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I own multiple iOS devices, a few Echos, and a Google Home. One of the things I noticed after getting an Echo was how much more fluid and simple it was invoking

I own multiple iOS devices, a few Echos, and a Google Home. One of the things I noticed after getting an Echo was how much more fluid and simple it was invoking the "assistant". Simply asking, "Alexa, what's the weather today" just seemed so much more natural than having to prefix everything with "Hey" or "Okay". Using Siri or Google Assistant for more than one question at a time quickly makes me feel like I'm going insane. "Hey Siri.. Hey Siri.. Hey... Hey..." I'm hoping Google and Apple fix these subtle annoyances. Or maybe it's just me.

huebnerob 9y ago
I think the reason why the 'catchphrases' for Siri and Google Assistant are longer is because the cost for false positives is higher. Phones are subject to much more varied conditions than a cylinder that lives on your nightstand. Anecdotally, I have seen Alexa activate incorrectly much more than Siri, I just care a lot less.
- hammock 9y ago
  Hey Google and Hey Siri are not longer than Alexa.. still three syllables.
danso 9y ago
Isn't part of the point of the prefix to avoid collisions with sounds that are part of everyday speech not intended for the assistant? "Alexa" becomes problematic when Echo is used in a office/home in which someone is named Alexa -- among the top 100 most popular female baby names since 1995 [0] -- which is why the wakeup word can be changed to "Echo" or "Amazon" or "Computer". But the sound of the wake word, whether it's just "Alexa" or "Hey Siri" vs "Siri, doesn't seem to deal with the main issue of your complaint, which to me is how limited "conversation" is with the assistant. If you ask Alexa for the weather, you'll still have to say her name for any followup questions within that immediate context, i.e. "Alexa, what's the weather today? Alexa, what's the weather this weekend?". Though there are a few functional exceptions in which Alexa will prompt you for additional information without needing to be re-awakened, e.g. You: "Alexa, set my alarm for 6 'o clock" Alexa: "Is that 6 'o clock in the morning, or in the evening?" [0] https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html
- wvenable 9y ago
  I have my Echo set to use "computer" as the wake word because it's just way more fun that way. But, of course, "computer" is a pretty common word these days. It hasn't yet been annoying enough for me to change it.
- Darthy 9y ago
  I always felt that Siri was named with the intent that it could be used as a wake word (so you could say "Siri what's the weather today?") because Siri itself is a rare given name and [si ri] are sounds rarely said at the beginning of a sentence. And then at some point Apple realized they had to make a longer wake word to cut down the number of false positives ("Siri" -> "Hey Siri", from 2 syllables to 3). Google probably went through the same process ("Google" -> "Okay Google", from 2 syllables to 4). Amazon probably deliberately chose a 3 syllable name with "Alexa" for the same reason. I can imagine future improvements where we can have the originally imagined wake words "Siri", "Google" and "Alexa", and at that point I would be most happy with "Siri" because it would be short and not-corporate.
  - osteele 9y ago
    Siri (the company) was a spin-off from SRI – Stanford Research Institute. The initial product, before the Apple acquisition, was an iPhone app with a chat interface. I don't recall that it supported voice input. It is still possible that the founders were thinking ahead to voice input and wake words when they named the company.
    - woodson 9y ago
      The technology was initially developed under the DARPA CALO research program (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CALO https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CALO).
  - athenot 9y ago
    It's my understanding Siri came from SRI Labs and who sold the technology to Apple.
  - deleted 9y ago
vollmond 9y ago
Plus, "Ok, Google" is just a terrible sequence of consonants/syllables. Just doesn't work in my mouth.
- timdorr 9y ago
  "Hey Google" is slowly becoming a secondary option: http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/17/hey-google-hotword-now-works-phones/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/17/hey-google-hotword-n...
  - lewisl9029 9y ago
    This is what I usually use for my Google Home these days, but by anecdotal experience it seems to fail to recognize it much more often than when I used "OK Google". I wish it offered more options in terms of activation words, or better yet, allow us to set and train Google Home to use our own custom activation words.
    - lloeki 9y ago
      I’m still baffled that we can’t name our personal assistants the way we see fit. Why can’t I trigger it with « Hey Jarvis », « Alfred », « Marvin », « Come in Scotty », « Computer », or whatever hot word I fancy, especially when it’s supposed to respond only to my voice? Is that because of some pre-training of the NN?
    - hammock 9y ago
      You can train Assistant on your phone to a custom word, I have to imagine it's on the roadmap for Google Home at some point
- 2bitencryption 9y ago
  Glad I'm not the only one -- I just can't say that phrase without garbling it: "Okayggglglele"
hmage 9y ago
If you're doing more than one interaction, you can just hold the home button to activate Siri for followups. And you don't need to prefix 'hey siri' if you're activating Siri via home button or screen button. I've seen so many people prefix 'Hey siri' when they don't really need to: Holds home, Siri activates "Hey Siri, how's the weather?" If could just be "How's the weather?" In that instance.
- cjsawyer 9y ago
  I shouldn’t need to click a button to effectively interact with my -voice- assistant :)
  - danso 9y ago
    But it seems a reasonable interface concession given the relative infrequency of multi-query conversations, plus the huge undesirability of having Siri AI figure out (I.e. continue listening and sending data to Apple's servers) for itself whether the conversation has actually ended. Also, for many conversations, you'll be needing to look at the phone anyway (i.e. have it in your hand) to see Siri's answers.
    - sinnoh 9y ago
      When one person makes a concession it's good business. When millions of users make a concession it's bad design.
- tambourine_man 9y ago
  I wonder how that works on the iPhone X
  - philo23 9y ago
    The sleep/wake button on the right hand side of the device now triggers Siri when you hold it down for long enough.
    - 9y ago
azr79 9y ago
what if someone in the room is named alexa
- Gaelan 9y ago
  Then you change Alexa to one of the other options (Amazon, Echo, Computer)
heavymark 9y ago
Agreed. The constant hey siri is exhausting vs Alexa's approach. Though as others noted Siri was developed for a phone and devices on the go. Echo is a device that is in your home where you don't have to worry about someone saying Alexa unless a family or a friend is named that in which case you can change the word. HomePod will be the first chance for Apple to change that but pretty sure they are going to stick with Hey Siri for consistent and reliability.
lloeki 9y ago
I think it comes down to the fact that for all the « conversational » publicity stunt, the current implementations insist on the voice assistants to be non-modal. When you think about it, every vocal interaction you have with people is explicitly (through voice) or implicitly (through body language) modal. How hard would it be for the mode to have to end with « thank you Siri » or a sensible time-out, or now with the iPhone X, loss of directed attention (and even activated again with return of directed attention within a reasonable timeframe)

