Cortana lands on Cyanogen OS

Cyanogen OS dares with Cortana

You have to be a bit of a geek to dare to install an unofficial ROM on an Android mobile phone, especially if the device has been recently purchased, CyanogenMod being one of the most popular ROM developers due to the great range of versions available for mobile devices.

The CyanogenMod team, at least in version 12.1 of Cyanogen OS, has made a major adjustment regarding the applications included in the ROM: the Google Now voice assistant is removed and Bet on Cortana from Microsoft. Is it just a simple application? Apparently more integration with the operating system has been carried out, to improve functionality and avoid conflicts that may arise with other applications.

CyanogenMod is not a developer with whom you are going to obtain a version of Android full of applications, those who have installed its operating system will have noticed that the applications menu is quite limited initially: that Cortana Being among the available tools is quite an achievement for those from Redmond.

What can Microsoft's wizard bring to Cyanogen OS? A differential value compared to Google Now and, of course, greater integration and interrelation with the user's Windows 10 PC, where Cortana is already a fundamental part of the operating system.

First weeks of Cortana on Android

On December 9, 2015, Cortana for Android was officially launched, leaving behind the trial version and making the stable version available on the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, the availability of the application has been limited for the moment to countries such as the USA and China, in addition to not yet having a version translated into Spanish.

Want to try Cortana? In that case, you can search the Web for the .apk of the application and install it on your device. That is what I have done to start my own test and evaluate the operation.

Why is it worth installing Cortana? Although there are still aspects to be polished and implementations to be covered, the voice assistant will allow you to perform actions as basic as open installed applications, social networks, games or even perform a call. Works? Although the phone&39;s software is in Spanish, and the application is in English, the answer is correct if we pronounce it correctly: the only thing that will happen is that, for example, the camera app cannot be launched (camera is understood), but LinkedIn can. , Facebook or the game Temple Run 2."

"In the first weeks of life, Microsoft has had to face a crucial problem in the interaction of the assistant with the user: the Hey Cortana command, which would allow launching the assistant without physically touching the phone, has had to be deactivated as it generated conflicts with Google Now and with the phone&39;s microphone.So, at least for the moment, to use Cortana it will be necessary to first click on the application or on the widget prepared for the occasion."

Although the application is not yet translated into Spanish, I consider it very useful for several reasons. First of all, you can set reminders, which will be notified from the lock screen in a very suggestive way. Second, it's an easy way to search the web using Bing and even, depending on the question type, get a concise answer to a question (for example, John Lenon's age).

Another good reason to have Cortana installed on an Android device is that you have access to those news that interest you, filtered by theme: each user will be able to personalize their home screen. Even if you set up a favorite soccer team, the app reports the results as they happen.

It is still early to predict the future of Cortana on Android, but the first steps have already been taken.

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Cyanogen OS dares with Cortana

First weeks of Cortana on Android

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