New competition for Siri: Cortana, the virtual assistant for Windows Phone 8.1

The advancements Apple showcases to the world year after year leave the door open for competing companies to follow suit. After Google Now , the assistant for Android devices, flooded television and the internet with commercials, making us think, "I've seen this somewhere before," it's now Microsoft 's turn to show us another Siri imitation . We're talking about Cortana , the virtual assistant for Windows Phone 8.1 devices , whose name comes from a character in Halo and which Microsoft added in an effort to increase the adoption of its mobile operating system.

With a friendly "Hi. I'm Cortana. I can make life a little easier," this voice-activated virtual assistant introduces itself to the user in a somewhat peculiar way, but not unlike the already familiar Siri and Google Now . Cortana requests a series of permissions since the server is hosted in the cloud (Microsoft account, microphone and location access, etc.).

This lagging copy of our friend Siri asks the user a series of questions to "get to know them better." These questions include: How do you prefer to spend your nights? What are the two most important things when you think about food? And which news section do you check first when you want to catch up? Thanks to these questions, the assistant can index the user's tastes, interests, and preferences without constantly having to ask, thus acquiring the ability to provide information and recommendations all the time.

It is estimated that Cortana 's arrival will be announced, along with hardware and software improvements for this new Windows Phone 8.1 , in April, when the BUILD developers conference will take place.

Source: Unleashthephones

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