How Does Samsung’s S Voice Stack Up Against Siri?

In the third iteration of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S, Samsung has used software along with hardware to differentiate itself from other Android manufacturers, and of course the iPhone. A part of the software suite bundled with the Galaxy S III, Samsung introduced S Voice, a voice assistant just like Siri.

Given that this is a clear response to Apple baking in Siri right into the iPhone 4S, we were curious to know how do the two voice assistants stack up in terms of performance, effectiveness, accuracy and speed.

The Verge's Galaxy S III review has already gone up, which includes a section that has a side by side comparison of Siri and S Voice.

From the review:

Say hello to Siri for Android, as produced by Samsung. If you harbored any doubt as to whether or not Samsung ripped off Apple’s voice assistant, let it go now. That’s not to suggest that Apple invented voice commands on mobile phones — Samsung had the Vlingo-powered Voice Talk on the Galaxy S II — but the look and feel of this application takes so much inspiration from Apple’s effort on the iPhone 4S as to deserve being labelled a clone. Not that any of this matters a great deal — neither Siri nor S Voice is good enough in its present incarnation.

S Voice consistently chews up my words when I try asking it questions, although it works better when instructed to schedule an appointment or set an alarm. It can also be used as an unlocking mechanism once you pre-record a pass phrase. That adds to the face unlocking option that’s native to Android 4.0 in being frustratingly unwieldy and planted firmly within gimmick territory — more than once I was stuck repeating "hello" without any recognition from the phone

Here's the side by side comparison video:

Although there are occasions where one outperforms the other, overall both seem to be average performers with Siri incapable of handling location queries outside the U.S., and S Voice often turning to a Google search for answers. Unfortunately for Samsung, Apple's early entry into this space ensured them a lot of good press surrounding the technology (at least initially).

Head over to this link for more on Siri and S Voice.

See also: Apple responds to Siri lawsuits, tells unsatisfied customers to return their iPhones.