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Siri, Alexa, and Google have all changed the way people find information online, opening up new ways to search. Before the dawn of voice assistants, we only see this kind of technology in movies and television shows. While there are many benefits, there are also drawbacks to these voice search features. People often experience frustrations when conducting a search by voice and often accidentally summon their personal assistants thanks to unintentional voice commands. Let’s look at some of the most notable scenarios where voice assistants still fall short on.
1. Unintelligible Words
It can be very difficult for voice assistants to comprehend words that are said that are not in the dictionary. Though this trend has been improving over time. For example, if someone asks a voice assistant to open an app, the assistant may not be able to recognize it. Ask an assistant to open a website, and it may not understand the syntax. Say a person asks a voice assistant to buy something, but they don’t say any specifics. It may be very difficult for assistants to figure out what you want to buy, especially if it is a unique item. You may need to be more specific or say the name of the product to get what you want.
2. Not Understanding Commands
When you are doing a voice search, you expect to get the correct result immediately. However, if the voice assistant does not understand what you’re asking for, you will have to repeat yourself or put in your search query manually. The latter is an even bigger frustration since you will have to once again say your search query (the one you’re looking for) aloud. This can be awkward, uncomfortable, and sometimes embarrassing if you are talking to a stranger, especially if they are holding up a conversation on their mobile phone while waiting in line.
3. Providing the Wrong Information
Voice assistants are good at providing factual information, but some of them struggle to provide decent information due to misinterpreting or misidentifying a particular query. This problem seems to be more prominent with voice assistants, especially when it comes to misidentifying the source of the voice command.
The result is a broken user experience, where people have to repeat their search query several times just to get the right information. This gets frustrating when you are looking for something, and you have to repeat yourself several times to get the answer you are looking for. You can do the same by typing in your search in a browser, but you’ll get more accurate results since you can modify your query on the fly.
4. Getting Distracted during In-Person Conversation
Even though it’s good that you can use voice assistants to make your life a little bit easier, there are times when they can be counterproductive when trying to have a conversation with someone. This is especially true when you’re talking to someone face-to-face. Imagine this: you’re at the store to pick up some groceries, and your voice assistant suddenly buzzes in, asking you if you need anything else. You probably don’t want to be talking loudly to a cashier while they are talking to you.
5. Software Integration Problems
The major players in the voice assistant sphere are Siri, Google Assistant, and Alexa. These assistants are still far from perfect, which is why it’s amazing that they were integrated into so many different types of devices. However, despite the fact that there are many devices and applications that are compatible with voice assistants, there are still numerous problems with software integration.
For example, you may ask your voice assistant to open an application on your smartphone, but it may not work. Also, if you have set up your voice assistant on your smart TV, you would usually have to shout your search query. This doesn’t do you any good, especially if you have other people in the room.
Bottom Line – The Keyboard Reigns Supreme
Voice assistants have come a long way since Siri in 2011, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. Still, nothing beats typing out a search query and getting what you need in an instant. Virtual and physical keyboards are still the best way to find information online and navigate your way through apps and websites.
Fleksy is here to help brands build their own wonderful products through our white-label keyboard SDK. We give you a state-of-the-art solution designed for easy integration and is easily the best keyboard technology for any app or device. Get in touch with Fleksy today and build a custom keyboard for your brand!
