IO STOICS

[iostoics-blog]

Deathmatch: Google Now vs. Siri

(A very important point that I don't want to bury at the end: Google's results for locations were not the ones closest to me. The gas station was about a mile further than the nearest one and I don't even know where 2 of those 3 Starbucks were. The distance to the Starbucks is also inaccurate. This gets to my point about journalists/reviews not actually using the feature, just reporting on it.)

These results are an unbiased sampling of my typical behavior. I think about teeny-bopper movies, gas and coffee.

Wait, that's not right...

I think about all sorts of things. These activities are either "I have the time and I'd like to play with the voice recognition on my phone" or "I am in need of something right now and talking should be faster than typing". Broken down into those categories, lots of voice use scenarios are accounted for.

I'm going to do a side-by-side comparison of Siri and Google Now. These are just my particular usage patterns. I'm completely open to the idea that I have just been trained to interact with voice commands on my phone in a way that would make Siri work best for me but I don't think that's the case. In each screenshot, either the voice command is shown or I'll caption the photo if it's not on screen. As you'll see, these are perfectly natural ways to talk to "someone".

The first image is of my query about watching The Hunger Games. I just said

I want to watch the hunger games.

Google Now

Siri

Tapping on the first of the choices in Siri gave me this (I'm not going to tap on the Google Now result):

Siri 1 - Google Now 0

When can I watch Catching Fire?

I tried altering my query a bit to "When can I watch Catching Fire", just to see if I could coax Google Now into a more informative response. I did this because it's one of the things that over time I could see myself adjusting to, being more specific with my questions. To be fair, I asked Siri the same question.

Google Now

Siri

This one is a draw, I think. Neither of them gave me a usable result in the first pass. I do think that taking action on the results would get me where I wanted to go more quickly in Siri, but that's not the point.

Siri 1 - Google Now 0

Continuing our movie theme,

Was catching fire any good? (Spoiler: Yes, we liked it)

Google Now

Siri

Unequivocally, Siri wins this one. It got me what I wanted, in crystal clear form.

Siri 2 - Google Now 0

I need gas

Now, something I do more often than I'd like to do in my Jeep, get gas.

The query was I need gas. My use case is fairly simple. I'm driving and decide that I'd like to get some gas. As hands and eyes free as possible is important here. Neither do it perfectly. But,

Google Now

Siri

Tapping any of the Siri results would have gotten me directions.

Siri 3 - Google Now 0

Now, as the night owl dad of a couple kids who believe firmly in "the early bird catches the worm", a thought I often have:

I need coffee

Google Now

Siri

Tapping the Siri gets me directions to Starbucks. While the quality of the coffee is arguable, but quantity of caffeine is not.

Siri 4 - Google Now 0

Get me directions to Starbucks

Now, let's say that I have trained myself to be a little more specific with my requests and ask for Starbucks by name. (NB: The second of the 3 results shown in Google Now is the closest to my current location. The distance from me is off. I have no idea why - GPS is on.)

Google Now

Siri

I've taken multiple shots here to show you the way things unfold. All of these are without my action on the device. Siri does each of these in turn. It should be faster but from start to finish, it takes about 3 seconds.

Siri 5 - Google Now 0

The Results. Siri wins.

The results speak for themselves. I will say that Google Now's voice can hear what I'm saying more quickly. Listening, not so much. (Neither Siri nor Google Now misheard me.)

I believe that the results shown here highlight the differences in motivations of the two companies. Google's results are full of ads or things they want to sell me or keep me in their ecosystem. Apple just gives me results from whatever data services makes sense. Take that as you will.

[iostoics-blog]

Fin

Well, that was fast. Even for me. A week later, I'm done again. I hit the Apple Store and picked up an iPhone 5S.

That doesn't quite capture it. I hit the Apple Store and picked up a 5S, unsubsidized. (Slate Gray, if you're interested.)

No, not quite there yet.

One more, with emphasis: I hit the Apple Store on freakin' Black Friday to pick up a 5S. And there was no special being run at the Apple Store.

That's how badly I needed to get off the OS.

That's how much I grew to hate Android.

Google Now specifically. I don't understand how reviewers come to their glowing recommendations of this glorified voice search. I swear I will do a monster takedown of this service in a future post because someone's gotta do it. It's bordering on journalistic malfeasance that I did not read a single word about the trouble I had with it.

