Google to create rival to Apple's Siri voice control - named after voice of Starship Enterprise



Android phones such as HTC's Evo 4G currently lack a built-in voice control system like Apple's Siri - but Google may be about to change that, with one named after the actor who voiced the Starship Enterprise

Apple's Siri voice control system is as a 'digital personal assistant' designed to allow you to talk to your phone like you talk to other people.

Many Google Android functions already have similar apps built in - although not quite to the specifications of Apple's much-hyped control systems.



Now it seems Google may be about to unveil an official Android rival to Siri - called Majel after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the actor who played the voice of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek.

The name was reported by sources speaking to the Android and Me blog this week.

The name tallies with earlier comments from Google staffers about a 'Star Trek'-like approach.

Google is definitely working on such a system - and this week announced that it had acquired the company Clever Sense, which offers a voice control app.



'I say this year because I’ve heard that engineers at Google X are working around the clock on finishing the first release and the NYTimes previously reported that one product would be released by Google X this year,' wrote Android and Me.

Google X is the search giant's 'blue sky ideas' division - a secretive lab where engineers are free to go wild with ideas such as talking fridges and lifts that take you to space.

'A January or February release might be more realistic,' said Android and Me. 'Other more advanced features like controlling phone actions and applications with natural language commands are expected to come later.'

In earlier interviews, Google acknowledged that it was indeed working on such as product - and that it would be rather like the voice of the Starship Enterprise.



'Our approach is more like Star Trek, the Starship Enterprise - everything is voice-aware,' said Google's Matias Duarte.



The new Google voice command system will reportedly be called Majel - after the actress who provided the voice for one of the incarnations of the Starship Enterprise, as well as other Federation starships





'It’s not that there’s a personality, it doesn’t have a name, it’s just 'Computer',' he told tech website Slashgear.

Duarte's comments appeared to be a criticism of the 'quirky' features built into Apple's Siri - quirks that have led to the software coming under fire for making 'jokes' such as recommending local prostitutes to users who said, 'I'm horny.'

'You have these robot personalities like C-3PO who runs around and he tries to do stuff for you, messes up and makes jokes, he’s kind of a comic relief guy,' said Duarte.

'And you can talk to it and you can touch it, you can interact with it at the same time as you talk with it. It’s just another way to interface with the computer.'









