BlackBerry 10 to offer a Siri-esque virtual voice activated personal assistant?

posted by Alan F. / Jul 21, 2012, 9:39 AM

BlackBerry 10 to offer a Siri-esque virtual voice activated personal assistant?

Just the other day, RIM announced an update for the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha phone. After the dust settled on the update, it was discovered that RIM had added a voice activated personal assistant similar to Siri. Right now, the personal assistant on the device is far from being a final build. Watching the video below, you can see that the system is still in beta and is not working too well at the moment.

Universal Search on the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha phone

If you notice, there is a similarity between the voice on the BB10 personal assistant and Siri. That could indicate that the BlackBerry system is being built by Nuance, the same company behind Apple's voice activated personal assistant. The video also shows universal search functionality for the new BlackBerry 10 OS. As long as it doesn't depend on the '604 so-called Siri patent at the heart of the preliminary injunction on the Samsung GALAXY Nexus (since stayed), this will probably make the final build of BlackBerry 10.

For those wondering if RIM is going to be able to compete with iOS and Android, it sure looks like the Canadian manufacturer is trying everything to at least match the features of its competition. That would be a big step forward for BlackBerry.

source: N4BB via MobileSyrup

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29 Comments

1. ilia1986 unregistered

(yet another) Lawsuit detected!

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 9:43 AM 7

2. thedarkside

Posts: 654; Member since: Apr 30, 2012

i dont think apple will waste their time sueing RIM.... i mean its RIM... lol

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 9:45 AM 12

22. theBankRobber

Posts: 682; Member since: Sep 22, 2011

Thats the same thing Apple said about Google and Android. Now look, Apple hates Google for giving a real phone with real things to benifit from so they have to sue OEM's for stupid s**t. Siri patents??? Come on, apps have been out Well before Siri and look how apple screws everything up. But once someone brings up androids notification bar, its a different story for apple sheep. Its okay, once Google is awarded the patent for the notification bar, apple will have its hand full .

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 6:41 PM 2

6. iWorld

Posts: 85; Member since: Jul 05, 2012

What else they have copied from iOS, Android & WP???? There is no way to capture the mkt again.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:13 AM 2

12. Ohrules

Posts: 327; Member since: Jun 11, 2012

Did i spoil ก็็็็็็็็็็็็็็็

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:30 AM 0

23. nnaatthhaannx2

Posts: 820; Member since: Oct 19, 2011

Is it just me or is there a long squiggly line comming out of your comment?

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 6:55 PM 1

24. protozeloz

Posts: 5396; Member since: Sep 16, 2010

not only you....

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 9:23 PM 2

19. taz89

Posts: 2014; Member since: May 03, 2011

everyone copies everyone,nothing today is ever original...just look at how ios and android who are at the top,they have taken ideas from others too.just look at the last 2 major ios updates and see how much is copied from others.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 2:50 PM 1

18. GellerDoesDallas

Posts: 50; Member since: Mar 26, 2012

They can't it's being built by Nuance who own the rights to that voice so Apple can forget about it!(Brooklyn accent)

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 1:39 PM 1

3. Ohrules

Posts: 327; Member since: Jun 11, 2012

Best of luck for RIM for their future.......

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 9:50 AM 4

4. JessJess unregistered

Makes me cringe for them.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 9:59 AM 4

13. thedarkside

Posts: 654; Member since: Apr 30, 2012

ill give you a thumbs up for once.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:39 AM 1

5. pikapowerize

Posts: 1869; Member since: May 03, 2012

now i wanna see some BB10 device now!! as in now!! before, it was said that the mobile OSes strengths are their own ecosystem, now it will be the battle of personal assistant!! with google's android jelly bean assistant NOW (weird name if you ask me) apple's Siri and this assistant by BB, i think WP has an assistant too but that one sucks!! i hope they could really catch up! my advice to RIM and Microsoft, never copy... be unique! make unique softwares and hardwares and your features! and exceed expectations!!! that is a true champion! and this is competition!

