We have come a long way since the days of Ms Dos when we had to do every computing activity by typing commands with the keyboard. Now, we can perform complicated tasks with a click of a button and a few spoken words. Yes, we are talking about voice commands and voice assistants here. This is one of those technologies that seemed like a dream in the past – just around a decade ago.
Over the past two decades, technology has advanced at a rapid pace and we went from simple typing to voice commands rapidly. Although voice commands and voice assistants are still not seamless, they have become highly functional and made our life easy – albeit with some bugs now and then.
Despite some minor inconveniences with the voice assistants, the good news is that this world of voice assistants is not ruled by a single entity. There are many voice assistants in the market and among them, there are few that stand out among the rest.
Most Popular Top 5 Voice Assistants
Whenever we think about voice assistants, there are a few names and voices that immediately come to our minds. The two most common ones are Siri from Apple and Alexa from Amazon. While these two rival voice assistants are indeed among the best, they are not the only ones in the meta. New voice assistants are popping up every now so often and given enough time, some of them might rival these two beasts.
Here we will talk about 5 of the best voice assistants out there.
1) Amazon Alexa
Alexa is one of the most recognized voice assistants out there. You can install Alexa on a wide range of devices and you can use it for a wide range of activities as well. But what sets it apart is its AI assistance (artificial intelligence) and ease of use. All you need to do is speak the trigger command and ask it to perform tasks. Although the default trigger command is “hey Alexa” you can customize it to some extent.
Side note: Although the AI behind Alexa is quite smart – it is not smart enough to cause any harm. But if you are worried about this, feel free to check out our article where we discuss the question of “Will AI be the end of human race?” In details.
Some of the reasons why Alexa is one of the best Voice assistants are:
a) Decent AI
Although this Alexa has not gained complete mastery over speech recognition and processing AI, it can still understand and process a decent range of general voice commands. This enables Alexa to answer general questions and simple tasks.
b) Smart Home Support
Another reason why Alexa is considered among the best is due to its compatibility with multiple devices. You can find or install this Alexa in just about every smart device from a major company.
c) Shopping
Although Amazon has ventured into a wide range of other areas, at its core it is still an e-commerce platform. Because of this, Alexa is naturally tuned to provide you with the best shopping experience.
2) Google Assistant
Although the Google Assistant app is not as heard of as Alexa or Siri, it is undoubtedly one of the best voice assistants out there. Unlike its competitors, it does not have a name so far – however, you can simply activate it by saying “Hey Google”. This, in some aspects, is better than having a separate name. But this is not why Google Assistant is on this list.
Some key reasons for this voice assistant to be on this list are:
a) Better AI (Artificial intelligence)
While the AI assistance (artificial intelligence) of Alexa was nothing to scoff at, the Google Assistant app is simply better than the former. It can understand and answer more range of questions and can even perform two commands simultaneously.
b) Compatibility
Google has become the default search engine and its application is compatible with just about every device. Because of this, the compatibility of Google Assistant is constantly on the rise as well.
c) Raid Advancement
For a voice assistant/ virtual assistant to evolve, it needs to have a massive database, and where can you find a better source of a database other than google? Because of this, its voice command system is evolving at a rapid pace. With this rapid database and advancement of AI, you can easily insert custom voice commands.
3) Apple Siri
We all know Siri, it is the default voice assistant of the famous Apple company. Since this is a company that seeks perfection, Siri, is undoubtedly one of the best voice assistants out there. As Siri is from apple, it needs to meet the brand benchmark, and some of the features that aid this Siri are:
a) Apple Integration
One of the integral features of Siri is it can easily integrate with apple products which are rather hard for other voice assistants. The good news for Siri here is that Apple has a wide range of products both big and small.
b) Language Support
One of the big advantages of Siri is that it understands and supports 20 languages, which is a lot when compared to the 4 of Alexa and google assistant. Although Siri does have a limited function when compared with Alexa and Google, Siri grants better accessibility to its function.
c) Smart Home Services
Apple produces more than just phones and laptops – it also produces smart home appliances under HomeKit. This essentially means that as long as you have apple smart home appliances, you can access Siri and do just about everything through voice commands.
4) Microsoft Cortana
While we do admit that Cortana is not as popular as the previous entries, it is still among the best voice assistants out there. Although Cortana is somewhat limited in function, it does have its niche. Some of the reasons why you might want to use Cortana are:
a) Personal tasks
Cortana collects data from the apps on your device. This includes a calendar, call history, notifications, and notes. Therefore, assigning voice commands to perform personal tasks specific to you is rather easy.
b) Type
Despite the rapid advancement of voice assistants, they are still imperfect and fail to recognize many of our speech. The benefit of Cortana is that if it fails to recognize your query or command, you can simply type it out and it will work just the same.
c) Always on
Although this may seem like a drawback to having a constantly running app, because most of the devices have high computation power and decent battery life, the drawback of this feature is not as bad as it seems. On the bright side, since Cortana is always on, you don’t need to hold a button or an icon to use it. You can simply start the voice command at any time and it will respond.
5) Samsung Bixby
Samsung is undoubtedly one of the biggest companies out there. And just about every company on this list, also have one of the best voice assistants out there. Although Samsung Bixby has more room to improve, it does excel in a few aspects that keep it in the competition and among the best voice assistants out there.
Some of these reasons are:
a) Cognitive Tolerance
Although Bixby has limited functions when compared to Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, it can fill in/ predict incomplete commands and ask the user for their prediction. This essentially enables those with a speech impairment to have a chance at using bixby on devices with Samsung Bigsby.
b) Distribution
Samsung is a widespread brand and there are numerous devices. This includes both smartphones and smart devices. Although Bixby is not as widespread as others on this list, with the number of devices, it is only a matter of time before this voice assistance is widely distributed.
c) Personalization
Similar to Cortana, you can personalize Bixby and have it perform personnel tasks such as setting up personnel alarms and sending text messages. You can also make it read your personnel message out which is always a fun thing to do.
Honourable Mentions (Other Voice Assistants)
Besides the ones we mentioned that are among the best of the bunch, there are a few lesser-known voice assistants that are still decent. Some of these honorable mentions are:
- Briana
- Blackberry assistant
- Tener
- Hound
- Speaktoit Assistant
In the end,
The world is advancing at a rapid pace and the growth of voice assistants is simply proof of it. As such, over the past few years, some have managed to become the best over the rest. The ones we mentioned here are undoubtedly the best voice assistants out there. They are popular, they are functional and each of them has its own perk.
We hope you found this helpful. And as always, thank you for reading till the end.
FAQ
Q: What are the best voice assistants?
A: Some of the best voice assistants are:
- Amazon Alexa
- Google Assistant
- Apple Siri
- Microsoft Cortana
- Samsung Bixby
Q: Which is better, Alexa, Google or Siri?
A: All three of these have their own pros and cons. Alexa is better for compatibility, Google is better for ease and Siri is the best for apple compatibility.
Q: What is Siri’s real name?
A: Siri – the voice assistant of Apple was voiced by Susan Bennet. As such, if you really want to name Siri, call her Susan.