The Best Alternative to Siri on Android

Siri, the new voice activated assistant on the iPhone 4S, has taken the world by storm the last two months. What many people don’t know is that the Vlingo Virtual Assistant has been around for many years, and offers much of the same assistant-like functionality. This is the first video in a series in which we’ll take a look at Vlingo and Siri in a side-by-side comparison. I think what the video will show you is that Vlingo is the original, and still the best alternative to Siri.

 

Here we compare how the Vlingo Virtual Assistant on Android handles some tasks that Apple has featured prominently in its advertising.  Please check back in with our blog or on our YouTube channel for the next installment – coming very soon.

 

 

Let us know what you think about this video, and if you have any other ideas for comparisons.  We’re all ears!

 

 

 

TJ

  • Anonymous

    Just the title alone tells me that Siri has already won.  If it hadn’t, why would you even be comparing yourself to them?

    Please don’t misinterpret me.  I’m an Android user and have given up iOS because of its lack of functionality versus Android.  I also have Vlingo’s widget in a prominent space on my home screen.  

    But this ad backfires.   It puts you in a defensive rather than an offensive position.

    Ignore Siri or at least show us where VLingo does BETTER.   Give us some things that VLingo can drive that Siri can only dream of, like “Navigate Home” for turn-by-turn spoken navigation.

    • Anonymous

      You are misinterpreting the article. They are clearly not trying to say which one is better. Its simply saying Vlingo is the best ALTERNATIVE on Android, given that Android does not have Siri. They are in a defensive position and theres no hiding that in the article. They even say that Vlingo “offers much of” the functionality in Siri, admitting they are not better than Siri. They are just saying that on Android, Vlingo is currently the closest you can get to Siri.

      • Anonymous

        To me, that says that VLingo has given up the fight and that perhaps we should ditch them entirely in favor of alternative Android apps that ARE trying to go toe-to-toe with Siri, like Pannous’ Jeannie and SpeakToIt.

        Very disappointing.

        It makes me want to rethink my own commitment to VLingo.

        As I said.

        It backfires.

    • http://blog.vlingo.com TJ

      Thanks for the post. You make a really great point, and one we certainly take to heart. This video was the first in a series, and we most certainly will emphasize areas where Vlingo outperforms Siri in future installments. We wanted to start out with something that was objective (these are Apple examples we use here) so that folks wouldn’t think we were creating biased comparisons.

      I might disagree with you that this means Siri has already “won” – indeed they are a formidable competitor, with many more advertising dollars than we have. But we think we can innovate faster, across more platforms and that’s exactly what we intend to do.

  • Guest

    I have Vlingo for Blackberry, why can’t mine do this stuff!?  “I feel like sushi” just googles that exact phrase

    • Goughy71

      I tried saying both and get a list of Google ads. And no actual results let alone something that looks like that in the vid. And my vlingo widget only has 4 options on it, not 5 as in the vid. Is there a setting we’ve missed our is this a different version of vlingo?

      • Travijayvegas

        It looks different because this is Samsung voice powered by Vlingo on the galaxy s2. It is different than normal Vlingo.

        • Goughy71

          Then it’s a bit of an unfair comparison if it’s available on only one other phone! Isn’t vlingo pushing that any phone can have these kind of features ?

        • http://an0nguy.wordpress.com/ AnonGuy

          That’s wrong.  I told mine “I’m hungry for chinese food” yesterday and it searched and provided a list of nearby Chinese Restaurants.  The only thing different on the S2 is the user interface and the trigger (double home tap).  Other than that, they all go through the same servers and offer much of the same functionality.

          Unfortunately, I’m packing my Vibrant up and gonna try using my HD7 as a daily driver.  The feature that Vlingo needs to add that it lacks for me is the ability to have the app automatically read texts and maybe emails through a wired of BT headset and allow you to respond and stuff, similar to what Microsoft did in Mango.

          I always had Vlingo set up as my default voice provider in Android, though.  It’s factoraly more accurate than Google’s Voice functionality and the server round trips MUCH faster than Google.

          Wish they bring it to WP7, unless I get a new Android phone in which case I’ll simply reinstall all my paid apps (including Vlingo) on that phone and start using it again :P

  • Anonymous

    Since siri is only available on the king, and is a week app at best on ios, why bother teasing the noids?

  • Sb Trical

    Nice effort but can vlingo do a common sense puzzle??

  • http://www.pilgrimchris.com PilgrimChris

    I don’t even think of Siri and Vlingo as comparative apps. One is a marketing ploy to woo iphone fanboys who prefer gimmicks and having conversations with Ai instead of people and the other is a useful app :)