best next generation TV Remote to market is officially on.
One embodiment of the invention describes a situation where a user searches for the popular sitcom “Seinfeld” simply by asking their Android phone, “When is Seinfeld on?” The phone would parse and send the query up to the Google cloud, beaming down the results to your Google TV set-top box.
GPS positioning could enhance the scope of the invention in interesting ways:
The war between Samsung and Apple continues as Apple requests a United States Preliminary Injunction on Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus. The request was filed in a U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday, and the documents were released Friday. FOSS Patents discovered that Apple is basing its request for an injunction on four recently granted patents:
A word completion patent that provides major speed improvements for touchscreen text entry.
The second patent (seen above) concerns Apple’s Siri technology. Google has similar a voice technology, and Apple wants to slash the accurate but not as robust feature out of the picture. The third slide-to-unlock patent is something that Apple has been after for a while, based on earlier patents. Apple also recently sued Samsung in a separate lawsuit over the fourth autocorrect patent.
Will the injunction be granted? Probably not, but it is interesting to see Apple keep trying. A judge will make a ruling in the coming months.
We’re told this campaign will culminate in a Super Bowl advertisement next month. It’s always entertaining to see the big boys slug it out. Expand Expanding Close
Android and Mereports on a secret Google project aimed at adding a little conversational flare to Android Voice Actions. Dubbed Project Majel after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry – the voice of Star Trek‘s Federation Computer – it’s thought to be motivated by the success Apple’s seen with its clever marketing of the voice-controlled digital assistant Siri that debuted as an iPhone 4S exclusive on October 4.
According to the blog:
Majel is an evolution of Google’s Voice Actions that is currently available on most Android phones with the addition of natural language processing. Where Voice Actions required you to issue specific commands like ‘send text to…’ or ‘navigate to…’ Majel will allow you to perform actions in your natural language similar to how Siri functions.
Google is apparently working on Majel at clandestine Google X, the company’s top-secret lab headed by Sergey Brin. Majel should debut for Google search queries first. It’s unknown at this stage whether the technology incorporates some of the artificial intelligence traits exhibited in Apple’s Siri. Expand Expanding Close
Calling Cluzee a Siri competitor would be inaccurate as any Siri challenger would have to be built right into the bowels of the operating system, as is the case with Apple’s personal digital assistant. With that off our back, Cluzee looks like an interesting addition to Android’s already strong voice and search features. Developed by Tronton, Cluzee is billed as a new type of virtual assistant specialized in finance and information management.
It sports built-in calendar, reminders, filters, advanced search capabilities, voice recognition, voice synthesis and personal analytics, among other features. Tronton partnered with about 50 service providers that help Cluzee provide personalized services.
You can say stuff like “Cluzee, I’m looking to buy this or that in the next few weeks” and it’ll apply your criteria to filter the incoming deals and advertisers. It also does social filtering so you can say “if I get messages from these people, notify me immediately” or “include them in my daily brief”, which is basically your entire summary for any given day.
Just like Siri, Cluzee too employes machine learning, conversational interface and third-party data sources on the web to deliver the results. Cluzee is available on Android Market and will be coming to iPhone soon and just about any platform via an HTML5 web app. More information is available at the Cluzee web site. Go past the break for SocialTechPop’s interview with Cluzee’s Ashish Patwa from TechWeek in Chicago in July of 2011.
According to a report fromThe Atlantic, Amazon might be in the process of readying their own Siri competitor as the company moves to acquire voice-to-text startup Yap. While nothing is official as of yet, the proof comes from an SEC filing that shows Yap has merged with “Dio Acquisition Sub”, a company located in Amazon’s 410 Terry Avenue building in Seattle, Washington.
The voicemail-to-text tech at the heart of Yap’s private beta service (which shutdown as of October 20th) isn’t all that impressive, but the company is said to have a significant amount of intellectual property related to speech recognition. This has lead analysts to speculate the acquisition could be Amazon’s first step into building voice recognition service that could potentially compete with Apple’s Siri voice-control technology.
Of course with the Kindle Fire launch next week, and lack of Siri on iPad, it’s easy to dream up a voice-controlled Amazon tablet experience. Although, it’s likely voice recognition tech makes it’s way to Amazon’s various mobile apps and online experiences as well if the IP acquired from Yap is indeed the start of the company’s venture into voice control. Expand Expanding Close
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