Speaktoit Enters In the Battle Of Virtual Assistants, Faces Siri And Vlingo

Apple with the release of Siri for the iPhone 4S has had everyone praising the feature. It is no doubt a great addition to the iPhone, perhaps the only notable one in the new generation of the iPhone. While that goes for the iOS devices, there is one for the Android, Speaktoit. The application comes from Russia and is in for a challenge from Siri and Vlingo.

There is a need for virtual assistants and to be honest, with Siri in the playground we will definitely be seeing a rapid increase in improved versions. I tried my hands with Speaktoit and it does the job fairly well. You can ask questions or commands directly to the Speaktoit assistant on your Android device and the client processes the same, executing what is being requested. Of course this requires that your commands be specific enough for it to recognize and execute.

Running you through a few of its features, Speaktoit assistant lets you update status on Facebook, perform searches or locate a destination on maps. It offers quite a lot in the bundle and Android users can somehow feel at ease that they have a virtual assistant that can be communicated with in natural language. I noticed that it picks up accents quite well, though there is a lot to be done in improving the same. While native speakers of English can be at ease, the problem actually comes in regions where accents differ. Not sure if Speaktoit learns accents, but I believe it will be a hue leap if it were to have this ability.

The team has released the Android app already that you can download here. They are also working on releasing the application for the Windows Phone, Bada and the iOS. Speaktoit for iOS is definitely needed as the Siri is said to be operational on the iPhone 4S and won’t work on the previous generations of the iPhone.

In my opinion, Speaktoit should focus on developing a killer app for the Android devices alone. It is better to concentrate efforts on one platform and release a refined version than be divided in creating similar service across the board. That’s just an opinion and we wish them luck and success.