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Huawei Snubs Google, Ships An Android Phone With Alexa (reuters.com)
Huawei announced its flagship handset will gives users access to Amazon's Alexa assistant in the U.S., suggesting a new worry for Google, according to Reuters. An anonymous reader writes:
"The adoption of Alexa by a prominent Android manufacturer indicates that Amazon may have opened up an early lead over Google as the companies race to present their digital assistants to as many people as possible, analysts said." Analyst Jan Dawson at Jackdaw Research even told Reuters that if Google's personal assistant lags in popularity when voice becomes the most popular interface, "that's a huge loss for Google in terms of data gathering, training its AI, and ultimately the ability to drive advertising revenue."
Tension may have started when Google decided to debut Google Assistant on their own Pixel smartphones. "While Google has expressed an interest in bringing its assistant to other Android smartphones, the decision to debut the feature on its own hardware may have strained relations with manufacturers, Dawson said. 'It highlights just what a strategic mistake it can be for services companies to make their own hardware and give it preferential access to new services.'"
Nvidia announced this week at CES that they'd be using Google Assistant for their Shield TVs, while Whirlpool and Ford both announced Alexa-enabled products. But this article argues Google Assistant has one thing that Alexa doesn't have: a search engine.
Tension may have started when Google decided to debut Google Assistant on their own Pixel smartphones. "While Google has expressed an interest in bringing its assistant to other Android smartphones, the decision to debut the feature on its own hardware may have strained relations with manufacturers, Dawson said. 'It highlights just what a strategic mistake it can be for services companies to make their own hardware and give it preferential access to new services.'"
Nvidia announced this week at CES that they'd be using Google Assistant for their Shield TVs, while Whirlpool and Ford both announced Alexa-enabled products. But this article argues Google Assistant has one thing that Alexa doesn't have: a search engine.
I'm still waiting for the digital "assistants" to be able to do much. I've played with them, and they are very, very basic. The number of things they can do accurately and reliably is quite small, and that's if you don't have an accent or quirks in your speech. I can't even get any of them (Siri, Alexa, Cortana) to reliably play a song that isn't from their preferred music store. They are all like that in almost all of their functions. It's a walled garden of suck.
I will give Amazon the credit that they're so far the only ones that have published a list of the things you can say to their Alexa. This is really useful support info and lets me know that it's mostly about ordering things and really basic queries like the population of a town or the conversion of quarts to ounces.
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Check out this three minute YouTube video of Scottish accents in a voice controlled elevator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
I can't take it. When is this sentence going to END??
#DeleteChrome
Am I crazy to suggest that consumers ought to have access to any "digital assistant" they choose through any device, like they do on the web?
I think these phones are glad-hand MBA wet dreams more than they are computing machinery.
I'd like to have the choice to disable "smart features" on my TV and just let it be a TV. If I want to add smart features, I'll buy an external device and if it dies or gets bricked by Malware, I can still watch TV. If my external smart device stops getting updates and becomes a magnet for malware, I can replace it. Instead of manufacturers doing half-hearted attempts at integrating smart features, companies that specialize in those devices can make them and compete with each other with devices at various price points, so instead of LG using the cheapest possible device to save $10 on the price of the TV giving a laggy UI with few features, I can pay $100 for a faster Roku (or Google TV or Apple TV or whatever) with a more responsive UI.
I guess what I really want is an industry standard API to TV's that provides access to the tuner, remote control, etc, then I can buy a smart device from a number of manufacturers. Sort of like a Roku stick, but with tighter integration with the TV through an API so I don't need a second remote control to run it, and so the device can control TV features like changing channels, turning off the TV, etc.
I don't even care if it works with a cable-card since I've given up cable long ago -- cable companies "won" that battle, but I think they are losing the war.
I don't see a period/full stop, so brace yourself for part two.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
The most common argument against what you're proposing is the Security problem. Essentially, people are carrying around these micro-computers (teehee) and putting their entire lives on them. These same people are best assumed to be too incompetent to properly manage their own devices, because statistics show they actually are that stupid, or careless, or whatever. Thus, it beholds the companies who make these things to make them "unhackable", even at the expense of those of us who would prefer more flexibility in the system.
That is why root is practically never easily available, boot loaders are increasingly impossible to unlock and the OS's are systematically reducing the types of features that can lead to security problems.
Sure, to the unhinged it looks like a giant conspiracy to ensure that consumers are permanently locked into an ecosystem where they have no control over anything whatsoever, and can be spied upon and manipulated at will by whatever corporate interests the maker of the device has made deals with. Shortly we'll find phones being legally tied to the owner, as a form of Identity, and as such the owner will be responsible for anything the device does, even though they can exert practically no control over it in the first place. And now that Google has killed off CyanogenMod, we'll see a glorious new day where all devices are Google Approved and we can start feeding all of our day to day existence into the (increasingly powerful) AI's that power these stupid assistants, because what could possibly go wrong?? I want CyberJesus at the GOoglePlex to know everything I'm doing.
Wait, was I presenting myself as the non-unhinged party here? Shit.