Windows Phone Siri-like features, how do they compare? [video]

By Tom Warren, on 13th Oct 11 8:32 am with 135 Comments

Apple’s iPhone 4S debuts this week but how does its Siri voice assistant compare to Microsoft’s Windows Phone speech features?

Microsoft has been working hard to bring more natural and intuitive speech technologies to a wider audience. The software giant introduced some of its Tellme work with the Xbox 360 and Kinect. The Tellme service currently processes over 11 billion voice interactions a year. The interactions help Microsoft improve their speech service as the system continuously learns and adapts. Windows Phone 7.5 contains an improved version of Tellme that now dictates messages and the following features:

Making a phone call by name or nickname
Redialing a number
Calling voicemail
Searching Bing
Turning on the speakerphone
Starting an app while in a call
Navigating Maps

The improvements have been largely over looked in Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 update, thanks to the large number of new features elsewhere in the operating system. With the release of the iPhone 4S, Apple brings a powerful new natural voice interaction to mobile devices. Microsoft’s Tellme technology is more of a command driven feature of Windows Phone right now but the company has plans to improve this in future. “We aspire to deliver services that are just as natural and easy as human conversation,” said Microsoft’s Tellme general manager Zig Serafin, in a feature post on the future of speech earlier this year. “We see a future where the service will know you: know your intent, your social and business connections, your likes and dislikes, your privacy preferences, and the things that define the context that’s important to you.”

Microsoft’s future Tellme speech recognition is a lot more personal and more aligned with Apple’s Siri features. Microsoft demonstrated some of its future speech recognition in Windows Phone in August. A video demonstration (YouTube) shows off a much improved speech interface that will work across devices. “We envision a future where we build on the experiences we deliver today with Kinect for Xbox 360, Windows Phone, or Bing for iPad or iPhone apps, by enhancing the speech NUI experience to understand more layers of context: what you are doing,” says Serafin.

The current implementation in Windows Phone 7.5 is basic in comparison to Siri’s artificial intelligence but it matches Apple’s features in some key scenarios. The ability to dictate SMS messages and reply with your voice is important at times when using your hands isn’t an option, driving a car for example. It remains to be seen just how popular services like Siri and Tellme will be amongst consumers. Speech technology is clearly adapting to modern life but its use will be limited to events where it’s necessary. I don’t expect hordes of people will be asking their phone what the weather is like during a busy commute on a public train. Microsoft’s vision of speech across multiple devices that remember your historical preferences and likes/dislikes is a powerful one. If the company is able to realise its vision with Windows 8, Xbox Next and Windows Phone 8 then it could create a key differentiation from its competitors.

Check-out the video below to see how Windows Phone 7.5 handles speech.

Anonymous

I think the title should read: Siri’s Windows Phone-like features, how do they compare?
- http://www.winrumors.com Tom W
  
  Windows Phone features don’t belong to Siri
- Guest
  
  He has a point. SIRI is the new comer.
Anonymous

Great video. thanks.
MS FAN

Windows phone is awesome!!!
- Test1ngi23
  
  I think it’s very ironic how Android is pretty much the Windows of the smartphone world (all the manufacturers want it) and WP7 is the Linux (much more limited enthusiasm for it). Both desktop Linux and WP7 are better than their competitors in some ways, but suffer from the fact that their competitors are “good enough” is the general public’s eyes. Why doesn’t Linux beat Windows? Why doesn’t WP7 beat Android/iPhone? For the same reason. Because in most consumer’s eyes, their competitors are good enough.
- Anonymous
  
  i think you are streching it… you comparison is way far off… The problem with WP7 is that is has not sink in into people’s mind. No necesarrily that people wouldn’t choose it. If anything WP7 is the Windows of the mobile world. with the upgrade of 7.5 and all the features it comes with it’s meant to knock out every other OS. WP7 is the most complete and easiest to use mobile OS out there. Once people realize how awesome it is they will jump ship to WP7. Linux is hardly better than Windows, it’s a good OS but far from better than Windows.
- Test1ngi23
  
  “… easiest to use mobile OS out there”
  
  Very subjective. I would say that WP7 and iPhone are equally easy to use.
  
