Vlingo vs. Siri – Which is Better?

I have an android phone. Personally, I love it. I’ve had a Samsung Captivate for over a year and besides some minor issues with GPS and Battery Life it’s been a great device. I have a bunch of friends who have the new Apple iPhone 4s. And they love the SIRI service when it works…

I’ve been using Vlingo since it was released for the Android. It was available on the iPhone and i can tell you it worked great for them and I was jealous. Vlingo has been decent on my device but nowhere near as good as the video (below) depicts. Both Siri and Vlingo have a long way to go to be a great applications.

What is Vlingo and Siri?

For the few who don’t know what these apps do?  Simply put they are supposed to be voice activated personal assistants on your smartphone. They are both applications that use your voice to perform tasks on your smartphone. Both claim that with just the power of your voice you should be able to perform searches, open up applications, perform updates to social media sites, create and send text messages, perform searches, pull up your daily tasks, and a myriad of other tasks you would normally have to click for. As of now both have a dubious track record of working for some areas while being less than stellar in other areas.

Vlingo – My Experience and Video Review

I can tell you from personal experience attempting to update any Social media sites or sending a text – it is just easier and faster to type than attempting to use Vlingo (that and my apparent speech impediment creates some unusual texting). But it tends to do a great job at opening applications and performing simple searches such as “Search for a Greek Restaurant in Colorado Springs”.

UPDATE!  Finally I have a real-world look at Vlingo. Make sure to check out the recent post ACS-TV: Vlingo Review to get a better look.

Siri for iPhone 4S

Yes although I am 100% completely biased toward Android. Plus the fact that I haven’t been able to get my grubby hands on a 4s to really play with Siri?

It is still by far the superior app when it comes to these types of applications.

Which makes sense since Apple actually bought the original SIRI product to have it integrated into their devices only. Of course it is a low blow on Apples part to not offer it on the iPhone 4 – since it could have handled the software just fine.

Decide for Yourself

If you are in the market for a smartphone and your main deciding factor are these types of applications? Then the Apple iPhone is for you. But if you are looking at the overall picture? Um.. it will depend on you and your needs. (I will be writing a post to assist you soon!)

Watch the videos below and decide for yourself. Vlingo is available for Apple, Android (You will need Android 2.2+), Blackberry, and Nokia devices while Siri is only available for the Apple iPhone 4s.

So, feel free to share your thoughts on this. Which one do you think is better? Vlingo? Siri? Neither? Let me know in the comments below.

Below is Vlingo’s take on how their application works better than Siri.

And of course iPhone’s commercial for Siri in action. (Fiction is better than truth after all eh?)