BlackBerry today officially debuted its voice-activated BlackBerry Assistant, the declining smartphone maker’s answer to Apple’s Siri, Google’s Google Now, and Microsoft’s Cortana.
Unfortunately, BlackBerry’s personal assistant has arrived rather late to the party. Siri first debuted in 2011, Google Now in 2012, and Cortana three months ago.
BlackBerry’s description of the new utility highlights some novel features, including its ability to launch a flashlight by voice — Siri can’t do that. Other features are very run-of-the-mill, including reminder scheduling and message dictation.
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In a self-review of the new service, BlackBerry claims that the more you use BlackBerry Assistant, the better it gets. “I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how accurate BlackBerry Assistant is at recognizing your requests,” the BlackBerry reviewer adds.
BlackBerry’s personal assistant is available on BlackBerry version 10.3.
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