huebnerob 9y ago

I think the reason why the 'catchphrases' for Siri and Google Assistant are longer is because the cost for false positives is higher. Phones are subject to much more varied conditions than a cylinder that lives on your nightstand. Anecdotally, I have seen Alexa activate incorrectly much more than Siri, I just care a lot less.

hammock 9y ago
Hey Google and Hey Siri are not longer than Alexa.. still three syllables.

danso 9y ago

Isn't part of the point of the prefix to avoid collisions with sounds that are part of everyday speech not intended for the assistant? "Alexa" becomes problematic when Echo is used in a office/home in which someone is named Alexa -- among the top 100 most popular female baby names since 1995 [0] -- which is why the wakeup word can be changed to "Echo" or "Amazon" or "Computer". But the sound of the wake word, whether it's just "Alexa" or "Hey Siri" vs "Siri, doesn't seem to deal with the main issue of your complaint, which to me is how limited "conversation" is with the assistant. If you ask Alexa for the weather, you'll still have to say her name for any followup questions within that immediate context, i.e. "Alexa, what's the weather today? Alexa, what's the weather this weekend?". Though there are a few functional exceptions in which Alexa will prompt you for additional information without needing to be re-awakened, e.g. You: "Alexa, set my alarm for 6 'o clock" Alexa: "Is that 6 'o clock in the morning, or in the evening?" [0] https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/index.html

