The beloved character from theHalovideo games that Microsoft borrowed for its voice assistant will be around less than before.
The company recently deactivated theCortana service for Android and iOS devices.
I would miss having Cortana around even if she wasnt as useful for me as Master Chief.
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Was Cortana a great voice assistant?
She tended to misunderstand me far more than Apples Siri or Amazons Alexa.
Cortana reminders, lists, and tasks will be automatically synced to the freeMicrosoft To Do app.
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Its curtains for Cortana in other ways, as well.
The voice assistant is saying goodbye to some headphones and speakers.
Cortana has been disconnected on theHarman Kardon Invokesmart speaker.
The Invoke is an excellent speaker with far superior sound quality than most of Amazons offerings.
I bought it last year for the bargain price of $35.
Was Cortana a great voice assistant?
She tended to misunderstand me far more than Apples Siri or Amazons Alexa.
There were odd pauses when responding to my queries.
More Human Than Your Average Bot
But I will miss Cortana despite her flaws.
Theres no satisfaction in saying, “Hey, Google.”
At least Amazons Alexa, like Cortana and Siri, has a name.
Yet, its curiously hard to picture what Alexa looks like.
Does she have an office near Jeff Bezos, and do they lunch together?
I just cant tell with her robotic tones.
Theres no personality behind the voice with most smart assistants.
Its the same problem with Siri.
Her name is vaguely Nordic, and her tone is ever patient.
Apparently, Im not the only one who wants to change things up with Siri.
But Ive nearly given up trying to find out who Siri really is as a person.
Shes elusive when I ask her personal questions.
I ask what her favorite color is and she says orange.
A minute later, the answer is green.
On the other hand, I know exactly who Cortana is.
I spent dozens of hours playingHalo,and her image is engraved in my mind.
As a voice assistant, she even helped me get out of bed on time in the morning.
That is, when she understood my command.
