This technology has made it possible for businesses to automate their customer service processes, making it easier for customers to get what they need and want. It’s also allowed businesses to reduce costs by automating their customer service interactions.
Digital assistants are built into many devices these days, including smartphones, laptops, and tablets. The three main players are Siri from Apple, Cortana from Microsoft and Google Assistant, from Google.
The three assistants perform similar jobs and also have their own unique value propositions to offer. It’s probably impossible to objectively say which assistant is the “best” but comparing them along specific common tasks is a useful exercise. For every person reading this, one of these assistants is the best match to your specific circumstances.
The three contestants are:
- A woman who is passionate about her work and has a great sense of urgency;
- A man who is patient and has a lot of experience;
- A woman who is creative and has a lot of ideas.
Siri – A True Original
Siri first launched on the iPhone 4S in 2011. As of 2019, Siri is one of the oldest digital assistants still in use. ..
Siri is a voice assistant that was first introduced in 2011. She was initially seen as a technology leader, but since then she’s been overshadowed by newer assistants like Google Now and Apple’s own Home. Some people think that Siri is no longer the best voice assistant because she doesn’t offer as many features as newer assistants.
The greater question is whether Apple aficionados should stick with the assistant their devices ship with or not.
Cortana – From Game Goddess To Personal Assistant
The Halo 5 Guardians beta is now available to play on Xbox One and Windows 10. If you’re a fan of the Halo series, or just want to experience the latest game in the series, then this beta is perfect for you. The beta includes all of the new content from Halo 5: Guardians, as well as all of the classic features from previous games in the series. You can also download the game on your PC if you want to play it offline.
Cortana is a Windows 10 feature that offers some great integration features with other devices, but she is not native to any mobile system people are actually using.
Google Assistant – Taking On The Turing Test
Google has been making some amazing advancements in AI over the years, and the Google Assistant is no exception. It’s packed with all the latest technology, so you can be sure that you’re getting the best possible experience.
Google’s voice assistant, Google Assistant, is constantly shifting its feature set. This can be a bit of a problem for users as it’s not always clear where Google Assistant ends and other Google services begin. ..
Google Duplex is an amazing service where Google’s AI chatbot will phone (for example) the local hairdresser and make an appointment for you. All you have to do is ask. However, Duplex was developed as its own project and then rolled into the Assistant as an extension.
The downside of using Google Assistant is that it’s tightly integrated with Google services, which can make it difficult to customize. ..
How We Tested
The main point of this article is that the user experience is important and whether or not these bots actually do what you want them to. If a specific assistant has a killer feature for your specific use case, then this is all moot anyway.
We used two separate devices to test the three digital assistants in question here. In the case of Siri we used an iPad Pro 9.7” tablet, with the latest version of iOS 12 at the time of writing. For the other two devices, we used a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+.
The testers used a variety of tools to complete the tasks, including a computer, phone and calendar. They found that using different tools made the task more difficult or time-consuming.
Voice Synthesis Quality
A digital assistant needs to be natural and easy to use. A robotic voice would put most people off, so it needs to be clear and easy to understand.
Our three finalists are the Google Assistant, Siri, and Cortana. The Google Assistant is the best-sounding of the three, with Siri second and Cortana a distant third. Both Google and Apple’s products sound natural, at least in their North American English iterations. However, poor Cortana sounds like she needs an upgrade.
Trigger Phrase Reaction Performance
We asked people to say the trigger word, “Alexa,” and see how quickly they could get their assistant to start helping. The results were surprising. People were able to get Alexa to start talking within just a few seconds of saying the trigger word. This suggests that many people are already familiar with the assistant and are just waiting for the right moment to use it.
Apple’s Siri doesn’t support hands-free triggering, so you’ll need to use either Cortana or Google Assistant to launch them. The easiest workaround is to ask Siri to launch the other assistant.
When you ask a question with Google Assistant, you get a prompt that asks if you want to ask the assistant for help. If you don’t want to ask the assistant for help, you can just say “no” or “not now.” If you do want to ask the assistant for help, but your phone is locked, you can use the “Voice Match” setting to summon the digital genie from anywhere on your phone.
Cortana’s app only responds to the trigger word when the app is open. So, it’s not all that useful, honestly. ..
The Boring But Useful Stuff
Digital assistants are great for setting reminders, opening webpages, and starting apps. However, they don’t fare as well when it comes to writing emails. ..
All three assistants are equally capable when it comes to web searches. Cortana uses Bing, which might not be the best option for people who prefer Google’s search algorithms. All three assistants were happy to set reminders, take memos and put appointments on the calendar. ..
iOS Siri launches apps with ease, while Android Google Assistant also complies with app requests, but strangely YouTube Music does not work properly. This may be fixed soon. Cortana flat out refuses to launch any apps or step outside her app bubble as a whole. ..
Cortana is not very helpful. ..
Device Integration & Control
Siri is a digital assistant that can access the right permissions on your Apple device. She can manage a large number of toggles, such as flipping WiFi or Bluetooth on or off. You can activate accessibility features, such as VoiceOver, using Siri.
Google Assistant did just as well, managing common settings without skipping a beat on Android. Cortana was however unable to manage, which is not too surprising at this point.
Nonverbal Use
Digital assistants can be great for getting things done, but sometimes it’s more comfortable to have a quiet conversation. ..
Most assistants now have a text chat mode where you can take the conversation off the air, but still get natural language responses. This is great for when you want to communicate with your assistant in a more informal setting, or if you want to get a response that’s more human.
Type to Siri on your iOS device to enable text input for Siri.
Voice Recognition Performance
Digital assistants can understand you well if their software accurately converts your speech to text and parses what you’ve said. ..
The three assistants understood what we said without any problem and parsed it correctly. There’s not much to report here, but that voice recognition and AI in 2019 is pretty impressive.
The Verdict – Who Came Out on Top?
Apple’s digital assistant, Siri, is perfect for hands-free use and has a wide range of features that other digital assistants lack. If you use Apple services such as Apple Music and fine-tune Siri shortcuts, then it’s hard to imagine putting up with the limitations and hoops other digital assistants pose on iOS devices.
Cortana and Google Assistant are both great options for Android users, but Cortana has a few advantages over Google Assistant. For example, Cortana uses Bing as its search engine, which is more reliable than Google’s search results. Additionally, Cortana has a more user-friendly interface than Google Assistant.
Cortana is a limited application on Android that can’t be recommended as your primary Android assistant when Google Assistant is right there and as well-integrated as it is.
