To aid in its uphill battle against Apple and Android, Microsoft is adding a voice assistant of its own to Windows Phone 8.1 and according to the latest details she could pass as Siri’s sister.
Inspired by AI character from the Halo series, Cortana will replace Bing-search in the update and act as a mix between Siri and Google Now, according to the Verge, but the UI and personality will be pretty similar to Siri:
“Cortana will replace the built-in Bing search feature, which is currently launched through a dedicated hardware key, and acts as a digital assistant with a mix of Siri and Google Now functionality. We’re told that Cortana will take the form of a circular animated icon with the hue of your selected Windows Phone accent color, and will have a personality not dissimilar from Apple’s Siri. Cortana will be backed by data from services like Bing, Foursquare, and others to give it some of the contextual power of Google Now.”
The report also says Cortana will animate when speaking or thinking, frown and bounce around with emotion – sounds like an updated version of Clippy.
No word yet from Microsoft on a Windows Phone 8.1 launch date, or even a public unveiling, but with iOS and Android eating up all the marketshare, it better be soon.
Source: The Verge
