Hate Siri? Try 'Google Now' for iOS

Watch out, Siri! This new app could be your most serious competition yet.

 

Google has gained Apple's nod to make its own personal assistant app "Google Now" available for iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads, tech site CNET reported.

 

"We think we've built a great experience. . .We're giving you an answer before you've even asked," CNET quoted Google Now's product manager Tamar Yehoshua as saying. 

 

Google Now, which debuted at last year's Google I/O conference, promises robust search features and visual style, dubbed cards, to iOS devices, it added.

 

Yehoshua also said Google Now may hold its own against Siri because of its accuracy. "[Google can] predict knowledge that you want before you know you want it," she said.

 

She said Google Now takes advantage of several different technological areas and uses text-to-speech output, the Knowledge Graph, and the technology stack for its voice recognition and predictive search combo.

 

But the app for iOS, unlike the version for Android 4.1 or later, requires a user to log in to his or her Google account first.

 

"The predictive search in Google Now will use your calendar, for example, to determine what information it should show you. That info can change depending on where you're going, so it might show you traffic on your route home, or tourist sites near your hotel," CNET said.

 

Yehoshua also said Google Now's voice recognition has been vastly improved, by about "15 to 35 percent."

 

She added search is continually growing, with Google implementing "the beginning phases of context and conversation."

 

CNET said Yehoshua declined to comment about plans to port Google Now to other platforms such as Chrome. – KDM, GMA News