  “Linux is hardly better than Windows, it’s a good OS but far from better than Windows”
  
  As much of a Linux fanboy I am, I have to admit that from the perspective of the vast majority of users who don’t have special requirements, this is true.
- Anonymous
  
  Complete?
  Could you show me how to back up my SMS in WP 7.5? So far I have not been able to do it…… since I was using WM 6.5.3.
  
  Just an example of why “most complete OS” is just hyperbole…..
- Guest
  
  I think you messed up what Linux really is. Linux is nowhere
  close to Windows. Linux does not have a GUI as you think. Linux is more like an
  improved MS DOS.
  
  But what you think with your Linux definition is an Ubuntu
  and some other GUI that sits on top on Linux just like Windows 3.11 sit on top
  of MS DOS. But even Ubuntu is nowhere close to Windows.
- Test1ngi23
  
  I’m was talking about Linux distros such as Ubuntu or Fedora.
  
  If you’re the average home or business user that plays games or makes documents or spreadsheets, then yeah, Windows is MUCH better because it has MUCH better driver support and can run MS Office.
  
  If you’re a programmer, or computer hacker/OS enthusiast, Linux is MUCH better because it has great built-in support for LOTS of scripting and programming languages, and is much more customizable and flexible and tweak-able, and can run on non-x86 hardware.
  
  Of course you can install support for lots of scripting languages or 3rd party GUIs in Windows, but then again, you can easily use OpenOffice or even run MS Office on Linux too (via Wine, which runs surprisingly well BTW).
  
  Which OS is better? It ALL depends on what your needs are. There just happens to be a lot more home/business users out there than hackers/OS enthusiasts.
- Guest
  
  Gee, let’s see how many ways your analogy breaks down. Let’s start with the fact that more than 80% of the market is still using feature phones. So unlike the PC market, we’re nowhere near determining a final winner. Then let’s look at the fact that Linux has been trying to beat Windows for a decade, with dorks like yourself claiming every one of those years as the “year of Linux”, but still has negligible share on the desktop. Meanwhile WP7 has only been at it for a year, already has close to the same share as desktop Linux enjoys, and that’s without its largest OEM coming on line yet. Let’s check back in four or five years when the market is mostly smartphones, and final winners determined.
- Anonymous
  
  you are mistaken, wp7 mango is not even available…..for linux its already matured long long back still cant penetrate windows market….WP7 in next 1 year is going to do pretty good as ride has just begun
Anonymous

There are so many iOS5 features that Microsoft thought of first.
- Anonymous
  
  Siri existed in the 1990s. Tellme, did not.
- markusdevine
  
  Apple didn’t make Siri, they bought it.
- phil jay
  
  Did MS make Tellme or just buy it?
- NarcoSleepy
  
  TellMe was also purchased by Microsoft back in 2007. Apple is faster to market, which, unfortunately, is key.
- Anonymous
  
  Faster to market how? Tell me (though more limited than the 7.5 version) was part of WP7. It was also an app for some WM6 devices back in 2007-2008
- Guest
  
  @NarcoSleepy:disqus
  Tell me was implement for Xbox shortly after the purchase. It’s been handling huge volumes of traffic there. It was also implement on WP7. So while I agree with your general point regarding Apple being faster to implement, that doesn’t really apply here.
- Guest
  
  @google-a2b11a7ad519c5f9b2e617d707bc6e2c:disqus
  Bought. $700 million in 2007. But MS had been investing in speech recognition for more than a decade previously, some of which you’ve seen in Windows speech rec.
- Anonymous
  
  Actually they bought exclusive rights to the underlying tech. Siri is not owned by Apple. Apple just bought exclusivity. If that exclusivity has an expiration date, we might see Siri in the future on multiple devices. Anyway, even if it is a great proof of concept, it is still not a feature for which people buy their devices.
- Zikalify
  
  Tellme founded in 1999 siri 2007. Check Wikipedia.
- http://twitter.com/ParkerReno Parker Ciambrone
  
  I’m lmao because wikipedia isn’t exactly the best place to check, but I’ll allow it.
- Anonymous
  
  link for proof or it didn’t happen.
- Anonymous
  
  Yes but in the 90s it was a DARPA project, not an Apple product.
- Anonymous
  
  Siri started in 2007, after Tellme. If you want to start with CALO which spawned Siri, then 2003 is when it began, years after Tellme.
- http://www.mainstreetchatham.com/ JimmyFal
  
