Google Has Its Own Siri Alternative For Android Coming In 2012 [Report]

Image courtesy of Gizmodo

Apple’s new Siri assistant has really revolutionized the way in which we interact with mobile devices using our voice. It’s no wonder, then, that rivals are scrambling to introduce their own alternatives. Google already has one for Android, according to some reports, called Majel, and it’ll debut during the first quarter of 2012.

Google’s engineers are said to be working “around the clock” on Majel — named after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the actress who provides her voice to the computer in Star Trek Generations — which is reportedly an evolution of the company’s Voice Actions feature present in existing Android devices.

Unlike Voice Actions, which requiters users to issue specific commands such as “navigate to…”, Majel will use more natural language similar to Siri. However, where Siri searches a number of services to provide users with answers to their questions, Majel will only search Google in its initial release, according to Android and Me.

The company had hoped to ship Majel this year, but with 2011 quickly coming to an end, it has been pushed back to early 2012. But I’m sure that won’t be too much of a disappointment to Android users, who will undoubtedly be surprised that Google is launching a Siri competitor so quickly.

• Via RedmondPie

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