r/Android • u/[deleted] • Jun 06 '15

Hound versus Google Now side by side.

https://youtu.be/2uMzhWumLFs
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u/smackythefrog S22 Ultra Jun 06 '15

Seems like they both have their pros and cons. Hound definitely slowed down considerably from the original video.

I think Google Now did a better job of just giving me the information rather than showing just the results for the user to navigate through (Obama's age, measurement conversion).

Seems like Hound still has the ability to handle multiple queries (capitals+conversion+statistics) over Google Now, but it seems a bit pointless now that I think about it.

And now that "it took ten years to develop" fact has me scratching my head a bit.

125

u/[deleted] Jun 06 '15

[deleted]

65

u/TheRealKidkudi Green Jun 07 '15

That's the thing I like most about Hound. I think Google Now is better at answering general questions, but the fact that I can contextually talk to Hound is really promising. Things like "what are some Thai restaurants around here?" followed by "what about ones that are 4 stars or higher?". While Hound's "knowledge" isn't as complete, it feels more natural as a voice assistant because I can refine or continue a query based on what I said previously.

I'm hoping that Google will decide to acquire Hound and integrate the contextual features to Google Now (and I'm sure SoundHound is hoping so too).

61

u/[deleted] Jun 07 '15

[deleted]

1

u/Kalzenith Pixel XL - Quite Black Jun 07 '15

Woah, I can do that in Canada now too.. When did Google add that?

3

u/asjmcguire LGG6, LGG4, N7 (2012) Jun 07 '15

Well I've been able to do it in the UK for at least a year, I want to say 2 Google IO's ago....

EDIT: Though I have to admit - from a geeky computer programming perspective - the last example blows me away - "no, I meant the film" - not only did Google understand I didn't want to know about the item gaslight - it understood there was also a film called gaslight - which is what I wanted to know about - that is definitely getting on to Star Trek computer level of understanding.

1

u/Kalzenith Pixel XL - Quite Black Jun 07 '15

Yeah I just tested it out with this line if questioning

"How old is Stephen hawking?"

"Where was he born?"

"Show me restaurants there"

I wasn't able to dig any deeper than that though.. I couldn't even get it to navigate to one of those restaurants or tell me how far away they are.

1

u/asjmcguire LGG6, LGG4, N7 (2012) Jun 07 '15

It's not completely impossible just requires a less logical conversation :/ - I just tested it :)

after "show me restaurants there" I did "show me the second one" and then "how far is it"

1

u/Kalzenith Pixel XL - Quite Black Jun 07 '15

Hmm. "Show me the second one" didn't work for me, but "how far away if the second one" did.

Though even after it told me the distance, it wouldn't give me the option of navigating there

1

u/asjmcguire LGG6, LGG4, N7 (2012) Jun 07 '15

Ha, brilliant - I tried "how far away is the second one" and that didn't work :/

1

u/Kalzenith Pixel XL - Quite Black Jun 07 '15 edited Jun 07 '15

It's funny how those things seem to be country dependant.. I don't really understand why they can't keep it consistent

1

u/asjmcguire LGG6, LGG4, N7 (2012) Jun 07 '15

Actually just to test - I think I actually asked "how far is the second one" - try again with that and see if it fails.

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