  Honestly who gives a CRAP about who did what first, you sound like a little kid, YOUR IT, no YOUR IT. What product are people BUYING. For us it was always WINDOWS and NOT Mac. Now it’s Iphone because OUR phones were way behind. Now we are better than you so we will start outselling you shortly.
- Anonymous
  
  The point is Apple is always faster to market with advanced features. TellMe is nice, but Siri is 10x better.
- Anonymous
  
  @ArrowSmith:disqus for now. I won’t be surprised if they do or don’t, but i think wp8 will be pushed out Q2 or Q3 of 2012 and will have huge improvements in tellme.
- Joe05
  
  Often it is not about being first, it is about doing it well. Case in point Window tablets vs iPad or WM Phones vs iPhone. Neither products from Apple first but they were so much better.
  
  MS is satisfied in just getting something to market then improving it over time while burning through it’s cash reserves playing catch-up. It worked with Windows, it worked with Xbox, but not so well with Search, WP7, Zune.
- Anonymous
  
  Search is actually growing quite well for MS. They are expected to over-take Google within the next few years. WP7 is too early to tell, Xbox was not an instant success and now the brand is #1 in the industry so we still have to see what happens with Windows Phone. Zune as a device did not take off but Zune services are still growing so it is yet to be seen if they will rival iTunes at some point.
Guest

11 billion voice interactions a year.
110 0000 0000 / 365 /24 /60 = 21000 interactions a minite
- http://twitter.com/laserfloyd Lewis McCrary
  
  You have to divide by 60 one more time to get the minute figure. It’s 348.8 per minute. Still, that isn’t shabby!
- Bristlecone43
  
  I don’t think so…the formula is correct as stated. Dividing by 60 again gives you a per second rate.
- http://www.twitter.com/dotcarbon dotCARBON
  
  11,000,000,000 total / 365 days / 24 hours /60 minutes per hour = total per minute.
http://www.vastyles.com/ Tim

It lacks humor and won’t tell me where I can hide bodies, there for it fails compared to Siri
- HeatherL
  
  One again another story telling us how great a MS product is going to be… again MS being the follower not the innovator. It always the same story and I am tired of being played by Ballmer telling that just wait and it will be great… wait until mango, wait until Nokia, wait until Windows 7, wait until metro.
  
  It is time to start delivering, the company has proven it can do it with Kinect, it is time to do it else where. It is way past time for us MS supports to expect more then just me to product and start demanding GREAT. If not we are no better the iTards blinding follow a very poor version of Steve Jobs.
- Anonymous
  
  What do you want from MSFT? They have been delivering features/products at an astounding rate the last several years. Would you rather they be ultra-secretive like Apple? That Ballmer brutalize his employees like Jobs did?
- HeatherL
  
  Obviously you have never been on the wrong side of a Ballmer blow-up, none the less If it meant market leading, innovative products like Kinect rather then DOA products like Zune, Kin, WP7 the YES.
  
  Apologist like you who happy that MS is delivering features/products that almost catch to market leaders keeps Ballmer in charge and real innovation from MS in their products.
- Anonymous
  
  @f1dcab3a78637132bb1b8193f9b5a32c:disqus I hear a lot less praise for kinect than zune and zune pass
- Anonymous
  
  What do you mean how great a MS product is going to be? Tellme has been in the market a lot longer then the iPhone4s and its siri.
- Guest
  
  I don’t agree with everything you said. But MS has definitely been too slow, too often, and for too long. Ballmer should have been removed a long time ago. And if he’s allowed to continue, it’s clear that MS’s competitive position relative to the industry will continue to decline.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pedro-Roque/100000194503830 Pedro Roque

This is just usefull.
Siri is magical. and it was raised by unicorns.
- Anonymous
  
  You’re just jealous that Apple came to market with a superior solution. Siri provides much more in functionality then TellMe.
http://twitter.com/DavidElroyGreen Antonio Raga

Siri does what Windows Phone + Voice to Text already do since launch. Obviously Siri works “the Apple way”, enriched with sissy scenography.
- Anonymous
  