I can only imagine that it was because all the big tech journalists live in big cities and don't have screaming kids in the back seat clamoring for attention while they're trying to wrangle an answer out of the damned service. That's the only explanation for the glaring omissions from reviews.

Let me get my thoughts together complete with photographic evidence of the awfulness I'm talking about.

To be continued...

[iostoics-blog]

Apparently this is the solution to my previous post. I am not impressed. Sure, it'll work but this isn't really an answer.

Android feels like a crowded Bazaar. Everyone is vying for my attention.

[iostoics-blog]

The downside of freedom. The proposed solution is how we have to do it on iOS. Hilarious.

[iostoics-blog]

Moto X - the resurrection

Another year, another attempt at Android. Well, 2 years this time but the iPhone is really good so it takes a lot for my wandering eyes to start wandering. As the title says, I now have a Moto X. It's the first phone that seems to do *different* things than the iPhone rather than trying to be Bigger Faster Better. I have a lot of thoughts about the switch and living a split Android/iOS life. The first set will probably be comparing and contrasting Siri and Google Now. With the ultimate conclusion being that reviewers and haters of Siri and lovers of Google Now just don't have the same usage needs I do (that's my generous interpretation). Spoiler: when I say "ok google now, I need gas", I expect to be given more than just a Google search for gas stations nearby. Siri, for all her hearing problems, would route me to the nearest gas station without my having to tap the screen.

[iostoics-blog]

> javascript:window.location='drafts://x-callback-url/create?text='+encodeURIComponent(document.title+'%5Cn')+ encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&action=Post%20Link%20to%20Tumblr'

[alanzeino]

An iOS Developer reviews Android 4.0

Having observed from afar the development of Android since it came onto my radar (sometime around 2.0), I have felt compelled to purchase various models of Android devices from time-to-time in fulfillment of mere curiosity and overall, to test the waters with...

[iostoics-blog]

A well documented critique of the back button. He has way more patience than I did to deal with the nonsense. I just know that it is a complete mess.

[iostoics-blog]

Missed a biggie

Autocorrect in the browser seems to be off and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix it. I've read many reviews of the device and this never came up. Again I ask: do reviewers actually use these phones?

[iostoics-blog]

I don't remember the last time I installed a security suite on a primary computer of mine. I know how to avoid getting viruses and malware. I don't typically need it when I use Windows because I don't get on the internet (using a browser) and I'm behind a firewall. In OS X and on iOS, I couldn't care less about what I click on. I just do it. But on Android? It's a brave new world. Enter Kaspersky. Yeah. Awesome. Yet another battery burning thing to add to the Android stable. I'll see if I can avoid it.

[iostoics-blog]

Rooted. Now what?

When I said that I think that to have an Android device is to never be bored by it, I meant it. I'm sure there are a hundred and one cool things I could be doing with the phone now but I can't really think of what they might be. I am still trying to get used to the OS even after all this time - perhaps going back to my iPhone for the past week broke me - but things are still hard to get used to. I'm in it for the long haul at least until the next iPhone so I better get used to it!

[iostoics-blog]

Rooting the GN with a Mac

Since I paid cash money for the Galaxy Nexus to some dude on CL*, I figure I'm on my own now. So, what better way to consummate the relationship than by rooting it? So, rooting the Galaxy Nexus on a Mac. Yes, I've got a Hackintosh so I could just boot into Windows to do it, but what's the fun in that? I found this thread. Hopefully, it'll work. * I made sure that it wasn't stolen first - I told the Verizon rep, straight up, that I was going to buy a used GN from someone on Craigslist and I wanted to make sure it wasn't stolen. He checked and said that he's as sure as he can be that it's not.

[iostoics-blog]

Back from my trip and...

