Android fans may not want to admit it, but many are lusting after more Siri-like functionality with their smartphone. Voice Actions is cool if you want to compose a text/email/IM, call somebody in your contact’s list, or do a Google search. But Voice Actions has nowhere near the resources Siri has when processing requests. I took the time to download the new Cluzee personal assistant app to see if it finally gives Android fans the ability to look weird in public talking to their phones more productivity from their smartphones.
It took me a while to download the app because I kept getting a “this app is incompatible with your device” error message (and no, I was not trying to download it on my iPhone). So I made sure my Droid Bionic running OS 2.3.4 (Gingerbread) had the right specs. While I was searching through the app’s info in the Android Market, I took a peek at the user reviews, and a number of them were logging complaints about force closes and/or not recognizing user’s voices, among other things.
Before I could get a chance to build up any additonal skepticism, the app queued up in my notification bar. Not sure what that was all about, so I went ahead and fired the app up when the install was complete. Cluzee does a good job of offering some command suggestions that can help you learn just some of the app’s functionality. It offers some commands like:
“How does my day look like today” – Prompting an agenda view of your calendar
“Call John at work” – Pulling up the phone view to make a call
“Take note Check out this new restaurant” – Opening a notes app to dicate your message”
Without messing with any settings or configurations, I when down the list and did some of their suggestions. Most of the commands that used built in apps/services for messages, searches, calendar, etc. worked okay. Cluzee did close down on me on a couple of occasions, confirming what some users were complaining about in their reviews. So I went into the settings to see if I could tweak the app to perform a little better.
You get the option of building your profile (name, phone number, address, birthday, spouse info, hobbies…and Zodiac sign?), which would have been cool if I could just find “me” in my address book. You can also select what services you want Cluzee to search to find the best deals (Restaurants, Shopping, Travel, etc.). In the settings tab, you can add your Twitter, Facebook & Foursquare login credentials if you want Cluzee to update your social network status or check-in at a location.
After I did all that, it really didn’t help when it came to actually recognizing my commands and/or shutting down on me, which nearly didn’t happen enough for me to completely give Cluzee a professional rating of “whack”, but it did happen enough to make me take notice. Now I also have an iPhone 4S and tried some of these same commands on Siri, and most of them worked fine. When they didn’t (even Siri isn’t perfect), it at least gave me a “I have no idea what you are talking about” type of snarky response that I’m used to when using her not to her liking. That is better than just flat out force closing on me.
Overall, the Cluzee app has a long way to go to be a viable option for Android users wanting a voice assistant with the similar functionality that Siri has, but if the Cluzee developers do manage to remove some of the bugs that the app has, it just may be the app Android lovers flock to as their personal assistant. Cluzee is free (no ads) in the Android Market if you want to test it out yourself – Maybe your luck will be better than mine?