News - Windows Phone 8.1 Cortana digital assistant demoed in video

[HEXUS]

Following leaked pictures and details which emerged at the start of the week.

Read more.

[OilSheikh]

I was excited until I watched the video and found that Cortana actually does not speak like Siri!

[Otherhand]

I was excited until I watched the video and found that Cortana actually does not speak like Siri!

I think you can be pretty certain she does speak. It's just a very poor demo:

"For some reason the video creator chose not to say anything or have Cortana respond vocally during the video. That's a shame because many geeks are eager to find out if the Windows Phone Cortana is voiced by the same actress behind the Halo video game character."

[GalaxyMaster]

I don't know what I'm supposed to think about this....

[crossy]

I don't know what I'm supposed to think about this....

Let me help. As noted in the article the demo isn't actually useful. So as to the feature, may I suggest either:

(a) "Ooo, that's nice" And be excited about the new feature.

or

(b) "Meh, stupid gimmick, I won't use it"

I'm kind of in-between. Upside is the potential to use this in a handfree situation - especially if driving and on a wireless headset. So being able to do "Navigate to ...." or "Play Jumping Jack Flash" or "Next track" is a plus point.

On the other hand there's the implementation issues. Siri's problems with accents are well documented. I tried the 4.3 version of Google Now and it's recognition is very good. Downside is that it doesn't seem to recognise that you've got a Bluetooth headset connected and listen to that, oh and it doesn't control the music player (but that could be a Galaxy S3-related issue). My S3's "S-Voice" also doesn't "do" BT headsets, but at least with that I could control the music player.

What I will say though is that a US-accented "robotic" voice for voice notifications etc would incline me not to use it.

There's also the privacy (or lack of) issues. Do you want all and sundry hearing what you're searching for? And, there's the "fun" that can be had if this is reading out your text messages. Supposing your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/partner decides to do a bit of "sexting" while you're on the 17.30 from Kings Cross, and your daft phone decides to read that message out loud (to the amusement/disgust/jealousy of your fellow passengers). Not good!

[TheAnimus]

There's also the privacy (or lack of) issues. Do you want all and sundry hearing what you're searching for? And, there's the "fun" that can be had if this is reading out your text messages. Supposing your wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/partner decides to do a bit of "sexting" while you're on the 17.30 from Kings Cross, and your daft phone decides to read that message out loud (to the amusement/disgust/jealousy of your fellow passengers). Not good!

I would have thought that if it works like TellMe (the predecessor to Siri and such) that it would only speak on notifications via headphones or BlueTooth headset by default.

[crossy]

I would have thought that if it works like TellMe (the predecessor to Siri and such) that it would only speak on notifications via headphones or BlueTooth headset by default.

I'll maybe try that with Google Now (even if it is a battery sucking vampire). Although that other one I tried insisted on reading out every message out loud - which is a bit of a pain since my bank texts me a mini-statement every Friday.

Like the video - LOL! Although Google Now is also pretty US-centric.

[Ithilstone]

LOL silent lots of it - what kind of demo it is ?!?!

[crossy]

LOL silent lots of it - what kind of demo it is ?!?!

Maybe Cortana got a virus? ... Laryngitis!

[TheAnimus]

I think it's more that this sneak peak the person didn't want to give anything away. It's kind of annoying, but I think the official announcement will be next month, clear up what it can and can't do.