Apple iPhone 4S Siri & Google Voice Actions for Android Compared

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The iPhone 4S’ Siri speech engine is lauded as among the best new features of the iPhone 4S. Apple has not only made it easier to navigate and control the iPhone 4S, bit also baked wit and humor into the device. But how does it compare with Google’s own Voice Actions for Android?

Search Engine Land‘s Greg Sterling made a head-to-head comparison between Siri and Google Voice Actions just to see how they fare against each other. People are lauding the Siri experience, particularly when it comes to answering questions — even weird ones — although Google’s Voice Actions seems to shine when it comes to doing searches.

When Siri launched as an integral part of the iPhone 4S (Siri was previously a premium iOS app), people were saying it would be a Google Killer. However, it’s quite the contrary, as Siri actually relies on Google for some things, particularly pieces of information that it cannot get elsewhere. In fact, Sterling says Siri may as well be the voice interface for Google, and Google might see an upshot in mobile queries as iPhone 4S users start asking their phones to find stuff that might be most easily found from Google.

Sterling gave both Siri and Google Voice Actions a handful of commands, including looking for Japanese restaurants, finding the closest gas station, asking when Hanukkah will fall this year, and even how old Lady Gaga is (25 years and 6 months!). The results are a mixed bag. Siri was found to be more conversational, and could pinpoint ages and dates very accurately. On the other hand, Android will usually display a list of Google search results, and a user will have to dig deeper to find answers to questions.

Google, however, shines when it comes to local search and hunting for places, which might be understandable due to the advantage it has with its local search engines. In contrast, Apple will have to find more partners to improve local search on Siri.

What’s the verdict? For now, Siri is found to be better in terms of understanding what a user is actually asking. Siri is conversational, whereas Google Voice Actions will require a user to mention some keywords. However, with the rising popularity of Siri, it might be high time for Google to likewise improve on Voice Actions, to make it more conversational and to get a wider array of information sources.