  What? Are you really this blind to believe that MS’s speech is anywhere near Siri? Pick up your windows phone and try to ask it what the weather is fanboy.
- Anonymous
  
  Let’s see fanboy: Hold Windows Button, say “Start Weather,” Look at screen (Confession: you need to have a weather app installed for this to work.) OR Hold Windows Button OR Push Bing button, say “Local weather” and get weather for the place you are at the moment, Look at screen. Siri adds to this only reading of the weather, while I was forced to look at my screen. As I can easily see the weather, this Siri feature adds little real value but gets Apple fanbois really excited. Reading messages to me while driving and allowing me to compose replies is far more important.
- Anonymous
  
  Tellme can do just about anything siri can, especially the example you provided. You just aren’t sitting there talking to your phone forever like with siri. A few simple commands will get the job done.
Anonymous

Don’t you still have to touch the iPhone to deal with incoming messages? That’s the impression I got from Apple’s demo video.

In which case Windows Phone’s hands free wins hands down!
- http://www.facebook.com/simon.andrews Simon Andrews
  
  You have to activate Siri to tell the iPhone to read your message, so either hold down the home button and say “read me my text” or use the button on a Bluetooth headset to say the same thing. Is WP7 different than this?
- http://twitter.com/icecoldixi The Guy
  
  Yes WP7 is different. When you receive a text your BT
  headset will inform you of the test and who it is from and you can tell it to
  read it to you or ignore it. You don’t have to physically touch anything as
  that would defeat the purpose of “hands free”
Anonymous

The problem continues to remain that Microsoft does not know
how to market their products…
something which Steve Jobs oozed with at Apple !

Apple’s products aren’t revolutionary …it’s their damn marketing which is so spot-on !

it makes people believe that their products are revolutionary & worth the money
…something which isn’t true at all !
- Anonymous
  
  Agree. Every major feature in Windows Phone should have a “marketing” name. The Windows Phone speech recognition feature should just be called “Tellme”. It makes it easier to advertise and promote.
- Anonymous
  
  Like Zune. Bleep the haters!
- http://twitter.com/laserfloyd Lewis McCrary
  
  It also helps that media outlets **cough** CNN **cough** literally gush over everything Apple does. That one guy, the one who started mashable(?), was so taken by Siri that it was disturbing. I really hope the piece he wrote was over the top sarcasm. If it wasn’t then he needs help.
http://twitter.com/Henryed07 Henry Edwards

Where are the setting to get the phone to talk to you when a text message arrives?
- Anonymous
  
  Settings > Speech > Play Audio Confirmations : On and then you can decide bluetooth only or whatever
- http://twitter.com/Henryed07 Henry Edwards
  
  Thanks, it was set to bluetooth only so I changed it to always on and it worked, thanks. Now i can use it when driving!
http://profiles.google.com/carlosrfonseca Carlos Ribeiro da Fonseca

Well, since neither one supports portuguese, I guess they’re pretty much identical as in: they don’t work. However, Apple doesn’t even have an office in Portugal, and Microsoft not only has a subsidiary here, it even has a Language Development Center, so one has to wonder what their excuse is.

Where they do work, they’re very different.
Tellme is command oriented; Siri isn’t, it’s natural language oriented and is a lot more useful.
Tellme is a OS feature; Siri isn’t.
Tellme runs on the cloud; Siri runs on the device (and requires a lot of cpu power)
Tellme can be updated without changing anything on the device; Siri requires an app update

All that said, what really matters is usefulness and in that regard Siri wins easily.
- Bristlecone43
  
  Please explain how Siri wins easily! Please explain how you use Siri to do things other than those shown in the video?
- http://profiles.google.com/carlosrfonseca Carlos Ribeiro da Fonseca
  
  With Siri you can say something like “wake me up tomorrow at 8″ and it will automatically set the wake up alarm for tomorrow at 8.
  
  With Tellme you can’t do that. Not yet, anyway.
  
  Make calls, dictate messages, search for stuff, etc. you could do already before iOS 5 and also on Android.
- Guest
  
  “With Siri you can say something like “wake me up tomorrow at 8″ and it will automatically set the wake up alarm for tomorrow at 8.”
  
