Microsoft finally unveils its Siri competitor ‘Cortana’

It’s been nearly three years since Apple unveiled Siri on its iPhone 4s, and Microsoft finally has its answer to the digital assistant: Cortana. Named after a virtual character in the company’s popular Halo gaming franchise, the feature is powered by Bing and offers a mix of Google Now-ish and Siri-like characteristics.

We first got a glimpse of Cortana earlier this year courtesy of a developer leak, but Microsoft officially unveiled her this morning at its Build Developer Conference in San Francisco. The assistant will ship alongside several other new features in the Windows Phone 8.1 update, expected to launch in the next few months…

How does it work? Cortana can be triggered either by an assigned Live Tile on your Windows Phone home screen, or via your device’s built-in search button. From there, it works pretty much like any other digital assistant, capable of setting alarms, searching the web, finding nearby restaurants and other standard affair.

Cortana also has a few unique traits as well, such as contextual reminders that will remind you of something when you’re talking to a designated person, and the ability to add shows to your queue on Hulu Plus. Microsoft has provided an API for third-party apps to interface with—but to what degree, we don’t know yet.

Here’s a video overview of Windows Phone 8.1 (Cortana comes in at 1:50 mark):

Other 8.1 improvements include a new Action Center, similar to iOS 7′s Control and Notification Centers, a refreshed start screen and an updated Windows Phone Store. Skype has also been integrated in new ways this time around, and the WP keyboard has been revamped with support for ‘wordflow’ gesture-based typing.

Microsoft says the update will be rolling out to Windows Phone users in the “next few months” and will start shipping on new devices later this month. On that front, 3 new Nokia Lumia phones were also unveiled today, including the Lumia 930 which features a 1080p display, a 2.2Ghz CPU, 2GB of RAM and a 20MP camera.

Overall, Windows Phone 8.1 seems like a solid update and early reviews of Cortana have been glowing. It would seem that Apple and Google have their work cut out for them. Apple is up first, with its World Wide Developer Conference to likely take place in early June, and Google will follow with its I/O Conference later that month.

Apple iPad crowned as “Most Satisfying Tablet in 2013” and “Google Now” Comes to iOS

Apple’s iPad ranked first in the list with a score of 836 over a total possible score of 1,000 points. The study questioned tablet owners on five categories. These include performance, ease of use, styling and design, features, and cost.

Apple’s iPad scored high on the first four categories. On the other hand, Amazon’s tablets excelled in the cost category, scoring an overall score of 829 points out of 1,000. Other tablet manufacturers such as Samsung, Asus, and Acer followed close behind in the list, though their scores were all below the study average of 828 points.

The results of the study indicate that tablet owners are less likely to add or replace their units anytime soon. Last year, 37 percent of tablet owners stated they intended to purchase a new unit in the coming year. In the 2013 survey only 27 per cent declared they still intended to buy a new tablet within the year.

The research revealed that consumer satisfaction is higher when the tablet unit is a communal device. In the study, sole users scored 28 points lower in satisfaction compared to those who shared a tablet between four or more people. This leads to the suggestion that group satisfaction may have a significant effect on subsequent purchases and brand loyalty.

Google’s iOS Search app, now with Google Now

Boom, just like that Google has issued an update to its excellent Search app for the iPhone and iPad which enables some of the most popular Google Now features on the iOS platform. At least initially, Google Now on iOS devices doesn’t support some of the features Android users have come to love.

Boarding passes, activity summary, events, concerts, Fandango and Zillow cards aren’t included in the update.

All told, 22 of the 29 card types found in Android have made their way to the iOS edition, including weather, traffic, transit schedules and sports scores. Also: Google Now doesn’t have Push Notifications, which makes the feature less useful than on Android, where Google Now can notify users via alerts of their upcoming appointments, changes to their flight schedule, weather and more.

Your promotional video, screenies and additional details are after the break…

The overall look and feel of Google Now on iOS is virtually indistinguishable from its Android counterpart.

However, Google Now on Android is more seamless due to its integration with Google’s mobile operating system, which includes accessing Google Now anywhere with an upward swipe, but also live-updating home and Locks screen widgets which, of course, are not supported on iOS.

Google Now Cards missing from the iOS build: airline boarding passes, activity summary, events, Zillow, Fandango, concerts, research topic, nearby events.

According to AllThingsD, we should expect upcoming new Google Now Cards on Android first, “and then see them added to iOS later.”

To refresh your cards, just swipe up. You must be signed in to the Search app with your Google Account to use Now features.

Google’s blog post reads:

Google Now is about giving you just the right information at just the right time. It can show you the day’s weather as you get dressed in the morning, or alert you that there’s heavy traffic between you and your butterfly-inducing date-so you’d better leave now!

It can also share news updates on a story you’ve been following, remind you to leave for the airport so you can make your flight and much more. There’s no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most-and the more you use Google Now, the more you get out of it.

Here’s a promo clip.

The app icon has also been slightly tweaked.

From release notes:

• get just the right information at just the right time with Google Now.
• weather and traffic conditions before you start your day
• updates on your favorite sports teams and breaking news stories as they happen