When it comes to smartphone sales, Microsoft may still have a long way to go before it can even catch up with Apple. However, this doesn't stop the company from claiming several times that Cortana, its personal assistant, is so much better than Siri. In its newest commercial, Microsoft once again showcased Cortana's capabilities as compared to Siri's.
In the latest commercial dubbed as 'Siri vs Cortana: Bigger,' Cortana and Siri were once again seen as having a sort of a 'conversation' where Cortana, as curious as she can be, asks Siri on her new capabilities now that she is in iPhone 6. Whatever question she asks, Siri would continually respond with the words "I got bigger."
Just like the first commercial where the two digital assistants had a face-off, the latest one featured the music of Kyle Andrews called 'You Always Make Me Smile.'
The questions of Cortana highlighted at least two of her new capabilities which for Siri are things that she can't do herself. These are giving reminders that are based on who has called or texted and gathering traffic reports in order to tell people if they should leave early or not.
Cortana was first launched by Microsoft in April. It is the company's own digital assistant which is designed to compete against Apple's very own Siri. The name 'Cortana' comes from the AI character in 'Halo,' a popular video game series with the voice coming from actress Jen Taylor.
Cortana may have some unique functionality which can't be matched by Siri but recent tests showed that the digital assistant of Microsoft has its own limitations. In an accuracy test conducted last month which has the personal assistant AI as a benchmark, Cortana came in last place against Siri and Google Now. It gained an accuracy rate of 11.7 percent.
There are other tests that followed which are more subjective. One of them tested each digital assistant on how each would respond to 50 unique voice commands.
The commercial also featured the latest Lumia 830 device which Microsoft touts as the company's best bet against the iPhone 6 Plus. Cortana's questions thrown at Siri simply expressed the unique functions of the Microsoft Lumia 830 which are not found in the Apple device.
It remains to be seen if Microsoft continues to target Apple in its advertisements which the company had been doing in the past. Just recently, Microsoft released a new 'Winter Wonderland' commercial ad that showed a face-off between its own Surface Pro 3 against the MacBook Air. In the ad, Microsoft highlighted the device's portability, touchscreen, and kickstand features.
