Google Now and Siri have been one of the most valuable features of Android and iOS respectively, but never have fulfilled the whole of our desires. While Google Now’s cutting-edge response puts it on top of other virtual assistants like Siri and Cortana, most of us Android users would want more functionality out of it.
The problem with Google Now is its miserable voice-recognition system. Siri falls short when you need a quick-repose and information at a glance. While Siri can be dependable on voice-recognition, Google Now is a must for the people who need information at their fingertips (or in this case, their hands).
Let’s just deviate from the topic (just a little bit) and remember the best sound/music streams or players for both, Android and iOS. While the Stock music application in Android may not be able to stream music directly from web sources, there are still many alternatives to look for. SoundHound is probably what comes in your mind when you think of it. SoundHound has been popular ever since their remarkable success with the Music player.
Just recently, SoundHound announced yet another product, which has been named ‘Hound‘ (pretty obvious). No, it isn’t another music player for Android or a media storage application. It is actually a virtual assistant. Hound is just like Google Now and Siri, but seems to be more powerful than both of them. This is due to its fast (really fast) sound recognition software, and responsive information at a glance. Both of these features have made me and many of the other Android users betray Google Now, and use Hound as a daily basis.
There are about an infinite amount of things which you can do with Hound. The most remarkable and noticeable of them all are listed below :
- Hotels – Launch Hound, and feel free to ask it for the nearby hotels which cost less than $150 for a stay. It’s as simple as that.
- Weather – Hound gives you real time information about the weather and climate of a specified place, at a specified time.
- Navigation – Have trouble reaching a place? Hound can give you easy directions with one simple ask!
- Dial/Text – You can use Hound to dial/text a person.
- Set Alarm – Want to wake up without any issues? Set an alarm just by ordering Hound to.
- Music – “Play 22 by Taylor Swift”, you can do that! Even if it is not on your device, Hound can recognize a music when heard.
- Tip Calculator – Want to tip a waiter at a restaurant? You can use Hound to calculate your tip/bill.
- Games – Yes, Hound has some awesome games integrated in it as well. Hangman, Guess My Number are just two of them.
Overall, Hound might be just the one virtual assistant you might be looking for. My experience with it in the past two weeks, was just marvelous. It is really hard to get a hands-on with this piece of genius application, but you can ask for people who have shareable invites (It’s OnePlus all over again). I got mine by just a simple request on the website.
Although Hound is still in BETA testing, I would still recommend it for a replacement to Google Now and Siri. If you have any queries regarding this article, feel free to refer us in the comments below.
What are the privacy terms and conditions like? Also, why “OK Hound” and not the more pleasing to say “Hey Hound”? Also, copy Google Now’s ‘listening’ animation much?!
Hi Samuel,
Since Hound is still in BETA, the developer is listening to various people’s opinions/bugs they find in it. I’ve been using Hound for 2 weeks now, and significant updates have brought about a lot of good changes. When it comes to privacy, there’s no harm when you use it. Also, Google Now’s inspiration might be because it has just started, who knows what we’ll see when it has a stable release?