wvenable 9y ago
I have my Echo set to use "computer" as the wake word because it's just way more fun that way. But, of course, "computer" is a pretty common word these days. It hasn't yet been annoying enough for me to change it.
Darthy 9y ago
I always felt that Siri was named with the intent that it could be used as a wake word (so you could say "Siri what's the weather today?") because Siri itself is a rare given name and [si ri] are sounds rarely said at the beginning of a sentence. And then at some point Apple realized they had to make a longer wake word to cut down the number of false positives ("Siri" -> "Hey Siri", from 2 syllables to 3). Google probably went through the same process ("Google" -> "Okay Google", from 2 syllables to 4). Amazon probably deliberately chose a 3 syllable name with "Alexa" for the same reason. I can imagine future improvements where we can have the originally imagined wake words "Siri", "Google" and "Alexa", and at that point I would be most happy with "Siri" because it would be short and not-corporate.
- osteele 9y ago
  Siri (the company) was a spin-off from SRI – Stanford Research Institute. The initial product, before the Apple acquisition, was an iPhone app with a chat interface. I don't recall that it supported voice input. It is still possible that the founders were thinking ahead to voice input and wake words when they named the company.
  - woodson 9y ago
    The technology was initially developed under the DARPA CALO research program (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CALO https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CALO).
- athenot 9y ago
  It's my understanding Siri came from SRI Labs and who sold the technology to Apple.
- deleted 9y ago

vollmond 9y ago

Plus, "Ok, Google" is just a terrible sequence of consonants/syllables. Just doesn't work in my mouth.

timdorr 9y ago
"Hey Google" is slowly becoming a secondary option: http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/17/hey-google-hotword-now-works-phones/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/17/hey-google-hotword-n...
- lewisl9029 9y ago
  This is what I usually use for my Google Home these days, but by anecdotal experience it seems to fail to recognize it much more often than when I used "OK Google". I wish it offered more options in terms of activation words, or better yet, allow us to set and train Google Home to use our own custom activation words.
  - lloeki 9y ago
    I’m still baffled that we can’t name our personal assistants the way we see fit. Why can’t I trigger it with « Hey Jarvis », « Alfred », « Marvin », « Come in Scotty », « Computer », or whatever hot word I fancy, especially when it’s supposed to respond only to my voice? Is that because of some pre-training of the NN?
  - hammock 9y ago
    You can train Assistant on your phone to a custom word, I have to imagine it's on the roadmap for Google Home at some point
2bitencryption 9y ago
Glad I'm not the only one -- I just can't say that phrase without garbling it: "Okayggglglele"

hmage 9y ago

If you're doing more than one interaction, you can just hold the home button to activate Siri for followups. And you don't need to prefix 'hey siri' if you're activating Siri via home button or screen button. I've seen so many people prefix 'Hey siri' when they don't really need to: Holds home, Siri activates "Hey Siri, how's the weather?" If could just be "How's the weather?" In that instance.

cjsawyer 9y ago
I shouldn’t need to click a button to effectively interact with my -voice- assistant :)
- danso 9y ago
  But it seems a reasonable interface concession given the relative infrequency of multi-query conversations, plus the huge undesirability of having Siri AI figure out (I.e. continue listening and sending data to Apple's servers) for itself whether the conversation has actually ended. Also, for many conversations, you'll be needing to look at the phone anyway (i.e. have it in your hand) to see Siri's answers.
  - sinnoh 9y ago
    When one person makes a concession it's good business. When millions of users make a concession it's bad design.
tambourine_man 9y ago
I wonder how that works on the iPhone X
- philo23 9y ago
  The sleep/wake button on the right hand side of the device now triggers Siri when you hold it down for long enough.
  - 9y ago

azr79 9y ago

what if someone in the room is named alexa

Gaelan 9y ago
Then you change Alexa to one of the other options (Amazon, Echo, Computer)

heavymark 9y ago

Agreed. The constant hey siri is exhausting vs Alexa's approach. Though as others noted Siri was developed for a phone and devices on the go. Echo is a device that is in your home where you don't have to worry about someone saying Alexa unless a family or a friend is named that in which case you can change the word. HomePod will be the first chance for Apple to change that but pretty sure they are going to stick with Hey Siri for consistent and reliability.

lloeki 9y ago

I think it comes down to the fact that for all the « conversational » publicity stunt, the current implementations insist on the voice assistants to be non-modal. When you think about it, every vocal interaction you have with people is explicitly (through voice) or implicitly (through body language) modal. How hard would it be for the mode to have to end with « thank you Siri » or a sensible time-out, or now with the iPhone X, loss of directed attention (and even activated again with return of directed attention within a reasonable timeframe)