Introducing Cortana

Microsoft's voice assistant

By Anca Gagiuc on Apr 18, 2014 in Technology

Microsoft needs to take bold steps to regain precious ground. To that end, its Build 2014 Developer’s Conference included news both expected and surprising.

The expected announcements were related to the new Windows Phone 8.1 software and the much-anticipated update to the Windows 8.1 OS. The surprise was the new Windows 7-style Start menu for Windows 8, which will be launched as a free update. The main focus of the conference reflected Microsoft’s path of offering the ability to experience the same look and feel of applications across phones, tablets, and PCs, as well as the ability for the developers to easily build apps for all three platforms.

“I am absorbing the Internet… now I’m learning about you.”

The spotlight of the keynote was on Cortana for Windows Phone 8.1, the upcoming voice assistant that has the task of competing with Apple’s Siri and Google’s Google Now. Even though right now the new sassy digital assistant is a beta app, there are a few interesting things about her – she’s talkative, but knows what she’s talking about as she’s been given the ability to mine the Windows Phone content (with the user’s permission) and also search the web.

“Because she’s powered by the Internet, you could say that she knows everything about the world,” Joe Belfiore said. “But because she runs on your Windows Phone, she also knows everything about you.”

Cortana will have her own Live Tile, at the same time replacing the search function on the Windows Phone. She can take notes, send reminders, set alarms, and recognize the places you frequently visit. She also has a “Notebook” where she tracks certain user interests, including an “inner circle” of favorite users. The “Quiet hours” feature blocked notifications, with permission to reach you granted only to those in your designated inner circle. By allowing her to read your emails, she can track your flights and seems pretty good at handling a schedule by managing conflicts and reciting the day’s appointments.

The beta state revealed some bugs the developers will probably iron by the launch date – she failed to call a restaurant, stumbled on a baseball game score, and mangled the hashtag of a Twitter tweet. However, like Siri, she seems to have some personality in her interactions. One of Cortana’s best features is probably the high level of contextual awareness – users have the ability to speak naturally to her, instead of using the pre-defined phrases in Windows Phone 8.

Windows Phone 8.1

Represented by Cortana, Windows Phone 8.1 will be much more personal. Highlights include a new Action Center with notifications that resemble greatly those of iOS and Google. It now allows developers to add new configurable notifications. The lock screen has been updated and announcement of new business features were made by Nick Hedderman, senior product manager of Windows. These include a new business VPN that connects automatically, and S-MIME support – allows users to send, sign, and read encrypted email on their phones. However, no business content can be saved on the device – in fact, it can either have implemented a corporate relationship with its policies, or have it removed, but it can’t have both business and personal space on the same device.

Improvements were made in the Windows Phone store, as well, and the Calendar has an upgraded weekly view. A new Sense app has been added to the existing Storage Sense, Battery Sense, and Data Sense apps, and Wi-Fi Sense learns about Wi-Fi networks and will suggest and connect to free hotspots. Moreover, an ordinary phone call can be elevated to Skype calls.

The Windows Phone keyboard is enhanced, including the addition of “shape writing”, or the Microsoft version of Swype. Last but not least, Internet Explorer 11 is added to the phone, including the new Reading Mode and InPrivate browsing.

The new update will be made available to consumers in the following months, preinstalled on new phones in April and May. The first phones to have it will be Nokia Lumia 630 and 635, phones that are geared for the international market, at $159 for the single-SIM option and $189 for the dual-core one.

Windows 8.1 Update

The fairly modest update to Windows 8.1 will be made available as an automatic update to all Windows 8.1 users on April 8; it is mainly centered on mouse-and-keyboard setups: desktops and laptops. The Start screen flaunts some new features: right-clicking on a live tile will display a drop-down menu, replacing the ribbon along the bottom.

The freshly installed apps will be marked with the “New” label, and the taskbar is now visible in Modern (Metro) apps when the user moves the mouse cursor to the bottom of the screen. Modern apps can be pinned to the taskbar – the Windows Store is pre-pinned with the update – having a double purpose: to alert users about the capability and to increase the discoverability of these apps.

Internet Explorer is updated here as well, fact that will give IT managers more tools to customize capabilities. Through this move some legacy enterprise systems will be compatible with Windows 8.1.

“Our vision simply put, is to thrive in this world of mobile first, cloud first,” said at the end of the presentation CEO Satya Nadella.