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Android, iOS and Windows Phone OS all come with personal voice assistants. These virtual assistants are now also being made available on other platforms. In August, AppleInsider revealed that Siri, which was limited to iOS, would also be made available on Mac. Even Cortana from Microsoft is reported to arrive in the next version of Windows called the Windows 9 (codenamed as Windows Threshold).

Siri and Google Now have arrived on wearable gadgets like Apple Watch and Android Wear smartwatches, respectively. Recently, PhoneArena and PCMag had conducted a research on all three virtual assistants. We have compared the three for users to understand which one provides the best assistance:

Launch

Long press the search button and Cortana will get started. By enabling the 'Raise to Speak' feature, Siri can be automatically started by bringing the iPhone toward your ear. In contrast, Google Now is always on and listening. If the user says 'OK Google,' it will spring into action; no hardware button or feature is required to activate it.

Web Search

All three digital assistants support web search. You just need to say what you would like to search for on the internet, and each one of them would provide a relevant result from the Web. According to PhoneArena, Google Now and Cortana can automatically correct misunderstood search terms and provide results, but Siri is unable to do that seamlessly.

Assistance

When it comes to predictive alerts like how the traffic would be on your way to the office, Google Now and Cortana do not disappoint. Siri, on the other hand, is unable to do it.

Also, when you reach a place, virtual assistants can remind you of tasks that are related to that place. Again, Siri provides limited support in this area, in contrast to Cortana and Google Now, which can both deliver the said task.

Furthermore, when someone calls you, virtual assistants can show you notifications that are related to that contact. For instance, if you call a person on his birthday and if you are not aware of it, virtual assistants should be able to remind you. As of now, Cortana is the only virtual assistant that has such capability. The feature is not supported with Google Now and Siri.

Calling out the name of the contact to make phone calls, creating calendar appointments, checking the weather, showing driving directions and launching apps are among the other tasks that Google Now, Siri and Cortana can do effortlessly. However, maintaining daily summaries of information that can interest the user and setting interests like showing updates on your sports teams is not supported by Siri, unlike Google Now and Cortana, which offer users such features.

Talents Besides Assistance

Siri can crack a joke or two. Cortana can sing a song for you. What about Google Now? Unfortunately, such a feature has not been made available yet.

Conclusion

All the three virtual assistance programs have been built differently and their performance depends on how they are used. For accurate answers and speed, Google Now is a good choice.

According to PhoneArena, Siri seems to be inferior in various aspects. However, when you use it, you won't feel like you are using a robot, which is also the feeling you get with Google Now. Since Siri can converse to some extent, you'll feel that it does "have a soul."

Cortana is the most recent one among the three and it is still being upgraded. Given its current state, it can be said that it can compete well with Google Now.