Microsoft says Windows Phones have had Siri-like functionality for over a year

I don't what the problem is here, if you watch the interview he was asked about Siri and he explains that Tellme allows you do very similar features, ie you can say 'send text to bob' and it guides you through that process, or you can query things with Bing. He even concedes that Apple has far better marketing around these features, but makes the point that it was the only real new feature of the phone.<p>All of this is true, and it is hardly newsworthy. What else was he to say when asked about Siri?<p>PS, interview is here: <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/11/23/microsofts-craig-mundie-on-siri-been-there-done-that-video/" rel="nofollow">http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/11/23/microsofts...</a> skip to 1.50

Gassee says it best: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gassee/status/139458990731046914" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/#!/gassee/status/139458990731046914</a><p>That tweet also seems to link to the original article: <a href="http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/11/23/mundie.insists.windows.phone.had.siri.early/" rel="nofollow">http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/11/23/mundie.insists...</a>

This is hardly an apples for apples comparison. The quality and implementation of these features are more important that ticking the box labelled "voice recognition".<p>Tellme is very similar to the original iPhone voice commands, requiring certain key words and syntax to be adhered to. Siri on the other hand allows for quite a bit of flexibility in how instructions are given, or in many cases instructions aren't given but a situation is stated. e.g. "I'm drunk" will prompt siri to bring up the number for taxi services in the area.<p>Despite that difference the voice recognition in siri is also (in my opinion) far better, a culmination between it being very fast and in my experience suitably accurate.<p>You won't see microsoft comparing them side by side, because it's a dismal race, but someone else did, read it here: <a href="http://www.istartedsomething.com/20111124/tellme-on-windows-phone-vs-siri-on-iphone/" rel="nofollow">http://www.istartedsomething.com/20111124/tellme-on-windows-...</a>

This is laughable. I tried voice commands on a Windows Phone 7 device and it could not even make out the simplest of commands, whereas an old iPhone with the pre-siri "voice commands" was at least able to call people and control music playback. Microsoft has plenty of budget to get some decent voice recognition technology; it was just never a priority for them.

apple have had Siri-like functionality since the release of the iphone 3gs.

As with Android, it's not about how well something works, it's about having a big long bulleted list of features.<p>Look, I want to like the iXXX alternatives. But I can't get behind half-baked alternatives. "We have voice recognition (that's barely adequate)" "We have USB PORTS!!! (that don't support anything but USB disks") "We have wireless support (that's STILL only 802.11g)"<p>I would like to see an honest competitor to Apple's products, not products that a geek or fanboy will drool over and blindly think are better.<p>Windows phone is a really good start. But I still think there's a lot of work to do there before the average person will pick one up.

What's more surprising is that Windows Phones still exist. Would be interesting to do a poll to see if anyone on HN has one. I'm skeptical.