Obviously Cortana was a laggard, but I wonder how much ROI any of these voice assistants are really delivering for anyone. Besides maybe Alexa. I have not observed anyone talking to their phones since these were a novelty.
Note that people are much more likely to talk to their phone in private than in public. It’s rude/weird to talk to one with people around. I use mine at home or when away from people.
I use mine for the following:
* turn on/off the lights * play some music * what’s the weather * call people * add X to my grocery list * start a timer * occasionally, open an app. Usually on apple watch where this is faster * Remind me tomorrow to do X * Get me directions home * Show me pictures of X * Start/stop time tracking timers
The common thing is they’re all simple functions, quick to say, and faster by voice than going 3-4 steps into a UI and typing stuff out.
This is on iPhone. I imagine all of the above use cases work well on android, and I think others would be effective too, as google assistant is reputed to be more powerful.
Note that siri used to be garbage at understanding me. After using it a while it seems much better. Either she learned or I learned to speak differently.
Maybe voice search will be a big thing, maybe not. But if it proves to be one, Google needs to have an established product in that space before it takes off and they're left playing catch-up.
Believe it or not a lot of use is out of the public eye, though. Lots of usage is in cars (where there has been a sharp shift to phone powered interfaces), and as an assistive tech. They are great for breastfeeding moms as an example.
I do have smart speakers and I use them every day to run my lights, music, set alarms, etc. It is wonderful to be able to say 'Alexa, next song' while in the shower and have it just work (with a Sonos speaker, btw).
My own experience, having given Siri and Googles alternatives are fair chance on my phone, went “Hey Siri/Google. Do this thing... OK why did I even bother? It would have been faster to just do it myself”
Do Android users who are part of the Google Home or Alexa ecosystems not use their phones for `OK Google` or `Alexa`? Or do such people only use dedicated Google/Amazon hardware?
I couldn't name a single thing that has improved my usage of Google Assistant since launch. In fact, Assistant isn't any better for my usage than the previous thing, Google Voice Search, available years before. Whatever all the people working on these assistants are doing, it isn't the right thing.