We've been talking to our phones since the very beginning -- or so it would seem. As we've said before, that's not entirely true. Although we use our phones to talk to other people, we haven't really been talking "to" our phones, but rather "through" our phones. That started to change years ago as manufacturers began to include various features that let us control our phones with our voices. At first these were very basic and required you to record the names of those who you wanted to dial -- sometimes multiple times. Others made you go through lengthy "training" processes during which ...

Apple has Siri. Google has Google Now. So where's Microsoft's voice-controlled virtual assistant? It turns out the answer may have been right under our noses for a while now, as details of the company's efforts to develop the system it calls "Cortana" (yes, like in Halo) emerge. Back in June we told you about the discovery of a Lumia 920 found on eBay that was apparently still loaded with in-development Microsoft software, including an early Windows Phone 8.1 build. We were drawn to things like the notification center, but there was one app that largely went overlooked: Cortana (or, ...

When Apple first announced the iPhone and revealed iOS to the world, it was truly groundbreaking and innovative stuff. And the flood gates were opened when App Store was finally introduced. Now with over 800,000 applications at every iOS user's disposal and 26.9 percent global smartphone market share, the operating system is certainly a force to be reckoned with. That said, it's no secret that iOS is showing its age, and it might even be slipping in mind share. Apple has released a major point update every year since 2007, currently bringing the OS to iOS 6. Each of these major point ...

Apple's voice-operated virtual assistant Siri seems so engrained with iOS culture at this point that it's difficult to imagine it as anything else. Despite how things ended up, apparently at one point there was some serious interest in an Android-based Siri, which Verizon was working to bring to its family of Droid smartphones. The Huffington Post has an exhaustive look it's put together at the development of Siri, from its roots in a Defense Department project, to the service we now know today. It tells the tale of the short-lived stand-alone iOS app, which quickly caught the attention of ...

It happened so long ago, the memories come to me in vague shadows. It was an unremarkable weeknight in 2002. I was watching TV in my college dorm room, probably waiting for the then-new Star Trek: Enterprise to return from a commercial break. A 30-second spot for Nokia flashed onto the screen, the last frame dwelling on the image of a mobile phone amid a field of futuristic blue plasma. The model number escapes me, as does the sub-brand, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that closing product image, which made the phone look, on my 13-inch CRT TV screen, like it had no buttons. As ...

There's no denying that the definition of what a smartphone is has shifted quite a few times in less than a decade. At first it was a phone with PIM functionality, later a PDA that had phone functionality, later a phone that was smart enough to handle anything developers could throw at it, and as of a few months ago, it's all about a phone that talks to you. I know many of you started reading this thinking that Voice Control is the big thing now, but as we've been going through the different alternatives in the market lately, it's clear that the technology is not there yet. Our first ...

I'm running the beta version of iOS 6 on my 2012-edition iPad here in the office, which counts support for Siri among its many improvements. Our own Jaime Rivera has already whipped up a full preview of iOS 6, but I thought I'd take a ground-level look at just one of its features- specifically, how Siri feels on a tablet. We’ll take her for a spin, and then we’re gonna do a little “talk-off” between Siri and S-Voice on the Galaxy S III. The reason for our re-tour of Apple's voice-control app? Well, it's clear that Cupertino considers Siri more than a hobby; you don't hire Samuel L. ...