  Correction. In the demo you can do this. Whether it works as well in the wild is still undetermined. The iOS update yesterday was meant to be smooth and flawless too. Didn’t quite work out that way.
- Anonymous
  
  You sound very desperate and clutching at straws. Despite the iOS update problems, Apple enjoys historic customer satisfaction. It will take a lot more then that to piss them off.
- Anonymous
  
  I’m sure Siri has heavy back-end processing, it’s merely the language recognition part that happens on the device.
- Guest
  
  The challenge in this area is that most of the these systems can barely handle English well, and that’s after a decade of speech recognition R&D. There are too many variables: ambient noise, inflection, regional accent, slang, etc. That’s why you don’t see them rolling out broadly in other languages.
John

One huge speech benefit (that is part of bing itself) is searching for a flight. Being able to say “American Airlines 1234″ and it pop up the flight and status of it is awesome!
Joe

Is it just me, or does his version of WP7 speech have an English accent? That’s hilarious if I’m not just going crazy or something.
- http://www.winrumors.com Tom W
  
  haha yeah it does. Windows Phone speech is localized in each market
- Impartial
  
  Hey Tom where are you guys based in London? Do you ever organise pints with fans of the site?
- http://www.winrumors.com Tom W
  
  I’m based in London yes I haven’t attempted to organize that kind of thing as I’m not too sure how many visit from London.
- Impartial
  
  Can’t reply on your latest response… but if you do organise would be cool to meet the team, in a very short period of time u guys have built a very decent site and it’s refreshing to read quality news on MS. Keep up the good work mate even if it’s 5 of us meeting up would be good and I’m sure you can get some good feedback on the site and ideas and build up some momentum. Having a quick look at alexa you guys seem to be rank 8,672 in the UK out of 3,9 Million sites, not bad so there might quite a few of us! Cheers
- Anonymous
  
  I wouldn’t mind if my US phone had an option for an English accent.
- Guest
  
  Or Penelope Cruz’s
- Anonymous
  
  Yes, if you think getting turned on talking to my phone is a good thing.
http://www.facebook.com/velvetelvis Robert Rothstein

good video. didnt realize how much you could do with speach on wp7. also, rebecca surry is really cute.
http://twitter.com/bySeon Seon

My favorite is using voice commands for Movies. Dont even need an app as bing displays all showtimes and theatres in cards, completely built in with app connect to quickly see more info about a movie via imdb or buy a ticket from msn movies etc
- Anonymous
  
  I love that too!
  
  The only thing I really wish is that it worked with Zune, just for the car really but sometimes I want to play a playlist or album handsfree. Which “tellme” already does with Sync so I am not sure why it is missing grrr…
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Marston/542557737 Jonathan Marston
  
  I know, they really need a way to search/play your music collection (and the Zune marketplace) with voice…hopefully Windows Phone 7.6…
Anonymous

Watch at 1:47 at the video. Thats going to be MSFTs big surprise once W8 takes off. Kinect-driven “virtual touch” integration. Way to kill the bitching about how “using touch on a vertical screen is a bag-of-hurt”. With this, who needs to touch the screen? Want to scroll, just “scroll” with your finger in the air, arms resting on the table. Need to swipe across the start menu? Off you go, just swipe mid-air. Select? Just do it! Minority report, here we come!

MSFT, work faster! I want the future today! :- )
- Anonymous
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR74_TT8lN8 (that video)
- Anonymous
  
  This is just a concept video.. If they manage to pull this off with wp8 and win8 the world will come to an end lol
- Anonymous
  
  No shit sherlock :- )
  
  And why wouldnt they be able to pull it off? They own the technology already. As i see it, Kinect was – necessities to compete in that space aside – from the get-go just as much about getting an opportunity to test out gesture-based interaction on a large scale.
  
  Xbox kinect has given MSFT tons of valuable data, in turn allowing them to make significant improvements to the service. This is similar to what we saw on wp7 being used to feed data into the voice-navigation on Xbox.
  
  At the end of the day, MSFT has both technology and intent to implement it in your everyday computing. What they lacked was an OS that could take advantage of it – enter W8 ;- )
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UWVRPJYQFEG7ZCHPD7LDPBR2CM LWSJR

From the demos I’ve seen, Siri can do similar voice commands, and more. For example, the demo I saw, the user told Siri to set an appointment on the calendar, set a reminder, set timer for 30 minutes, check calendar for a specific time/availability, asked Siri if they needed a to wear a raincoat?, etc. Siri seems more interactive and conversational, rather than just command driven. I suspect that Tellme will be similar (more interactive/conversational) or better over time.

