If there is a technology that has made great strides on smartphones in recent years, it is certainly the speech synthesis engine, which has made it possible to offer all users voice assistants with natural and (increasingly) precise voice, so as to to be able to respond quickly to our requests and questions without having to use the on-screen keyboard each time. The success is so evident that speakers were born designed only to allow us to communicate with the voice assistants, so that we can take advantage of them at any time of the day.
The best smartphone assistants are undoubtedly Google Assistant (on Android and iOS) and Siri (exclusive voice assistant for iOS), but there are a large variety of voice assistants that we can install on our favorite smartphone, each with strengths and weaknesses .
Let's take a closer look at the best voice assistants for Android and iOS that we can use as alternatives to Google's assistant and Siri, so that we can independently choose the best.
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All voice assistants have various characteristics that make them different from each other (even the precision in recognizing our voice is important), but the only requirement that is certainly required by all the assistants is the presence of a connection to Constant Internet (Wi-Fi or LTE), in order to correctly interpret our commands and access the features, even if these concern device functions.
Currently we do not recommend using voice assistants if we do not have sufficient cellular network coverage (less than 3 notches) or we are connected via 2G and (in some situations) 3G: these networks may be too slow to guarantee a fast response from the voice assistant, often causing it to freeze completely or show an error message.
1) Amazon Alexa
The most promising and valid alternative voice assistant to the most famous ones is definitely Amazon Alexa, available as an app from here -> Amazon Alexa (Android) and Amazon Alexa (iOS).
With this voice assistant we will be able to obtain, using only our voice, valuable information on the weather, search the web for anything that passes through our mind, create to-do lists and reminders complete with an alarm clock and, very importantly, we can control home automation devices compatible with the voice assistant (sockets, lights, speakers, compatible thermostats etc.).
With Alexa we can also set Skills, so as to customize the action or the opening of a specific app every time we use a voice command (for example we can open Spotify to listen to a specific song or genre in particular).
This app is essential in order to better configure the Amazon Echo, the smart speaker that automatically answers any question or command without having to use the app every time.
He is currently the best voice assistant together with Google Assistant, also thanks to the support for a large number of devices designed for home automation.
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2) Microsoft Cortana
Another good voice assistant that we can try on our smartphones is Microsoft Cortana, available as an app from here -> Microsoft Cortana (Android) and Microsoft Cortana (iOS).
The Cortana assistant is the same as already seen on Windows 10 and allows you to quickly search the web, play your music and podcasts on your phone, provide various weather and traffic information, create lists and reminders and also open documents saved on OneDrive.
Obviously, any form of integration with home automation devices is still missing (rivals are very advanced on this), but if home automation does not interest us, Cortana is definitely a good voice assistant.
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3) Samsung Bixby
If we purchased a new Samsung smartphone, we will be able to benefit from the Bixby voice assistant, which has taken the place of the old (and inaccurate) S Voice.
This voice assistant can be called up on every recent Samsung smartphone (from 2017 onwards) by pressing the Bixby button twice (positioned laterally on the left), or we slide from left to right to open the configuration screen.
To use it we will need a registered Samsung account and an active Internet connection (like all the other assistants in addition).
Once active we can use our voice to search the Internet, activate the apps on the phone, send SMS and chat messages and schedule an alarm or reminder for future events.
A constantly growing voice assistant, to be monitored for the future (currently it seems too immature, but it could grow dramatically given the support from Samsung).
4) Conclusions
The ones we have mentioned on this page are the voice assistants that work with the Italian language (we can use voice commands in Italian) and that can present themselves as valid alternatives to the integrated and most famous assistants that we all tend to use.
Amazon Alexa is really very advanced, it offers many functions and integrations, it can be used to configure Amazon Echo but it can also work independently within the app, so that it can be used instead of Google Assistant even when we are away from home.
The other assistants examined (Cortana and Bixby) are good assistants for simpler commands, but they lack integration with home automation so we can consider them "inferior" at this time, even if future app developments could bring very interesting news. .
If we want to deepen the discussion on the voice commands that can be used by the phone, I refer you to reading our in-depth articles.
- Android voice commands to make calls, read SMS and voice notifications
- Dictate verbally on Android and iPhone
