Siri voice assistant for Nokia Lumia. Apple's Siri voice assistant

The Russian-speaking audience of Windows users always wanted to be able to work with a voice assistant in their native language. While the usefulness of this type of service is still questionable (many people prefer to manually do what assistants can do), in certain scenarios a virtual assistant can really become useful.

While Microsoft is in no particular hurry to develop Russian-speaking Cortana, third-party developers from Russia have created their own assistant – Sofia. Its main advantage is its understanding of the Russian language. Sofia is available for all Windows 10 devices – smartphones and computers. In addition, over the next days you can buy it at a discount, for only 144 rubles (the services used by the developers are not free).

Sofia's functionality includes the ability to tell you about the weather in your current or other location, and set alarms or reminders. Alarm or reminder notifications work correctly even when closed application. Also add to the list opening applications and searching for information on Wikipedia or the Internet. Sofia copes with all these tasks quite well, and the voice recognition is of very high quality.

Besides very basic functions, Sofia can work with Xiaomi MiBand fitness trackers and display information about steps taken or your heart rate. For now, only the first generation is supported, but the developers will add support for MiBand 2 in subsequent updates. You can ask Sofia to tell you the number of steps you have taken, or measure your pulse. The information will then appear as a nice card on the screen

In the settings, the user can customize the assistant’s work for himself. There are audio parameters that are responsible for the noise threshold and pause after which recognition will be turned off. You can also choose a voice recognition system (Google has proven itself best) and one of two speech synthesizers (offline and online). Both are from Microsoft and both are pretty bad. When you ask Sofia to tell a joke, you laugh not so much at the joke, but at the way Sofia says it.

Sofia phones are equipped with additional features. Windows 10 Mobile devices can send SMS, make calls, or work with the camera (shooting or switching cameras). The assistant also has access to settings and changes to computer or phone settings. There were no problems with this and everything worked well.

You must understand that Sofia cannot replace the system assistant. There is no passive voice activation or even activation by pressing the “Search” button on phones (system limitations). Every time you want to use Sofia, you need to launch the application from the tile and press the microphone button (voice-only interaction). It is also quite common to encounter variability problems. For example, Sofia understands the phrase “Translate into French,” but for some reason she interpreted the question “How to say in English...” as a question about how things are going. Similar incidents arose with other issues. This shortcoming can be attributed to the fact that the application is in its early stages of development. In the future, Sofia, like any other assistant, should become smarter by using machine learning. But for now, you will have to remember the commands so that the assistant understands you. The list of phrases that Sofia recognizes can be found in the application menu.

Sofia does not yet qualify for the title of “Russian Cortana,” but it is already showing great potential. If the developers do not abandon the project, Sofia can develop into a very high-quality third-party assistant. All the necessary reasons for this already exist.

Sofia will be available for three more days at a discount for 144 rubles (regular price – 299 rubles). You can take the time to purchase the app and get familiar with its functionality during the one-day demo period.

Lately in our daily life Voice assistants are becoming more and more widespread. Most users of iPhone and other products Apple They are well familiar with one of them - Siri, but few people understand all the prospects of virtual assistants and know how to use all their capabilities and functions.

What is a voice assistant

Imagine, your devoted friend is always next to you, who is ready to talk to you at any time of the day or night, answer any of your questions and carry out instructions. At the same time, he never gets tired, he is never in a bad mood, and every day he becomes smarter and understands you better. These are voice assistants that are available for everyday use today.

Voice assistants are built into computers, tablets, phones, smart watch, smart speakers and even into cars. It is important to understand that interaction with the voice assistant is carried out exclusively by voice, without using your hands, without pressing any buttons. This is a fundamentally new way of interaction between a person and a program, which is very similar to communication between people.

• Siri from Apple.
• Google Assistant Google company.
• Alexa from Amazon.
• Alice from Yandex.

We have already written about and, and in this article we will talk in detail about Siri.

Voice assistant Siri

Siri is a voice assistant that was the first to support the Russian language, and only then did the domestic one appear, released at the end of 2017, and even later in the summer of 2018 it spoke Russian. Siri recognizes Russian speech quite well, even if music is playing nearby or there are extraneous noises.

Siri wasn't always owned by Apple. Initially, it was a separate application in App Store for iOS. In 2010, Apple acquired Siri Inc. and their unique development. Shortly after the purchase, Apple built Siri into the iPhone 4S and then into its subsequent devices. Then, in 2011, Siri became the first product on the personal voice assistant market.

Siri adapts to each user individually, studies his preferences and begins to better understand his “master.” This is primarily noticeable in the improvement of your voice recognition after the first weeks of use. You can also tell Siri how to address you and the names of your contacts in your address book, so it can understand you better. And when Siri pronounces names incorrectly, you can always correct her and show her the correct accent.

Siri is available on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and in almost all modern cars via CarPlay. The way you launch Siri and the list of available commands varies depending on your device.

