“Google’s always been able to search using voice transcription, but in the post-Siri world, that’s no longer enough,” John Brownlee reports for Cult of Mac. “With Android 4.1 Jelly Bean’s new Google Voice search, Google’s taken a page out of Siri’s book, not only trying to give precise answers to questions — for example, ‘Show me pictures of pygmy marmosets’ — but also present those answers in a clean new UI, something much more akin to Siri in the way it has been visually presented.”
Brownlee reports, “With Google being totally locked out of Siri, they really need to present their own strong competitor, but the new Google Voice only looks halfway there: a refinement on the current Google Voice system, rather than a fundamental shift in the way Google looks at providing information to people. Can it really compete?”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, it can compete, for the same reason the inferior Windows could compete superior Mac: Those who’ve never tried the real thing won’t grasp the differences at all and will be told by Google’s marketing that “it’s just like Siri.” Then, of course, just like the Windows tardoscenti™, they will call those of us who do understand the differences and choose the superior solution, “stupid Apple fanbois.”
Well Said MDN!
MDN take is the sad reality. 🙁
as long as there are idiots in this world…. inferior products will be able to compete 🙁
“as long as there are idiots in this world”
I’m afraid that’s going to be a very, very long time. It’s in our DNA.
sad. but true. 🙁
but, cheer up! There is also generosity, and wonder, and acceptance.
🙂 thanks. And as long as no one tells us what products to buy, and we have freedom of choice, I’m not going to complain.
Besides, i love idiots They can be very amusing.
I love idiots too. Every village should have one.
“As long as no one tells us what products to buy.”
Like unconstitutional, government-rationed heath insurance?
I’m all for freedom of choice.
…I don’t know, I was reading a talkback on a Siri clone, I didn’t expect the F10T12 Inquisition!
NOBODY expects the F10T12 inquisition!
While I’m loathe to bring politics into this, Yes… I wish there was just stricter regulation on insurance in the country, instead of gov’t-run health insurance.
Whatever. I’ll Vote to change that.
Wow. You are an idiot.
Healthcare is rationed by the privately owned health insurance companies, not the government.
Trust me you will get no where with the “cut off the nose to spite the [Obama] face” crowd.
It’s like a scene from a comedy where the person says “No” to everything before even hearing the suggestion. You can’t reason with a petulant 5 y.o. anymore than you can reason the Tea Party. They stand for personal responsibility, but fail to see how a mandate is personal responsibility. They hate Obama so much they will even turn on their ideas and principles at Obama’s mere mention of them. Not even Monty Python could satire this incredible display of political Lemming suicide. The Republicans don’t even care if they take all of america down with them.
There is hardly anything in this world that Google cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the customer who considers price only is Google’s lawful prey.
[with apologies to John Ruskin]
Too late again Google!
I don’t think this will be history repeating itself and Google becoming the next Microsoft. Apple has bricks-and-mortar stores now, that’s a massive advantage. They also have a hell of a lot of money, which means they can drop their margins and compete on price if it needs to come to that.
Offline voice dictation is actually one area of improvement over Siri.
It is, but what we really need is Siri to work in a car where it’s most useful. Problem is, data connections are unreliable when you’re switching between antennas all the time as you travel. Offline Siri would be perfect, but I don’t think that’s possible.
Don’t forget about the autonomy. It will do a lot of things for you automatically (i.e. you don’t have to ask it anything), like look up faster routes if the one you usually travel, let you know how your favorite sports team is doing (again, you don’t have to tell it anything), and what the local food is like if you’re out of town. It can know all of these things thanks to Google’s new Privacy Policy, which lets Google use data they’ve collected about you in other services.
…if the one you usually travel is obstructed by slow traffic…
Come on Google! You can’t be Siri-ish!
Drink much? 😉
Speaking of Siri, minutes ago watched a local TV newscast where a man was in an accident and asked Siri to dial 911. Siri declined on camera. Immediately tried it myself and got the same response. The report mentioned why would Apple allow this to happen?
I can see the headline now: “Apple Death Phone Implicated in Tragic Accident”
Yeah, that pesky Microsoft Media. 😉
It’s a liability issue. You can be sued if you provide the service and it doesn’t work, but not if you don’t provide the service at all (“the service” in this case being voice-dialing 911 with Siri). Something like that.
My new favorite word: Tardoscenti!
Slack jawed yokels unite! Get a Siri-like capable device and pretend that you have a real phone.
I recall the early days of cell phones when you could get a fake cell phone to pretend with in your car to make you look like the ‘important’ people and be cool too.