As some of you might have heard, Microsoft is working on bringing Cortana to iOS and Android devices, meaning it will no longer be an exclusive to Windows-based devices. However we had previously mentioned that it might not necessarily gain the same amount of traction due to the fact that it isn’t baked into the OS itself.
This means that calling it up will see users launching an app, versus being able to say “OK Google” or pressing down on your home button to pull up Siri. Or at least that’s what we thought. It turns out that for the Android version of Cortana, the voice assistant feature will be able to replace Google Now as the default.
In the latest update to the beta version of Cortana, it looks like that feature has been added. Users will now be able to replace Google Now on their Android home button (either by pressing and holding or dragging up) with Cortana. This will no doubt help make Cortana better integrated with the Android operating system, but even then there are some limitations.
For example Google Now can be activated by saying “OK Google”, but voice activation for Cortana is not possible at the moment due to hardware limitations. This prevents Cortana from constantly listening for its activation phrase, but we reckon this is good enough. No word on when Cortana will be released but given its beta status, we’re hoping it won’t be too long.
Filed in . Read more about Android, Apps, Cortana, Google Now and Microsoft.