Google Search and Siri Go Head-to-Head; Who Wins?

[Anthony Bouchard]

TechnoBuffalo performed an interesting comparison test between both an iPhone 4S running iOS 6 Beta 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.1 Jellybean with their voice assistants. Both of the operating systems are pre-release versions and they are the newest releases from both companies. The iPhone 4S uses Siri to answer the user’s questions and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus uses Google’s new Google Search.

As shown in the video, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Google’s Google Search voice service is much quicker – nearly lightning fast – in comparison to Apple’s Siri voice service for the iPhone 4S. Answers on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus are provided nearly immediately while the iPhone was still trying to load everything it needed to in order to answer the user’s question.

The big difference between the two is sacrificing either speed or cosmetic gorgeousness for the other. While the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has a faster response time for answering questions than Siri does, it’s not necessarily as nice looking as Siri is. Apple’s Siri has a beautiful and detailed look to it, while Google maintains their signature simplistic look with Google Search.

Another nice difference between the devices and their voice assistants is with how they are used. With the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, there is a button that can be tapped on the main screen to use the voice assistant. With the iPhone 4S, you have to painstakingly hold down on a physical button for a few seconds to open the voice assistant, which takes even longer. Taking this into account with the lightning-fast responses, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus offers a quicker response time with its voice assistant than the iPhone 4S as a whole. Some Jailbreak tweaks can be used to launch Siri in a similar way.

Google Search also seems to display a more helpful usefulness factor than Siri since it doesn’t ask the user if they want to search the Web for something when the user asks to see something specific, such as the French bulldog picture in the video, but instead shows the user exactly what they ask for. When the user goes to use a voice assistant, chances are that they are doing something where operating the phone could cause problems, like driving. Searching the Web in this instance is a no-go and having the assistant do all the work for you is crucial.

Voice control has an obvious footprint in the future of our mobile phones, so it's not going anywhere. The big question is: Which one do you go with?

Sources: TechnoBuffalo

[CraZyJaVieR]

siri all the way because its from apple xD

[matt200569]

Wow I never realized it was so difficult to hold a button down. Laziness had prevailed. Also who gives a sh** bout a whole .2 seconds. I myself would never even notice the difference. Siri is way nicer looking and in my opinion way better. No arguments necessary here cuz i win.

[Eiswritsat]

It just seems like Siri is more personal so her responses were slightly longer then Googles, I don't know if that's kinda of fair comparison . The google voice adsistsnce is nice though

[HarlemState]

I love how you got Google vs Siri on a G-Nexus vs iPhone4s??LOL! Fu*k outta here lol, siri all day baby, specially when its been raped by Cydia, eewwweeeee

[Carvensno]

Why even do a review? LMFAO :P

Apple, iPhone and iPad News | ModMyi - California Court Grants Apple Ban On Sale of Galaxy Nexus

Cant buy them anyways :P and one of the patents is about the voice search DOH!!!! LOL :P

[zeroskater61]

Ok my opinion so I could be wrong and feel free to correct me if I em but when he asked the phones to search for the bulldog pictures isnt the google search phone obviously going to show photos since its using the web and Siri is a phone feature it self and when I mean it self I mean it's not Connect to the web unless you tell it to?? As for the google search being always connected or not again not sure but if it is wouldn't that just eat your data plan away??

[Carvensno]

Ok my opinion so I could be wrong and feel free to correct me if I em but when he asked the phones to search for the bulldog pictures isnt the google search phone obviously going to show photos since its using the web and Siri is a phone feature it self and when I mean it self I mean it's not Connect to the web unless you tell it to?? As for the google search being always connected or not again not sure but if it is wouldn't that just eat your data plan away??

+1 I do believe you have a point there lol :P Nice call!!!

[Anthony Bouchard]

Ok my opinion so I could be wrong and feel free to correct me if I em but when he asked the phones to search for the bulldog pictures isnt the google search phone obviously going to show photos since its using the web and Siri is a phone feature it self and when I mean it self I mean it's not Connect to the web unless you tell it to?? As for the google search being always connected or not again not sure but if it is wouldn't that just eat your data plan away??

Siri always requires an active internet connection, so it has the resources to do what Google Search is doing. It just doesn't do it.

[kwine]

You don't have to hold down the home button for Siri, just hold the phone up to your ear
and it will activate, just saying

[Dark_Ninja]

Who cares, Siri is a sales gimmick anyway. I don't even use it. Along with every other Siri copy that comes along. If I wanted an assistant to do stuff for me I would have children but I already have a wife so she's close enough.

[Eonhpi]

I use Siri sometime for text and reminders . +1 zero

[rcm]

siri will never be apple's best offer in the iphone, they haven't even bothered to make and update for ios 5 to have siri on the ipad, and the ipad 1 will never have siri unless you jailbreak, apple will always beat android with the power of their phones, faster processor and great graphics.

