I recently went on Snapchat to find out, not only what is up with my friends but what is up with the world? Yes, I do check the news on Snapchat as well. If you're unsure of what I am talking about, I am speaking about the Snapchat Discover or Stories. Anyway, enough blabber, let's get right to it. I went on Mashable's Story on Sunday, and they listed "four digital assistants." They had Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Bixby.
I don't have Bixby on any of my devices, but I have spoken with the other three. So with that said, let's start with Bixby.
1.)
Bixby was initially activated on the Samsung Galaxy S8 just last week, actually, April 21. On
Samsung's website, they separated Bixby with four features: voice, vision, home and reminder. Voice is pretty much the same as the other digital assistants out there. You can tell Bixby who to call, what to turn off, what the weather is like outside, who to text and pretty much anything that is simple enough. What differentiates Bixby with the other three is that "it sees." This means that when activated, users can tap the "Vision icon... and Bixby will serve up contextual icons: translation, QR code detection, landmark recognition or shopping." Next on the list is that Bixby recommends. This means that Bixby will learn your routine and soon enough, it'll be able to get your content ready when you pick it up. For instance, it will pull "the most important information from different apps so you can accomplish more from a single screen." What I love about Bixby is the multiple tasks in one command. For instance, you can ask Bixby to "play Ariana Grande and also provide directions to the university." There will surely be more upcoming features for Bixby but check out the Samsung website for the full features for the initial release.
2.)
Cortana is Microsoft's digital assistant. Unlike Bixby, they are on most Microsoft's products - from PCs to Lumias. What's nifty about this feature is that it delivers all tasks from your PC to your mobile. Here's a scene, you remind Cortana on your laptop to tell you to email a coworker once you get home. Of course, you won't be on your laptop the moment you get home, so instead, your Lumia will remind you. I activated Cortana on my Windows 10 laptop, but because I don't have a Lumia, I couldn't obviously give a review on the connectivity between two devices. But Cortana is readily available for those busy days.
3.)
Alexa is Amazon's assistant. I found Alexa through Amazon's speaker: Amazon Echo. I have the Echo applied at the center of my house, which is convenient whenever I yell out, "Alexa, play Pandora!" With those three voice commands, Alexa grabs the last radio station (which is often Katy Perry - DON'T JUDGE!) The nifty thing about Alexa is that almost anyone can own it. Unlike the other three, you don't have to spend a lot and commit to a particular device (usually a phone). In a simpler scenario, you can give this as a gift to someone, and it will easily be installed in minutes!
4.)
Siri is one that's mostly well known because it provides for one of the tech giants, Apple. With a push of a button, Siri is activated for mostly all the features I've mentioned above - except for the camera function and the multiple tasks from Bixby (but surely enough that'll be in the others soon). Siri also has the connectivity feature, similar to Alexa and Cortana. From their digital watches to their MacBooks, Apple ensures a way for Apple fans to stay as Apple fans. Sure it doesn't do multiple tasks or tell me where to get this guy's pair of shoes via camera, but for me, it motivated others to start Alexa, Cortana, and Bixby. As Apple updates its iPhones, Siri will inevitably improve.
There's a controversy out there that these digital assistants are connected to the government and sends data to them - something like that. Let me know below if you do believe in these, but true or not, they surely make simple tasks easier. Across the room, I can tell Siri or Alexa to wake me up at x o'clock without getting out of my bed (because that's so hard to do).
By the way, Clip is still my favorite ;)
Ie any of these, or ALL of these, let me know which one you like! Remember, you only have one choice: who will it be? As always, follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for more.