For now, the speech commands are good in WP and seem to work well. And given that Microsoft states that this functionality will improve, I am looking forward to what they have in store – hopefully it will be a cut above the other offerings.
- Anonymous
  
  So when will TellMe reach par with Siri? If Apollo doesn’t do that, MSFT might as well shut down the mobile division.
- Adam
  
  if apollo can’t set an alarm with your voice, they should shut down the mobile division? ha.
- Guest
  
  Dude, how can you post all day long? Are you unemployed?
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Marston/542557737 Jonathan Marston
  
  Microsoft has been talking about TellMe eventually providing more contextual, conversational voice interaction for over a year now. Still no announcements on when that will actually happen, but they’ve obviously been working on it for awhile…
- Guest
  
  MS is always working on things for a while and they’re always still just another year or two away.
- http://twitter.com/TroyGates TroyGates
  
  Siri will be like Facetime, fun to play with the first couple weeks and then forgotten after that.
- Anonymous
  
  Nonsense. FaceTime was never a solution to a problem. People don’t really want to video conference for a variety of reasons. But having a personal digital assistant to schedule appointments in my calendar, tell me the current weather of a place I’m going or dictating a text message? That’s amazing and magical.
- http://twitter.com/TroyGates TroyGates
  
  Most people use their smartphones in public, very few people will be talking to their phones in public. Its a gimick, you’ll see in a couple weeks.
- Guest
  
  @ArrowSmith:disqus
  
  You have a calendar? What does it say: 8:00am-5pm troll Winrumors?
- Guest
  
  What about iCloud?
SDreamer

Been using this on my Windows Mobile 6.1, aka Voice Command + TellMe Heck my old SLVR had voice dial. Using voice to do things isn’t that new, I also use it on my Windows Tablet PC to get things done while I’m doing other things. Siri does up the ante though with how much more natural it is.
Guest

Windows 7.5 Tellme Features are no way near to what Siri can do. Here are some examples.
1. I can ask weather forecast in multiple ways like – Will it rain today? Do i need a raincoat or what is the weather today at some city.
Windows only support weather at some city kind of deal
2. You can set context to your contacts like ho Tom demoed in here, I have setup a contact of my Mom with her first and last name and set a context as Mom to that contact. Now I can say send message to Mom and it knows who my mom is and sends the message. This is not a feature at all in Windows phone.
3. Siri does like setting up appointments and what not which is not still available in Windows.

It is very rudimentary in Windows and Android to what it does in iPhones. The comparison will be a joke. I hope MS updates this thing fast before Apples eats their lunch in this regard.
- Anonymous
  
  You can set a “nickname” to a contact in WP too and say just “Call nickname”…
- Guest
  
  I did not know that. But still there are many features that Siri does that WP7 lacks.
- Anonymous
  
  Agree. Just wanted to correct this point
- Anonymous
  
  Apple has already eaten everyone’s lunch and dinner. MSFT is not even “in the game” with smartphones.
- Guest
  
  I dont go that far. Everybody thought the same thing with XBOX and look where they are now. I just commented on Siri and its features compared to what is offered in WP7. I think WP7 should come out with extraoridnary features like siri to stand out than always catching up. Right now MS is still in catching up mode to both Android and iPhone. I am not sure what is the special feature that is in WP7 that is not in other platforms.
- Yetter
  
  Siri is sleek and sexy no doubt about it. I’ve been moderatly impressed with Siri demo’s i’ve seen but just to quickly counter, I can use windows tellme to find the weather by saying ‘weather in (insert city here)’. If I set my Mom’s nickname to “Mom” than I can text or call her by saying “call mom”. Tellme cannot set up appointments so it’s a win for Siri right now, but don’t make it out to be something that’s outta of tellme’s league. They are comparable, MS are only small steps behind.
http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6G3ZZJCHOLYP3S5CRCIHQ7WDSE MVIM

The problem with Windows Phone’s speech capabilities is that they lowered the volume when using a Bluetooth headset so severely that you cannot hear the prompts for voice dial, text-to-speech, etc when paired to some Bluetooth devices, including many car audio systems. If you haven’t experienced this yet, try it out.
http://twitter.com/efjay01 Ef Jay

Lets be honest, siri is better, but that’s not the real problem. The real issue is that even the voice commands that ARE available in WP7 are unknown because microsoft refuses to tell anyone anything about Windows Phone in any kind of advertising or marketing campaign. So it’s no wonder tech sites, mainstream press and consumers are swooning over siri as to them nothing remotely like this has been done before.