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:06 AM 3

7. pikapowerize

Posts: 1869; Member since: May 03, 2012

i really hope they could make a real competition to siri! google now can be a challenger but we need more! RIM please make something like siri but patent free!

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:16 AM 1

9. protozeloz

Posts: 5396; Member since: Sep 16, 2010

Google now is not a Challenger, it beat siri on nearly every aspect... and only using half its functionality... this just like S-voice is another bad joke

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:19 AM 3

17. Non_Sequitur

Posts: 1111; Member since: Mar 16, 2012

omg S-Voice is donkey s**t

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 12:27 PM 0

27. andyboi_ph

Posts: 101; Member since: Mar 26, 2012

i agree

posted on Jul 23, 2012, 3:18 AM 1

8. protozeloz

Posts: 5396; Member since: Sep 16, 2010

lol its quite similar to siri bugs and all XD wonder if it can find pictures of a stallion too

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:17 AM 2

10. kingpet13

Posts: 139; Member since: Feb 02, 2012

+1 for the stallion comment. Siris fail in that cideo was hallirious.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:25 AM 0

11. Ohrules

Posts: 327; Member since: Jun 11, 2012

yeah like you said cideo instead of video

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:28 AM 1

15. MartyK

Posts: 1043; Member since: Apr 11, 2012

+10...hahahahah

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 11:23 AM 0

14. snowgator

Posts: 3621; Member since: Jan 19, 2011

Had this debate with some fellow WP enthusiasts. Voice commands in the future are not optional. Mobile is about convenience on the go, and voice activated systems are going to be extremely important in the coming years. WP's TellMe was an okay start, but I was arguing WP8 needs a huge step up, especially after Siri has made such an impact (good and bad) and Google has improved so much. And here in lies the problem with BB10. While their three major competitors are on improved versions, RIM will be just crawling out of the gate. As WP can attest to, being behind at start up is both unavoidable and deadly. Since RIM is it's own company, both software and hardware, a slow start will hit their bottom line so much harder than MS was hit by WP's sluggish sales. But if this is any indication, there will be nothing BB10 can offer the others do not have. If they have to rebuild their customer base, can they survive long enough to do it?

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:53 AM 1

16. protozeloz

Posts: 5396; Member since: Sep 16, 2010

I think the best work is not what the assistant can do but rather what is can understand, what makes Google search better is the fact that it understands your voice sentence by sentence, so by the time you are done with your query Google has narrowed down the possibilities to only a fiew, also anyone that had use live dictation can tell you Google tries to make sense of a sentence, because talking to your phone and having it understand your message as a random bunch of words is not cool... also this talk reply system is no good, I makes me feel my phone is a step behind me and any assistance that cant understand my commands, fails to perform the assigned task, ask me too much about my query or is one step behind me SHOULD BE FIRED I don't need an "assistant " that reduces my productivity and companies should understand that.... so far Google seems to be doing close to what I want

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 11:34 AM 2

20. mas11

Posts: 1034; Member since: Mar 30, 2012

I wouldn't say it's copying. The idea of a voice assistant shouldn't be copy written.

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 5:24 PM 3

21. pikapowerize

Posts: 1869; Member since: May 03, 2012

but siri was a technology way

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 5:54 PM 0

25. joey18

Posts: 666; Member since: Jul 20, 2010

Looks like 70 year phone and lazy voice

posted on Jul 21, 2012, 10:32 PM 1

26. JunkCreek

Posts: 407; Member since: Jul 13, 2012

NO MORE DELAY!!!! IT IS A WARN!!!!ííí

posted on Jul 23, 2012, 1:27 AM 0

29. CRICKETownz

Posts: 980; Member since: Oct 24, 2009

I think RIM should worry more about offering a 4G device vs. mimicking the latest voice input trends. Word of advice RIM: Figure out how to escape your increasingly growing state of mediocrity.