How to launch Siri on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

Launch by pressing the Home button

Siri is available on all iPhones starting with iPhone 4s and running iOS 5 and higher. To launch Siri on an iPhone (excluding iPhone X), you need to press and hold the center Home button.

To launch Siri on iPhone X, you need to press and hold the side button.

After the beep, you can make a request. On some devices, you must wait for Siri to appear on the screen before giving a command.

Hey Siri - How to enable Siri with your voice

Siri can be launched solely using your voice, without pressing any buttons at all. All you have to do is say, “Hey Siri.” After the sound signal, you can ask a question or give a command.

To do this, the “Hey Siri” function must be activated on the device: Settings → Siri and search → Listen to “Hey Siri”.

For everyone iPhone models, starting with iPhone 6s and also on iPad Pro This function can be used at any time by saying “Hey Siri” so that it is picked up by the gadget’s microphones. On earlier iPhones and iPads, the always-listening feature only works when your device is connected to a charger.

How to enable Siri on headphones

Using an original Apple headset with buttons remote control or compatible Bluetooth headphones, you can activate Siri by pressing the center button or the call button. After the beep, you can make a request.

Using Apple's AirPods to launch Siri twice touch the outer surface of any earphone.

Siri on Mac

Siri is available on Mac computers running macOS 10.12 Sierra and later operating system. However, at the moment the functionality of the voice assistant on the Mac is limited. All Siri can do here is make FaceTime calls, write messages, play music, show the weather forecast and help you work with files and folders.

It is worth noting that working with files on a computer using a voice assistant is really convenient. Siri can quickly search for files, sort them by type, date, or keyword. For example, if you tell Siri, “Show me my photos from yesterday,” a folder with the corresponding media files will open.

There are several ways to activate Siri on Mac:

There will likely be more commands for Siri in future versions of macOS, including commands for HomeKit. This would be a logical continuation of Apple's integration of voice assistant into its laptops and desktops.

Siri functions

Personal Siri assistant knows how to answer questions, give recommendations and carry out commands. Let's look at some of them.

This is just a small part of everything that Siri can do. You can see more commands in our article on commands for Siri. A complete list of commands for the voice assistant in iPhones and smart speakers Home Pod you will find in our reference mobile application, which we update regularly. Download the application " Siri commands"You can do it for free. By installing it, you will always have the most up-to-date list of commands for your voice assistant at hand.

As you know, yesterday the opening of the Build 2014 developer conference took place, during which we were shown new version mobile platform from Microsoft – Windows Phone 8.1. Also during the conference, the voice assistant Cortana (working title) was demonstrated.

Voice assistant Cortana - designed to replace search engine Bing in Nokia Lumia smartphones and other WP smartphones. By the way, it is worth noting that Cortana actually works on the basis of the search engine from Microsoft.

Oddly enough, the new product from Microsoft does everything that was actually expected from such a service, namely: it helps you dial the number you need, set an alarm clock for the right time by voice, send SMS messages, schedule and record meetings, remind the user about planned events, show the weather forecast and much more.
For other tasks, it will help the user to know how many calories are in a certain fruit, vegetable. Cortana voice assistant can also reserve a table for you in a restaurant or cafe.

In addition, it is noted that the user of a Windows Phone smartphone will be asked to enter their interests, for example: sports, finance, traffic jams. This is necessary so that in the future the voice assistant will offer you to familiarize yourself with some events, news from those interests that you have added to Cortana’s “notebook”.

Here's another interesting thing. The more a user interacts with the service, the more he learns about you and your interests, which is also important. It is noted that third-party developers will be able to include the functionality of the new service in their applications. As a result of this, it will be possible to say with a “voice” Skype program so that she calls the subscriber you need. Agree, this is much more convenient than if you opened the application and then searched for the desired contact. This is not only more convenient and simpler, but it will also save you a lot of time.

And the virtual assistant is endowed with a sense of humor. For example, during the presentation, Cortana made a joke that her name was much better than the already well-known names with service packs.

The fact that Cortana is inquisitive has already been said above; she will not only be interested in you, but also in your loved ones and family.

The service itself will “live” on the search button. That is, it can be launched by pressing just one button. However, at the same time, the usual functionality of this very button has not gone away. As before, the user will have the opportunity to use search, look for the necessary information, and so on.
But that is not all. Using Cortana, you can search not only on the Internet, but also on your smartphone. It’s clear that this voice assistant has received the already familiar cool live tiles on the start screen. Well, what would we do without it)

And now to the saddest part. At the moment, the Cortana voice assistant on Windows Phone is only at the beta stage in the United States. But it is reported that residents of the UK will soon be able to use it, a little later in China, and then other countries. I hope that the release of Cortana for Nokia Lumia in Russia and other CIS countries will not be delayed. After all, I would like to watch and master this wonderful service, which can not only save time, but also significantly simplify the work with Nokia Lumia smartphones.

Apr 3, 2014 mRelby