Its the same old story, microsoft does something but tells no one then apple comes along and does something similar and improves on it but shouts it from the rooftops and everyone thinks they invented it. Already seen one report from wmpoweruser from the WP7 India launch where incredibly a reporter bemoans the lack of a way to launch the camera from the lock screen in WP7. Can’t blame people for paying attention when such new tech is presented to them and can’t blame apple for taking advantage of microsoft’s lackluster marketing efforts.
- Anonymous
  
  MSFT believes in the “word of mouth” instead of spending money on TV ads.
- Endlesslydodgingtroll
  
  MS spent $400M launching WP7. As usual, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Hey, while I have your attention, did you find that link yet to the forum where users were complaining about the Titan’s screen? You know, like you said you read? You weren’t lying were you?
- Research First
  
  They didn’t spend $400M- they initially budgeted for that amount but according to reports since then and quotes by manufacturing partners, Microsoft later decided against spending that amount and instead reserving it for Mango’s release.
  
  http://www.dailytech.com/As+Windows+Phone+Turns+One+Microsoft+Hopes+to+Buy+Market+Share/article23000c.htm
- Learnhowtoread
  
  @researchfirst:disqus
  
  Nothing in there has MS saying they didn’t spend it. And the same article says MS had admitted that Bing may never make a profit. And that’s has definitely NOT happened.
http://twitter.com/brandnewfunk Brandon

This UI seems more integrated, attractive and snappier than Siri, though Siri has more AI. I’d rather TellMe. WP is just so clean and professional-looking and fluid in movement.
Guest

Long story short, MS paid >3X more than Apple and bought the wrong company because SIRI’s technology looks to be better than Tellme’s. And given that SIRI was a startup and lacked all of Tellme’s experience and “learning”, that’s pretty incredible.
- Anonymous
  
  MSFT always overpays, and under-performs. They spend the most money on R&D of all tech companies, around $8.5 billion per year compared to Apple’s $2 billion per year. Yet Apple has zoomed past MSFT in market cap, cash horde, profits and most importantly mind share. People all across the world think Apple is magical and “insanely great”, and mostly just “Meh” on MSFT.
- Guest
  
  Yet here you are, hour after hour, day after day, alias after alias. So apparently MS still fascinates you.
- Anonymous
  
  I’m just pointing out FACTS troll.
- Adam
  
  @ArrowSmith:disqus Whenever i read a post that seems at all against apple, i always expect to see you comment. i think that would make YOU the troll there buddy.
- Guest
  
  @ArrowSmith:disqus
  Facts? Like that forum you read where users were criticizing the Titan’s screen? The one you’ve been asked to produce but can’t? Those kind of “facts”?
http://twitter.com/oolong2 oolong2

The Tell me features are good, but as people point out they are under marketed.

Yet based on the demo Siri is better than TellMe because it can figure out the context based on a sentence instead of you telling it the context. Similar to how Google/Bing can figure out the context based on your search terms. Although there are bound to be a lot of bugs based on this approach which is why Siri is still unreleased.

However if Apple can work out the bugs it will be a serious contender.
Deadonthefloor

I think it’s funny that people compare TellMe to Siri.

Sure both technologies are used on the phone, but in TellMe’s case, the software is pre-installed on EVERY windows product since Windows Vista.

TellMe powers voice-IVR systems of many of the companies around the world. It’s TellMe technology that turns voicemails into emails within the Microsoft Exchange ecosystem.

TellMe is the voice technology that powers 1.800.Bing.411, XBOX Live Support, Ford Sync, ETC.

Yes Siri has a nice natural language preprocessor that makes it seem better, but TellMe is already more pervasive and has more analytical data to munge through to improve over time.

imo, Siri IS the kick in the pants MS need to improve TellMe.

