Google’s Voice Search completely shames Siri. Big Data wins again

Google vs siri

Google’s voice search (on iOS) on the left; Siri on the right

After the hype of Siri, Google’s claim that “its most advanced voice search has arrived on iOS” seems kind of a yawner.

However, my first experiences with Siri were so lackluster that I hadn’t used it since the iPhone 4S debut except to goof around (“Is there a God?“). My first question through Google’s voice search though was so amazingly fast and accurate that I see myself actually using it day-to-day.

I asked both Google and Siri, “How much damage did Hurricane Sandy do?”

Google heard it as “How much damage did Hurricane Sandy too?” and returned with official Hurricane Sandy emergency info and latest news stories literally as I stopped talking.

Siri took nearly five seconds to register my question as “How much damage did hurricane you do” and responded with hockey league standings for the Hurricanes team.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Google voice search is to Siri as Google Maps is to Apple Maps. And while some might argue that Apple’s data-weak, inaccurate maps are still more stylish, the Google search app is executed far more beautifully than Siri. That, plus the immense voice data that Google has been collecting, plus…well, Google’s search expertise…makes it hard to see how Apple can even compete here.

Check out the announcement on Google’s blog.

I'm a programmer journalist, currently teaching computational journalism at Stanford University. I'm trying to do my new blogging at blog.danwin.com.