Microsoft says Windows Phones have had Siri-like functionality for over a year | Hacker News Reader

Microsoft says Windows Phones have had Siri-like functionality for over a year

appleinsider.com

10 pointsgaoprea24 comments

I don't what the problem is here, if you watch the interview he was asked about Siri and he explains that Tellme allows you do very similar features, ie you can say 'send text to bob' and it guides you through that process, or you can query things with Bing. He even concedes that Apple has far better marketing around these features, but makes the point that it was the only real new feature of the phone.

All of this is true, and it is hardly newsworthy. What else was he to say when asked about Siri?

PS, interview is here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/11/23/microsofts... skip to 1.50

The problem is that he is either being intentionally deceptive, or hasn't used Siri.

Dishonesty and/or ignorance from someone of his stature merits a public pillorying, don't you think?

Edit: third possibility: he doesn't actually see the difference between voice control functionality (a la Microsoft's or Apple's prior products) and Siri. That's when his senior staff start looking for new jobs.

Gassee says it best: https://twitter.com/#!/gassee/status/139458990731046914

That tweet also seems to link to the original article: http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/11/23/mundie.insists...

> If true: We're imbeciles If false: We're imbeciles.

What does that mean?

It means that if they really did have something like it then they're imbecilles for not marketing it like Apple did. If they didn't have it then they're imbeciles for not having thought of it.

It means: either they had equivalent technology and failed to market it (imbecilic), or else they don't actually have equivalent technology and either don't understand the difference (imbecilic) or hope you won't notice the difference (imbecilic).

This is hardly an apples for apples comparison. The quality and implementation of these features are more important that ticking the box labelled "voice recognition".

Tellme is very similar to the original iPhone voice commands, requiring certain key words and syntax to be adhered to. Siri on the other hand allows for quite a bit of flexibility in how instructions are given, or in many cases instructions aren't given but a situation is stated. e.g. "I'm drunk" will prompt siri to bring up the number for taxi services in the area.

Despite that difference the voice recognition in siri is also (in my opinion) far better, a culmination between it being very fast and in my experience suitably accurate.

You won't see microsoft comparing them side by side, because it's a dismal race, but someone else did, read it here: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20111124/tellme-on-windows-...

This is laughable. I tried voice commands on a Windows Phone 7 device and it could not even make out the simplest of commands, whereas an old iPhone with the pre-siri "voice commands" was at least able to call people and control music playback. Microsoft has plenty of budget to get some decent voice recognition technology; it was just never a priority for them.

apple have had Siri-like functionality since the release of the iphone 3gs.

Yep. They (and everybody else) did not have Siri-like functionality, they had/have basic voice command: serviceable, but pretty inflexible. The point of Siri is to make the machine work harder to understand the human, not to make the human work harder to be understood by the machine (it's not quite there yet, but multi-step contextual commands are pretty nice for instance)

As with Android, it's not about how well something works, it's about having a big long bulleted list of features.

Look, I want to like the iXXX alternatives. But I can't get behind half-baked alternatives. "We have voice recognition (that's barely adequate)" "We have USB PORTS!!! (that don't support anything but USB disks") "We have wireless support (that's STILL only 802.11g)"

I would like to see an honest competitor to Apple's products, not products that a geek or fanboy will drool over and blindly think are better.

Windows phone is a really good start. But I still think there's a lot of work to do there before the average person will pick one up.

What's more surprising is that Windows Phones still exist. Would be interesting to do a poll to see if anyone on HN has one. I'm skeptical.

It's not my primary phone, but I do.

The Lumia 800 is also a brilliant phone that I can see gaining some decent traction in the next couple of months.

I'm still rocking an HTC Viva (originally Windows Mobile 6), now running a modded ROM with Windows Mobile 6.5, a Metro-like UI and overclocked from 200MHZ to ~270MHZ. Heh. :)

Windows Phone is actually quite nice. I have a few friends who have one (most of which work at Microsoft) and I've only used it a little but it seems pretty usable. What I like most is how fast they're both catching up and, in some areas, surpassing their competitors.

I think that, given another year, they might be able to get decent traction. Their biggest problem of course is going to be marketing and, historically, that's always been Microsoft's biggest problem.

I have one and I think that the out-of-the-box experience is better than on Android. Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, Maps and Office are integrated in the system. Everything is also pretty fast and fluid even on a year old phone.

Plus you get the most recent OS version pretty fast compared to Android

This infographic was posted on HN a while back, but I think it is very telling regarding the Android/Manufacturer relationship in terms of updates:

http://c27718.r18.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10...

I have a Samsung Focus with WP7 and love it. I don't work for MS in any capacity.

The phone suffers from poor marketing and "Oh gross, MICROSOFT makes it" response. The average person automatically buys an iPhone or Android because they think those are the only options. Techy people automatically assume Microsoft is awful at everything.

I use one running Mango as my main phone and love it - very useable, and live tiles are awesome. My only real beef is the the turn by turn, which is not nearly as good as what I had on the Andriod (but then again, my iPhone also drove me into lakes once in a while - I just think Google did best with the out of the box turn by turn driving experience).

I have a WP7 phone, and I like it quite a lot. The OS is very snappy, the visual styling is unique, and the whole experience is cohesive in a way that not even iOS can match. (On the iPhone, features still feel like they are beautifully designed but entirely separate apps, each made up in their own special mix of wood paneling or linen upholstery...)

Two of my friends have bought WP7 devices after toying with mine. That's fairly remarkable because I live in a country where it's not advertised and the UI isn't even translated to the native language yet.

I have Samsung Omnia 7 and I'm quite happy with it.

I've had a Samsung Focus for about 8 months, and had an LG soemthing WP7 for a month before that (it got confiscated by my carrier, long story).

I've recently moved to Chile and was given an Andriod (froyo) by the local carrier, and I've committed myself to using the Android for 2 weeks. I really miss my WP7.

I've used iOS (iPod Touch), WP7, WebOS and now Android, and WP7 is beautiful and snappy. It is very well thought out and the integration of content into the device is amazing. I am yet to find anything on Android which I think is done better than on WP7. iOS is probably more refined, but not as well integrated, and not as beautiful (but that is a judgement).

I'm still surprised every time I seem somebody else with a WP. What also surprises me is how many people play with mine, and then suggest that they would consider it when replacing their phones. The common line seems to be that 'everybody has an iPhone, I want to get something different'.

Also, I can't find a link now, but I believe HTC said 1/3 of their shipments last quarter were WP. That's huge! It doesn't mean that they are selling well, but somebody somewhere is ordering them. Maybe it is just MS giving them to their employees.

I have one and I really like it, it's beautiful to use. I haven't used Android enough to compare it against, but having used an iPhone quite a bit, I think they're pretty even. iPhone is ahead on the the number and breadth of apps, but WP7 is better integrated (between contacts/facebook/pictures/twitter etc).

Regarding the voice commands, I've only ever used them to try them out (and results were patchy, maybe my South African accent), I couldn't imagine ever using them in everyday use, so I'm not too fussed about Siri (although it looks amazing from a tech point of view).

I find it fascinating to note which phones people use on the street, in subway, or in public places. I saw countless Blackberry, Android and iPhone devices. I never saw a single WP7 device.

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