Google Assistant vs Siri 2016 [Video]

Google is making a big deal about the Google assistant in the new Pixel phones and Allo app.

But is it really all that different from Siri?

After all, Siri and previous versions of the Google Voice assistance have been around for a few years. In the video below, Marques Brownlee (or MKBHD) takes both of them through their paces by asking them to do some simple tasks.

Which is the winner?

[Video via YouTube]

My big takeaway is that both services have really come along, but the contextual searches (asking a question about the last question “what’s his name”) is a Google Assistant problem that helps edge it. That is despite the fact that Google Assistant is missing some features that you can use in Google now.

Of course if you have an Android device, you can’t access Siri, and if you have an iPhone, you can get the Google Assistant via Allo, but it is not as integrated as it is in Android. That means you’re probably stuck with one or the other. Of course you could base a future purchasing decision on the differences between these two services, but should you?

I use voice actions quite a bit, especially around the home and so seeing these advances excites me. At the same time, I wonder how useful these things are for most people. Many people I know never use Siri or the voice features in Google. For me, advances in these services help and are cool to see, but I’m not sure it’s the feature that’s top of my purchasing list.

Do you use either Siri or Google Assistant?

Chris Wilson

Senior Staff writer, holder of the keys to the newsletter and writer of app reviews

I'm a Copywriter and content marketer based in Krakow, Poland. I enjoy sketchnoting in my free time and have some free sketchnote courses if you want to start.