Samsung's S Voice likes to think it's Siri

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

S-Voice is Samsung's Bizarro-like clone of Apple's Siri voice assistant service, and like any Bizarro worth its chalky skin, it seems to be hugely conflicted about it's progenitor. Alex Dobie of Android Central reports:

On the international Samsung Galaxy S4 (and some other Samsung phones -- we've had varying results), asking S Voice if it's ever used an iPhone prompts the response "No, I have standards." Ask it "Are you Siri?" and it's a little more coy -- "I like to think I am."

In my tests, Siri has no opinion on, or frankly any idea what a "Galaxy S" or an "S Voice" was, but helpfully offered to perform a web search if I really wanted to find out. Serious question, though: Any advantage to using S Voice over Google's phenomenal Voice Search and Google Now features anyway?

Source: Android Central

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

20 Comments
  • Can google now do in phone actions like set reminders and alarms etc, that we use SIRI for? We know it is great at searching for web information.
  • Yes
  • No
  • Hmmm, should I be surprised that someone with the name 'Macbook Pro' spreads incorrect information about Android? ;–)
  • (smh) YEA DUDE!!!! Everyone that uses a MacBook must be an Android hater........OR maybe the commenter is just wrong & has no hidden agenda to "spread incorrect information about Android". As always, there's no need to be so defensive about an operating system bruh
  • So which is it. HAHA.
  • Google Now can set alarms and reminders. Just used it to set an alarm, and then a reminder to go off at a specific time to do a specific task. I was not a big fan of S Voice when I had my Galaxy S3, then again I do not care much for Siri either. I just want the information I'm looking for, not a virtual buddy to have a conversation with. Guess that's why I prefer Google Now.
  • I have an iPhone and I think SIRI is useful, but if I had an Android device, I would be all over Google Now, I find SVoice redundant in someway if it does the similar things to Now.
  • The new Google Search is a great Google Now option for iOS users. It's so much more useful than Siri on most things.
  • I disagree. It may be useful if you use Gmail, but I do not. So it is only useful for web searches and driving directions. Anything else SIRI works for me much better. I have removed Google Search from my phone. As I said if I had an Android phone and used GMail Now would be splendid, but such is not the case with me right now.
  • If you have a Google account it is more useful, not necessarily if you use Gmail. But yes, I agree, having both helps make Google Search work well. But Siri isn't as helpful to me as Google Search. The only thing Siri is great at that I have used her for is setting alarms. Directions via Siri are ok, but I prefer Google Maps, so that doesn't help. And she doesn't always understand my directions search. I have yet to use Siri and not have to repeat myself...that to me, is a huge problem with Siri.
  • I hear many people have problem with SIRI understanding them. I don´t have a problem with that, and it is interesting, since I don´t speak American English, but I do speak very clearly. I use SIRI for making appointments, setting alarms, check for quick information on the web etc. I use SIRI a lot. I have a Google account, and I had Now installed on my iPhone, well Search, and it only showed me directions, weather and stocks. I shows me nothing else. But stuff like airline info etc, I imagine it would need a Gmail account with info for that. I think both services are useful on the iPhone because they are not really the same thing..
  • Another Samsung product, another apple copy but poorly implemented. Oh wait, they do their own stuff but its always useless crap
  • Super right!!
  • A poorly implemented copy of Siri? That says a lot considering how poorly Siri was implemented. Siri is slow to answer and rarely answers with anything other than "should I search the web for it", that is if she even understands what I'm saying... I have never used Samsung's S-voice, but Google Now answers very well 90% of the time.
  • Haha wow... Samsung just shot itself in the foot!
  • What a bad joke for samsung!
  • "We're working on a smart watch too."
  • LOL.. Now that was funny!!
  • It's bloatware, what do you expect? It's that stuff you don't want on a computer. How many buy a HP or Dell and actually enjoy all the bloat they pack on a clean OS? It's still funny that people seem to celebrate this in the mobile world as something good..