Microsoft shows off Cortana for Windows Phone 8.1

Voice-based phone personal virtual assistants Siri is no doubt the most eye-catching application of the iPhone. It can understand what users say and knows what they mean to helps search and solve the problems. Voice-based phone personal virtual assistants are available with Siri on iOS and Google Now on Android, but Windows Phone users have been left out to this point.

With the Microsoft announced its new voice recognition program on Windows Phone 8.1 – Cortana. Windows Phone users now can enjoy the voice-based phone personal virtual assistants features. Cortana is named after a virtual character in Halo, Microsoft’s science-fiction video game series that uses her encyclopedic knowledge about the universe to help the game’s protagonist. Like many other voice-based phone assistants, Cortana will let users manage basic phone functions such as phone calls, messages, emails etc and also allow users to set calendar appointments, reminders, perform searches, play back music etc. It also can track users online searches and keep a note of any new calendar entries through emails. With permission, Cortana can examine a user’s email to look for airline reservations, alerts for flight changes and other data.

In addition, this new features also able access to third-party apps. Cortana will launch beta version in US, with the UK, China and possibly India being in the next batch of countries to get it.