Here’s hoping Bill Buxton watched the Siri demos.
- Anonymous
  
  Ask yourself why MSFT is never the leader and always needs Apple to kick them in the nuts to finally innovate on something. Maybe it’s because all the true innovators are working for Apple and not at MSFT.
- Anonymous
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNS9MzGOQtU
Morgan

Tom I love this site and I am in it multiple times everyday. That being said…. DAMMIT! Please change that sound that you start every video with. It’s like fingernails across a chalkboard. You know the scene in “Dumb and Dumber” when Lloyd asks if you want to hear the most annoying sound in the world? Well when they remake the movie as Hollywood seems to do, I fully expect to hear the Winrumors video splash screen sound in it’s place.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Marston/542557737 Jonathan Marston

It’s strange hearing the WP7 voice speak in an English accent
http://twitter.com/TroyGates TroyGates

Alas, don’t forget that Microsoft is Apple’s #1 developer and also bailed Apple out when they were close to going under. Microsoft and Apple are more partners now than competitors.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1189268869 Benjamin Darras

Very nice! Thanks Tom.
I didn’t know you had a WinRumors app. downloading now!
http://twitter.com/TroyGates TroyGates

Lets see…

Microsoft leads desktop OS, server OS, desktop office productivity, corporate email/calendering, console gaming systems, fastest selling consumer gadget ever (kinect), desktop/server development tools, online email (hotmail), etc, etc, etc.

Yeah Microsoft definitely doesn’t lead anything. You don’t have to be #1 in every market you are in when you lead so many other markets.
Anonymous

ehh. i love wp7, but even i can admit siri is quite a bit better than Tellme at this point. Tellme will undoubtedly get better, but siri is the best choice out there for right now.
Anonymous

technically this is 7.10 so 7.6 has passed…
Anonymous

technically this is 7.10 so 7.6 has passed…
Anonymous

Shut. Up. You. Stupid. Troll. You don’t improve anything by whining. You don’t make apple technology any better and you don’t affect anyone here’s mindset about the products. All you do is frustrate people. You are no Apple missionary, you are no Technological savior, you do NOTHING to improve the world around you. I come to these sites to read news and to read people’s comments so I can find out about things such as features or products I did not know about. I did NOT come to come to see all the little iCult members and Fandroids bashing for no good reason. you don’t suggest a solution, you don’t offer any credibility, and you DON’T change ANYONE’S mind about what product to get. The people who read tech sites know what they want in a phone, and your senseless pontificating about how much more magnificent and “magical” apple is does nothing to change anything. There is nothing “magical” about technology, and the word sickens me every time I hear it regarding technology, no matter who utters it. We know how everything in our phones work. Not us as users specifically but none of the inner workings are “magic” you don’t ask an apple engineer how something in the iPhone works and get the response “Oh yeah well, the thing is, Merlin decided to come to Cupertino one day and we were like, ‘Hey Mer! You wanna take these phones and like, shoot some magic in ‘em? cool bro!’” Nothing is magic, and your posts aren’t enlightening, insightful, informative, or any other in-word except maybe insulting to our intelligence. We have brains, we know what we want in tech, and you stupid trolls don’t change our minds. Go away.
fonsi

iphone 4s just released in australia a few hours ago, apparently it doesn’t understand “australian” english and does not support location searches. my hd7 does. wp7 win.
Anonymous

Voice commands were on Windows Phone 7 as well enhanced for 7.5. Both of these OS’s came out before iOS5. Not sure how MS is behind. While it might lack humor, but seriously, it’s a computer. ask it to do shit for you and leave it at that.
http://www.geekometro.com E3PL

I don’t care about apple…I love Mango…
Guest

I wonder how all those Apple customers who installed siri on their pre 4S device over the last year feel now that it’s been removed from their device and the store to force people into upgrading to the 4S?
Sintez11

MS - All backed up with Apple products
Fate-Kun

you know what I think MS and Apple should get together and create a phone with all the features users love from both of their models, then build it sell it watch it fail and then go back to being proper rivals, since MS has forgotten what their rivalry seems to be all about, they’ve become a follower rather than a leader, and now that Jobbs is gone they should pull ahead again, If only…
Kellenbmiller

The Apple Zombies, Siri?