[xhenryrx]

apple fan boys you guys are blind u can clearly see that the nexus is way better

[steve-z17]

I do like that Google's assistant has more of a human voice to it. Google may be a bit faster than Siri, but I would hope it is, they've been working with voice recognition for a lot longer than Apple has! Plus Siri is still just a beta, it usually takes Apple awhile to get something good out because they like to perfect it. Either way, I like that both companies are moving forward with this.

[Eiswritsat]

apple fan boys you guys are blind u can clearly see that the nexus is way better

I bet you joined this site just to post this didn't cha...

[organik]

Yes, good job Google on copying a feature iOS had first.
In fact, if iOS hadn't happened, I doubt Android would even exist.
The courage to lead and take chances is why I'm sticking with Apple for good.
Also, the speed difference here could be merely a hardware advantage of a newer Android phone vs. an older iPhone.
Wait for the next iPhone...I'm going to!

[J_Marley]

Why even do a review? LMFAO :P

Apple, iPhone and iPad News | ModMyi - California Court Grants Apple Ban On Sale of Galaxy Nexus

Cant buy them anyways :P and one of the patents is about the voice search DOH!!!! LOL :P

You got to be kidding me. I will say this in the nicest way I can without trying to insult you, but it did state in the article that this was a "comparison test between both an iPhone 4S running iOS 6 Beta 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.1 Jellybean with their voice assistants". Now to me this means that while at the moment this might be the only device loaded with this feature, it certainly won't be the last, unless Apple searches for an injunction against Samsung or Google for Android 4.1 or the voice assistants.

Looking at this more objectively than what most of you "fan boys" seem to be, the Android (actual program name?) Voice Assistants' response time seems to be quicker, delivering the requested information faster with minimal effort. The iPhone seems to take longer, but keep in mind that it also adds and extra little blurb at the beginning of the response to each request, like "Here is the weather for today..." before it displays the information. Yes, the look is more polished but that means little when you are requesting info.

I like the fact that Voice Assistants will actually display the web info instead of just requesting if you want to check the web. I can't tell you how many times I have been annoyed by "would you like me to search the web?" and I don't have time to sift through the links. But I assume that this is more easily done with Google due to the origin of their business being a Global search engine power-house.

So with that being said, both have their pros and cons. I'm not going to say that either really have a "one up" on the other. But here is one thing to think about that was not shown. When I think of a personal assistant, as Siri has so many times been refered to as, I think of asking the "assistant" to do an action that I want to automate. An example of this would be like, "Open [Application name]" or "Turn on/off Wifi/Bluetooth". These are commands that should have been included to help streamline the users experience. These are basic things that the operating system already understands and would be simple enough to incorporate.

K, my rant is done. Thanks for listening...

[xhenryrx]

I bet you joined this site just to post this didn't cha...

i used to have all iphones than switch to android and i not coming back

You got to be kidding me. I will say this in the nicest way I can without trying to insult you, but it did state in the article that this was a "comparison test between both an iPhone 4S running iOS 6 Beta 2 and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.1 Jellybean with their voice assistants". Now to me this means that while at the moment this might be the only device loaded with this feature, it certainly won't be the last, unless Apple searches for an injunction against Samsung or Google for Android 4.1 or the voice assistants.

Looking at this more objectively than what most of you "fan boys" seem to be, the Android (actual program name?) Voice Assistants' response time seems to be quicker, delivering the requested information faster with minimal effort. The iPhone seems to take longer, but keep in mind that it also adds and extra little blurb at the beginning of the response to each request, like "Here is the weather for today..." before it displays the information. Yes, the look is more polished but that means little when you are requesting info.

I like the fact that Voice Assistants will actually display the web info instead of just requesting if you want to check the web. I can't tell you how many times I have been annoyed by "would you like me to search the web?" and I don't have time to sift through the links. But I assume that this is more easily done with Google due to the origin of their business being a Global search engine power-house.

So with that being said, both have their pros and cons. I'm not going to say that either really have a "one up" on the other. But here is one thing to think about that was not shown. When I think of a personal assistant, as Siri has so many times been refered to as, I think of asking the "assistant" to do an action that I want to automate. An example of this would be like, "Open [Application name]" or "Turn on/off Wifi/Bluetooth". These are commands that should have been included to help streamline the users experience. These are basic things that the operating system already understands and would be simple enough to incorporate.

K, my rant is done. Thanks for listening...

+++++++1

[GellBrake'rrrr]

siri all the way because its from apple xD

I love my iPhone. Wouldn't trade in for a droid at any cost. Yeah, it's voice functions came through faster, but it really doesn't matter cuz people like myself only used Siri at first. Now I /never/ touch it.