Siri Proactive Assistant Vs Google Now On Tap [Features Comparison]

One feature of Apple’s new iOS 9 mobile operating system that got a lot of airtime during this year’s WWDC keynote speech was the new and improved Siri. Apple undoubtedly believes in the future of Siri as an important part of the iOS platform but has also conceded that improvements have needed to be made on previous iterations of its voice assistant. Google had already laid its cards on the table with an upgraded Google Now within Android M, but which one is better? Obviously, the sensible thing to do would be to pitch the two against one another.

The folks over at CNET, took the initiative and decided to take a closer look at Apple’s more “skillful” Proactive Assistant in Siri when compared against the latest and greatest Google Now on Tap, which is part of Google Now. Apple’s introduction of the new, more powerful Siri focused on the assistant’s ability to serve up more “proactive suggestions” in its array of results, which the company believes results in a “smarter way to do just about everything.” The focus on improved accuracy of understanding allows results to be delivered faster with a wider ranger of rich answers. But has all of the effort worked?

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The test immediately throws up a number of comparisons and overlapping features between the two assistants. As you might expect from two pieces of software that are essentially built to do the same thing but in their own unique way, the test showed that Apple’s Siri has a fantastic ability to excel at what they are calling “original features,” which includes tasks such as recalling specific photos or videos that have been captured on a very specific time of the day as specified by the search request. This feature was demonstrated extensively during the WWDC keynote and is clearly something that Apple is proud to show off.

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Google Now also comes with its own set of fairly impressive and intuitive features. As an example, the more powerful suggestions feature will take the initiative by presenting actions that appear to be relevant to the search results. The actions presented by Google Now on Tap are derived from the presented information and can include things like creating a reservation for a specific restaurant if one is mentioned in an email. Google Now on Tap is also context-aware, so actions and results can change depending on what is actually being done by the user.

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Checking out the advertised and marketed features of both assistants is one thing, but the final test will come when the software is bundled onto a real-world device and used across a variety of network conditions.

If you want to check out what are the cosmetic changes in iOS 9 compared to Android M, then you may like to check out:

(Source: CNET)

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