Gadgetory

with Google now getting better and reaching more devices we know it's got its eye set on Siri Apple and Google are investing a lot in voice commands and want it to be one of the go-to features on your phone today I'm pitting Google now against Siri to find out which one is the fastest most accurate and offers the richest experience I'm using the Samsung Galaxy s4 and the iPhone 5 I've also muted both of these phones so that these girls aren't talking to each other while we run these tests so let's start by asking some simple questions ones that both of these apps should be able to handle no problem what's the weather like in Houston not bad what time is it in Tokyo Google was faster where is the nearest Italian restaurant Google was way faster all right did the Giants win last night Siri is a lot prettier but they both gave me good results how many cups are in a quart Google was way faster and part of that is thanks to these cards that are coming from the knowledge graph Siri for the record uses Wolfram Alpha now those questions required now in Siri to pool data but let's see what happens when we ask a few harder questions that ask them to do things that really integrate with the phone send a text message to Chris Parker are we still on for tonight question mark okay Google was a little bit faster but do note that it will require me to tap that and then send the message here I can just send it right away set a timer for 30 minutes okay so both of them were pretty quick but the advantage on Siri is that the timer starts right away remind me to water the plants at 4 o'clock pretty good launch Pandora so Pandora launches right away on the iPhone but takes a few seconds on thus for let's try to play a song play your love by Nicki Minaj so series starts playing the song immediately and Google tries to show me some search results so I can play it somewhere like YouTube even though I know I have that song on my ass for let's try another go to facebook-dot-com so series giving me search results for facebook.com and Google now actually took me straight to the website which is super useful now let's try checking email check email Siri gave them my inbox and Google gave me search results for check email which is completely useless so now let's crank up the heat and ask some questions that will really put these guys to the test show me photos of the Eiffel Tower okay Siri shows me where the Eiffel Tower is and I actually got Google photo search results here in Google now how far away is Los Angeles so series shows me where Los Angeles is on the map and if I tap it I can figure it out but Google now actually showed me how far away it is five hours and 48 minutes make a reservation at Wayfarer tavern at 7:00 p.m. so since Syria has open table integration I can actually make a reservation straight from the app Google now on the other hand shows me a maps card for wafer Tavern and I probably need to call the restaurant and make the reservation myself let's try another how tall is Barack Obama so I got much faster results on Google now and let me show you something else I know now can do that Siri can't where was he born so as you can see Google now is referring to my previous question and showing me where Barack Obama was born now if I try the same thing on Siri this is what happens where was he born Siri has no idea who I'm talking about because she doesn't have that conversational element let's try another question how do I say hello in Japanese nice both of them give me translations and now I know how to say konichiwa let's try another schedule an appointment with Bonnie Gannon at 5 o'clock p.m. okay so the iPhone wants me to select the right email I'll do that cool schedule the appointment but actually it looks like it didn't select Bonnie as a participant of the event the way Siri did so there's a strike against Google now but I'll save the appointment anyway now I want to try something else cancel my 5:00 o'clock p.m. appointment cool so Siri is helpful I can actually cancel it right from here I'll say yes but Google now gives me search results for canceling an appointment now after this quick test it's obvious that Siri and now each have their own strengths for finding information quickly and efficiently Google now easily beat Siri but for productivity and getting things done Siri is a winner obviously you can't get Siri on your Android phone but if you do want to try Google now on your iPhone you can get it through the Google Search app Siri and Google now are being updated and improved all the time so definitely expect some of these results to change it's only a matter of time before we'll have them Duke it out once again for cnet.com I'm Sharon Vaknin you