Comparison Siri vs. Sherpa, which is the best assistant?
Voice assistants are all the rage. It is a fact that, since Apple introduced Siri, other companies and developers Independents have gotten to work to create alternatives on the rest of the platforms and to fill in some of the deficiencies of the assistant Apple Now we can see the results, highlighting among them Sherpa, an application Spanish that promises to gain a foothold in the market of applications with numerous functionsand utilities.But is it really that good? can it be considered a rival of Siri? Which is the best? We hope to be able to unravel these questions throughout this analysis.
Visual aspect
We are in the era of the image, and those of Apple know it very well. That is why they have created a tool that perfectly fits the parameters to which this company has accustomed us. A minimalist design, in which less is more. Colors and lines that perfectly adapt to the environment of the iOS operating system and responsive panels very visual and intuitive Something that helps an easy and fast management of Siri, with a predominantly visual aspect.
In this aspect, the differences with Sherpa are quite notable.Although it respects the scheme proposed by Siri which consists of accumulating conversations in message mode one below the other, the visual aspect is see something poorer Thus, it has a white background too simple on which the orders and responses are placed in gray colors and purple characteristic of the logo of Sherpa Although, it must be said that this tool also has cardsfor some functions that clearly display information such as scores of football matches, temperature, and other issues, although without a very prominent design that goes beyond the merely informative .
Operation and response
Without going into its possibilities yet, it must be said that there is also a clear difference between the functioning of one assistant and the other.
Starting with Siri, it must be said that it is agile and fluidCharacteristics to which we are already accustomed in their applications Question that, on the other hand, is easier than in other platforms when having a limited number of devices, without the need to adapt an application to a extensive number of smartphones and tablets with different characteristics between them. Therefore, we find a quick response to the user's action. Of course, depending on an Internet connection it is possible that some responses may take a few secondsof more to appear. That is if they have understood correctly the order or query, which can make us laugh and despair (depending on how rushed we are) when we catch erroneous phrases or by not directly acknowledging what we ask. As a plus point, it has a assistant voice that is not too robotic that makes the user experience more human.
As for Sherpa, it must be said that is a bit slowSomething that, related to what we have said about Apple devices, depends on the terminaland the internet connection that we have. Even so, even if we have a top-of-the-line terminal like the Samsung Galaxy S3, our responses may take a few seconds longer than with Siri Something that can affect the patience of the user, although it is always faster than searching for the information we request in Google, or access the Settings menu to the feature that we want to modify in our terminal.
On a positive note, we must say that Sherpa understands practically everything we say And not only at time to dictate it, but as oral comprehension, understanding what really we want to find or do Although sometimes he also makes the odd mistake. In addition, it has a very robotic voice synthesizer that does not help to humanize the process.
Operation and possibilities
Apart from what we have already commented, the most important thing about attendees is their possibilities, because without them, no they are more than simple programs that are limited to search the Internet for what we want to find.
For its part, Siri has a good selection of possibilities, even more so after its update in iOS 6, where in addition to understanding Spanish it began to recognize queries about cinema , results of more sports matches, etcThus, we have an application capable of informing us about the weather in our area, the billboards current, places to go to dinner, post to Facebook, set alarms and appointments in the calendar, and even send text messagesto our contacts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw3XJWjCjKA
Something to which we must add a artificial intelligence quite funnyin some cases. And it is impossible not to put these assistants to the test. Siri can you tell us a joke, make a witty comment and completely refusing to answer morally reprehensible requests Questions that, although they are not very useful functions, do help us pass a good time.
As for Sherpa, we find its strong point in the list of possibilities and functions that you can carry out.These are presented in a listing the first time we run this wizard, although it is always possible to ask it or access the Help menu to consult it. Call by phone, send messages, find restaurants , routes to reach a destination, on weather , queries on Internet, calendar appointments, sports results, check the volume and connections of the terminal And a long etcetera. However, it is surprising because of the agreements with PayPal to make payments through the application or other companies to listen to music on the Internet or buy plane tickets Something that is overshadowed because it is not all of these functions are fully active or working properly, such as being able to post to Facebook or perform a math operation
Conclusions
By now, we can get an idea of what each voice assistant offers. Even so, we will try to answer the questions posed at the beginning.
Without a doubt both are good proposals to use our smartphones only with the voice However, if we look at the quality and the operation,Siri seems to be a few steps ahead of Sherpa Not only is it more agile, but it its design and functions, while more limited, are more effective In addition, its user experience is more pleasant and comfortable Although this does not guarantee us to forget about headaches, and even reach insultsto this wizard when doesn't do what we want
With all this, Sherpa is not far behind, and it is that, although it is not yet too refined in visual aspect and operation, it does have more functions than Siri, although its user experience is more slower than the other assistant that we are analyzing.However, this does not take away the alternative position, and for now, Sherpais available on devices with the Android operating system, so this platform can have a very useful voice assistant in the absence of Siri
We must also remember that both tools are still in beta or testing phase And they have only started rolling, being assistants very promising but still not fully functioning optimized That is why they still have a lot to evolve and teach us, something that we will see with future updates. We will have to see if this voice assistants ends up being an essential function like theGPS or just one fad Do you already use one of these assistants? Do not hesitate comment your experience
