Cortana on Windows Phone 8.1

Finally, the preview version 8.1 of the Windows Phone operating system has arrived on devices with a development account; with dozens of novelties – some important, some just minor details – to improve the user experience with these smartphones.

And one of the stars, and of whom we have spoken at length in XatakaWindows, is Cortana; the virtual assistant that comes to revolutionize the concept of digital assistant, bringing it closer to the vision that science fiction literature has described for decades.

Cortana only speaks English

As we explain in this article, in order to test Cortana's capabilities, we have to overcome the main obstacle that currently exists: it only speaks English; and also the services on which a large part of the experience is built are those of Bing in its USA version.

And I must make three points that are very important to properly assess the analysis that I want to share at this time:

• Cortana is currently is a Beta version. In other words, far or very far from the services and capabilities that it will have in its final version.
• My American English accent is rather bad – or very bad – depending on the word. Which is to my credit that Cortana even understands me.
• Bing's services in the USA have no comparison with those of the rest of the world, including Spain.

Operating Requirements

The first thing I do after upgrading to 8.1 is change my region and language to North American English, which brings up the concentric circles of the Cortana logo.

For Cortana to work it is also essential to enable the geographic position – the gps – which is fatal for me with my Lumia 920 already that devours the battery in less than four hours of continuous use, even plugged into the power supply.

And if I don't do it like this, it directly tells me that in order to function it needs this geographical positioning, as well as an Internet connection, and this is as far as it can go.

Only works in the USA region, in English, GPs activated and data connection

Once the GPS is enabled, with an Internet connection, and sufficient battery, I pulse the concentric rings and Cortana appears on the scene, having to carry out a very brief configuration where I indicate the name with which it is He is going to direct me, the language and little else.

Another way to access Cortana at any time is by tapping the search button, the one that used to take me to Bing.

And here comes the first surprise, which was to be expected of course. Cortana is not listening permanently, I have to tell her by pressing the microphone button, when I am going to give her verbal orders.

"

Okay, that&39;s right, I&39;m expecting something similar to the Cortana from Halo, but it seems that the technology is still far from that. Of course, when I ask him in my English with an accent from Madrid > if the same actress from the video game gives the voice to the assistant, he answers me >"

Much more than a search engine

The main objective of Cortana is to be able to perform complex searches on the Bing engine through inputs in natural language, that is, the ways of speaking that we use to communicate with other humans. And that, it does quite well.

"She&39;s been able to understand most of the sentences I&39;ve told her, with funny misunderstandings more due to my awful accent and clumsiness than Cortana&39;s mistakes. Moreover, it is very curious to see that he is not a literal translator, but that he looks for the words according to the context, imagining what I want to say despite what he hears. "

This can be seen in real time by typing the phrase you are listening to and understanding, just above the text box (where I can also ask questions using the keyboard). Watching how he changes the words until he finds the one that best, in his opinion, fits the meaning of the sentence

As you can see in the video that accompanies this article, Cortana does much, much more than just search by voice. Getting pretty close, compared to Siri and so on, to what I'm expecting from a virtual assistant.

Also, I think it's an excellent idea that you can talk to Cortana or interact with her through the keyboard, in which case she (or he, depending on the voice you have chosen) will remain discreetly silent, also responding only in writing.

In my case, what I'm using the most, always in private because I'm still ashamed to talk to my phone in public, is calling a contact from the calendar, alerts, and appointments. Which he manages pretty well except for the time, which he almost always gets wrong - I guess because of my awful accent.

"

And I want to investigate the alerts and reminders by geofence, that is, that it notifies me when it is near a designated site. For example, if I pass near the supermarket that reminds me that I have to buy, or when I get to work that opens my agenda"

The less good things

Where I can sleep a Madrid…

Without a doubt the worst thing is that it only works in English and with the configuration in USA. Which forces me to choose a dummy configuration in order to use Cortana, which is contradictory to the purpose of the virtual assistant.

In addition, Microsoft has already announced that Cortana will not reach Spanish (or its multiple variants), until 2015 Which is even worse news since this is a tool that can be really useful in conditions in which we cannot or do not want to use the keyboard.

I suppose an English speaker will have a much lower level of failures than me, but Cortana is still far from perfect, as seen in all the videos that are not purely promotional. It still gets mixed up and resembles certain television commercials with the interpretation that it sometimes makes of the phrases.

It's embarrassing to talk to Cortana in public, especially when she answers with that sexy voice

Another difficulty, for a user of a Lumia 920, possibly the mobile phone with the worst battery drain in history, is that Cortana requires GPS positioning and data to be activated. This means always being connected to the power supply; and neither, because the Nokia consumes more than what the car power supply provides, leaving me just over 4 hours of autonomy in the worst case.

Finally, even though it is a social difficulty, we must recognize that it is embarrassing to be talking on the mobile in public, especially when you He answers with that melodious voice. It is a similar feeling to when we see someone walking down the street, gesturing and talking to himself, because he is talking on the phone with ">.

Conclusions

I find this a very useful and advanced virtual assistant technology. Cortana has taken away the aftertaste of uselessness that Siri or the like produces on me, and that comes from the days of Clippy.

But until it's in Spanish... I think that I'm going to use it rather little. And that for use in the car is far superior to the voice action system of the current agenda.

Of course, it is important to point out that it is a platform, not just a product. And surely the first Apps that exploit Cortana's capabilities will have an important competitive advantage and can open the door to a new way of interacting with machines.

And, being a Beta preview, it can only get better.

More information | Special Cortana In XatakaWindows | How to activate Cortana if I don't live in the US, Cortana, a real virtual assistant on Windows Phone 8.1, Windows Phone 8.1, review