While my wife was on driving duty on the way back from Florida and the kids were soundly asleep in the backseat of the car, I decided to just check Craigslist to see if there were any used Galaxy Nexi for sale. Just in case. Well, I found one and I'm going to pick it up today if it's as advertised. Remember when I was contemplating keeping that old iPhone rather than selling it just so I could have an iPhone around when the Galaxy Nexus wouldn't do? Well, the price of this used one makes that a viable option! Now, I'm still dropping about $450 when all is said and done (there's a $35 restocking fee at Verizon for the new one I bought) and I don't feel 100% comfortable with my decision but I figure the risk of my losing several hundred dollars is significantly lower if I only spend $450 to begin with. Even if I only keep it for a couple of months, the free tethering will be enough to make up that difference. That's a long way of saying I'm having my cake and eating it, too. I'm a grown up. I can do that. :) It's also a way of announcing that I will be maintaining this blog as I'm sure to encounter some annoying (and wonderful) stuff along the way. I hope you'll follow along.

[iostoics-blog]

A couple more observations

One of the things that was critical to my decision is that the Galaxy Nexus isn't a very good phone. I get consistently better reception on my iPhone. Calls are much clearer. I mean MUCH clearer on the iPhone. For the first time since switching to Verizon, I had a hard time hearing and being heard. I can only attribute that to the Galaxy Nexus because when I use the iPhone from the same locations, it's still crystal clear. I know that talking on the phone is passé butane I would like nothing more than not to have to talk on the phone, but it's kind of important for business to return phone calls...

[iostoics-blog]

Decision made.

I'm not sure how many people are actually following my posts but since I started this tumblr, I feel the need to end it. Well, not end it since its been kinda fun but at least update it with my current decision. I've decided to stay with my iPhone. Why? Well, ultimately the things I'm going to miss the most about the Galaxy Nexus have nothing at all to do with the device itself and nothing even to do with Android. It has to do with the LTE I'd be giving up. And since Verizon's LTE seems to be doing a lot of giving up itself lately, maybe that's not a bad thing. Ok. Maybe that's not entirely fair to Android and ICS specifically. There were some really nice things about the OS. For example, the Gmail support is amazing. Considering I've got 7 Gmail accounts for various things and dozens of labels, I'm going to miss that. I'm also going to miss the Google Voice integration with the phone since I use it for my business and while workable on the iPhone, always felt like a lot of work. I'm going to miss the notification light. I'm going to miss the home screen widgets. I'm going to miss the endless wonder that awaits in the myriad settings. An Android phone is one that you will never get bored with. If you love tech and fiddling with tech, it's hard to turn down the allure of the endless possibilities. I know I'm going to to miss all that stuff and as a complete geek at times it's going to be hard. But not having those things will not make me reach for another device if my iPhone is at hand. What I found myself doing more often than I would have liked over the past 12 days was looking for my wife's iPhone. I had to pause multiple times before taking a picture of my kids, for example, to make sure I'd be ok potentially missing the shot or having it come out subpar. I have thought about what device to pack and would be hooked up to the stereo in the car on our 10 hour drive to Florida. Nothing, however, was as damning to using the Galaxy Nexus as the thought of having to use it at Disney World over the next week. Would it be able to make it through the day? Would I be able to get the best possible photo with the only camera I had on me at the time? Because the Galaxy Nexus left me with very big question marks in these areas (and if I'm honest with myself answered these questions with resounding "no"s) I had to cut the experiment short. It was damned fun and has me super-excited about a larger screen, higher resolution iPhone with LTE. And that says a lot. About the iPhone.

[iostoics-blog]

No data?

This may be a network-wide Verizon thing but I'm not seeing anything about it on Twitter, so maybe not. I don't have data access on my Galaxy Nexus. Under mobile network type it says "eHRPD:13". A quick Google search reveals that it's something in Verizon's transition from CDMA to LTE but that doesn't tell me much. Why don't I have data access right now? That's my question. If there's one thing I really hate is not having internet access when I should. #whitewhine> Update 2:52: Looks like it's a nationwide outage of Verizon's 4G network.

[iostoics-blog]

Google Reader app

Just a follow-up to this post about Google Reader apps: gReader seems passable. It's actually a very nice formatting of the articles but some of the display options are kind of incomprehensible and I can't figure out how to have it display folders. Nothing will top my reader of choice Reeder on iOS and OS X but this will work for now. I'm still happy to have suggestions though.

[iostoics-blog]

Two great tastes that don't go great together.

What does This American Life sound like set to a background of Lately? Not good.

Apparently, you can have two programs playing audio simultaneously. Two streaming programs, no less. In this case, it was Pocket Casts and Spotify. I imagine that these apps are at least decently programmed so if it were possible to prevent this sort of thing, it would be done.