Maluuba: Your Siri Alternative. New Virtual Assistant app for Android that doesn’t talk back
by Paul Wilks
Oct 22, 2012 8:08 AM –
Install
Maluuba is a virtual assistant app that kind of blends elements of Siri and Google Voice Actions/Google Now. This is all achieved through a gorgeous minimalist interface that smacks a little of Windows Phone and their Metro theme.
Price: Free
Tested on: HTC One X
Content Rating: Medium Maturity
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Impressive user interface!
- Extremely accurate voice recognition!
- Utilises information from Wolfram Alpha!
- Widgets!
- Directions, Movies, General Knowledge, Restaurants, Weather, Businesses, Play Music, update Social Networks and more!
Cons
Features:
It’s pretty clear that one area of smartphone development that seems to interest the media and end-users a great deal is the virtual assistant. From Google’s original Voice Actions app through Siri, S-Voice, Vlingo and the now the updated Google Now on Jelly Bean, while many people have found the technology to be a little impractical at times, it has come a long way and continues to improve.
We’ve reviewed some great virtual assistants before- the minimalistic but effective Evi and the stunning to look at but heavily flawed Everfriends. Most people are aware of Google Now’s functionality too. Maluuba is a new addition to this fold and by all accounts is pretty effective.
The range of things you can ask Maluuba or get it to do is great. You can ask for directions, for movie information, where to eat, what the weather is, about local businesses, play music, update your social networks or even search for general knowledge answers. The service is remarkably fast and answered most questions I threw at it quite well. It’s not perfect but it is still fun to use.
I have a list of 10 questions I test these Virtual Assistants with and Maluuba performed well, even beating Google Now on a couple of occasions. The app received 6/10 correct answers compared to Google Now (7), Evi (7), Everfriends (1) and Iris (6). From a practical sense then it’s pretty good and I found it answers some things better than others.
I especially like the design of Maluuba. While simplistic, it’s very sharp, responsive and the transitions and animations are great. It’s simple to use and you can even type the inquiry if you wish. Perhaps one element which is missing is the voice feedback. Unlike apps such as Siri and Google Now, there is no spoken answers or feedback in Maluuba. I didn’t find this to be a big issue but if you like the idea of a computer talking back to you, this isn’t going to cut it. That said, I really enjoy using Maluuba and plan to continue playing with it and watching it improve with updates.
Be sure to check out the video below, which is very polished and quite amusing in places…
Watch on Mobile
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Maluuba – Explore
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Maluuba – My day
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Maluuba – Weather
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Maluuba – Reminders
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Maluuba – Voice animation
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Maluuba – Knowledge
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Maluuba – Movie knowledge
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Maluuba – Widgets
Usefulness:
Maluuba is a wonderfully practical app that easily lets you complete a number of tasks and searches. It’s still relatively new but offers a number of superb features and is improving all the time.
Ease of Use:
Just press the microphone button to speak or type in the box available. I especially like the way you can ask it ‘What do I have on today?’ and it displays your agenda for the day- really slick.
Frequently Used:
This depends very much on the user. The app offers lots of different functionality so if you can incorporate those into your life you’ll use the app more.
Interface:
The interface is very smooth and reminds me a little bit of Windows Phones and their Metro-style theme. It works well and looks great.
Tags:
Android App,
Android Apps,
AndroidTapp.com App Review,
Evi,
Google Now,
Iris,
Maluuba,
Siri,
Talk to Phone,
Virtual Assistant,
Voice Actions,
Voice Actions for Android,
Voice Recognition,
Voice Search
Categorised in: Productivity
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