>> "I switch to my Android phone every now and then"
Do you use Google's services? If you don't, Google Now won't be as 'good as advertised' because it relies on that data which may not seem obvious at first (by the way, Windows Phone's Cortana is much better at requesting and displaying the background data it needs; Microsoft has leap frogged Google and Apple already).
I use Google Mail, Maps and, most importantly, Calendar. I've opted to share the information from those services with Google Now. I've found it's very reliable and useful.