Say hello to Robin–the Android version of Siri– designed with driver’s in mind, so they can keep their eyes on the road.
The new app takes voice commands in natural, conversational speech so you can ask it questions about local search and traffic, parking, navigation, gas prices, weather, and more. It also gives you Yelp reviews.
You can wave your hand in front of the phone to “wake up” Robin, which is currently available in beta in the Google Play store. About ¾ of users have given it a top, 5-star rating. Watch a video here:
A press release on Robin says it draws inspiration from KITT of ‘Knight Rider’ fame. “Robin is poised to emerge as a very personal kind of assistant that becomes increasingly helpful as she gets to know her ‘master’ better. For instance, Robin will be able to proactively alert drivers about traffic or speed cameras, based on her knowledge of one’s schedule and driving patterns. And the two-way communication will make it easy for the drivers to share information, e.g., about traffic (Waze style). She will also serve as “personalized radio”, narrating relevant news aggregated from a variety of sources and even learn the individual’s taste in jokes.”
The app is produced by Magnifis, based in Palo Alto, CA.
In a separate announcement, new research from IMS Research found that most drivers (80 percent) find voice control to be the safest way to control an infotainment system, along with steering wheel controls (72 percent). The same study found that 27 percent of consumers want to control their radio through their smartphone. This was the preferred method compared to push buttons (16 percent) and steering wheel controls (14 percent).
Source: Yahoo News via PRWeb
How is this an Android version of Siri? Siri is Apple-supplied and it applies to all questions and nearly every area of interest, while this is a random app that tries to mimic the functionality (in a smaller range of interests, i.e. only maps) and its not supplied by Google.
Please don’t try and pass this off as the Android version of a unified voice recognition platform tightly integrated into the OS. You’ll know when that happens because the app developer will say “Google Inc” and not “Magnifis Inc”.