Meet Cortana, Windows Phone’s answer to Siri and Google Now

Microsoft has just announced Cortana, its new Voice Assistant which comes with the latest Windows Phone 8.1. It is a rather interesting mobile assistant feature which takes on the likes of Siri and Google Now. To trigger Cortana, just tap on the physical Search Icon from any screen in Windows Phone 8.1.

As you would expect from a Voice Assistant, you can use Cortana to run search, call contacts, write SMS and set Alarms or reminders at specific times. Apart from the usual voice search commands, Cortana also offers contextual content such as traffic info to work, current weather, favourite game scores and preferred news which is similar to Google Now. There’s a new feature called Quiet Hours which is kinda like DND mode that mutes notifications during specific hours. You’ll also get to create a list of family and close friend contacts to bypass the Quiet Hours and there’s also an option to alert you if the same number tried to call you twice within 3 minutes. The usage of Cortana is also expandable with 3rd party app integration. In the hands-on video by WPCentral, you can launch app specific commands such as FourSquare Check-in through Cortana.

Check out the promo and a rather detail hands-on video by WPCentral after the break.

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