Disclosure: I am a #LumiaSwitch Project participant and I have received a Nokia Lumia device from Microsoft to post my opinions about Lumia products. All opinions are my own.
I’ve been having so much fun getting to know Cortana on my Lumia Phone with Windows 8.1 operating system. The one thing that I can say first and foremost is that I don’t find myself repeating myself over and over again to Cortana. She usually gets it the first time. Now, Siri on the other hand will have you repeating yourself or she’ll just pull up whatever information she thinks you are requesting. It’s hysterical to me! The other day I just happened to be on Facebook and one of my friends posted something Siri had pulled up when one of her friends asked Siri to “call her”. Siri couldn’t get it together and was just pulling up random things that made no sense to us. I chimed in on the Facebook thread and thought it was hilarious. I decided to ask Cortana to find “Anitra Elmore” and she pulled up all her social media channels, blog, Facebook page and even a baby picture she’s trying to figure out why it’s floating around on the web. I posted my screen shot to her thread and she was surprised. Cortana and Bing were on point! I love the convenience of having a virtual assistant at my finger tips. However, I want a reliable and accurate virtual assistant that I don’t have to second guess.
I just came back from a mini vacation and went to Wilmington, NC. I visited the beach, mall, local restaurants and historic downtown Wilmington. I can thank Cortana for assisting me in finding the perfect hotel accommodations, accurate reviews from Yelp & Trip Advisor, directions throughout my trip and weather updates. I was able to have a great time and not once did I get lost or end up somewhere I shouldn’t have been. It rained all day Saturday so I had to find some indoor activities to do with the kids and we found the local mall and went shopping. My allergies started to hit me like a ton of bricks and I didn’t have any of my allergy medications with me so I asked Cortana where the nearest Walgreen’s was and I was off to get some relief. I was miserable! Itchy red eyes, runny nose, uncontrollable sneezing! I just wanted to crawl up into a ball and go to bed. I asked Cortana where the closest Japanese Hibachi Take Out restaurant was and she sent me to Hibachi To Go and we ordered in because I wasn’t feeling well. All in all we had a great time. I did mix business and pleasure because I attended a work function while in town on Saturday.
I honestly don’t know if I can put as much faith in Siri that I have in Cortana from my previous experiences however, I’m NOT beyond putting her to the test. So stay tuned for a follow up… In the meantime here is everything Cortana can do. Cortana can make calls, send text messages, give directions, search the web (Bing Search Engine), set alarms, set events or edit calendar, weather reports, and even listen to a song and tell you the artist and name of the song. I don’t really use Shazam anymore. Bonus: I was tickled when I spoke to Cortana is Patois and she was able to understand and process my command. Loooool! All I did was ask her to set an alarm. I don’t have a thick Jamaican accent like my parents but, an accent none the less that I can turn on and off! I can’t wait to test Cortana on my mom and dad and see if she can understand them. Overall, I’ve had a very pleasant experience with Cortana and I look forward to many more. I haven’t really tried to use Google Now on Android but, maybe I’ll try it and see how all three virtual assistants measure up to one another. in the meantime… Cortana is winning my heart! I’m already planning my next trip to New York for Spring Break and Cortana is on top of it!
What kind of phone and operating system do you have? Are you happy with your virtual assistant? What do you like most about it? Inquiring minds want to know?!?!