GS3, Google Voice Search and S-Voice

[MX5_Toronto]

Hi everyone,

I'm coming from team Crackberry. Had a Blackberry for over 6 years and would visit Crackberry.com on a daily (maybe hourly) basis, but I've decided to make the switch to Android Central!

I don't know much about Android and all the yummy tasting OS upgrades.

I'm thinking about making the GS3 my first android device but was intrigued of videos I saw online which showed off Google Voice Search (cards?) within Jelly Bean.

As an android newbie, I'm having a hard time understading how this will integrate with the GS3, especially since S-Voice performs the same funtions.

Before making my decision I was wondering...

Is it possible/likely that Samsung will block certain features in upcoming OS updates? (ie: disable google voice in favor of S-Voice)

Is there any precedent of this happening in the past with other OEM's?

How might the GS3 work with two different voice assitants? Do they have to pick one? Can both co-exist?

As existing GS3 owners, how did you decide on this phone and was the risk of these overlapping features part of your consideration when picking a new device?

Thanks for your time, and thanks for being a great resource.

 

[KreepyKen]

Hi everyone,

I'm coming from team Crackberry. Had a Blackberry for over 6 years and would visit Crackberry.com on a daily (maybe hourly) basis, but I've decided to make the switch to Android Central!

I don't know much about Android and all the yummy tasting OS upgrades.

I'm thinking about making the GS3 my first android device but was intrigued of videos I saw online which showed off Google Voice Search (cards?) within Jelly Bean.

As an android newbie, I'm having a hard time understading how this will integrate with the GS3, especially since S-Voice performs the same funtions.

Before making my decision I was wondering...

Is it possible/likely that Samsung will block certain features in upcoming OS updates? (ie: disable google voice in favor of S-Voice)

Yes...it's an open source OS, so the manufacturers can tweak and customize to their heart's content (except for the core GAPPS package...which must stay). It's possible that Google keeps it as part of the core apps and requires manufacturers to keep it if they want the market & gmail, but that's a little heavy-handed for the way Google usually operates.

Is there any precedent of this happening in the past with other OEM's?

LOL...both manufacturers and carriers do this kind of thing all the time. See Google Wallet for an example.

How might the GS3 work with two different voice assitants? Do they have to pick one? Can both co-exist?

I fully believe both services could coexist with nary a problem. Whether or not Samsung keeps it remains to be seen. If Apple can get some sort of injunction, then they may just forget S-Voice and go with Google's service. Or if they have big plans for S-Voice, then they may delete the Google assistant. If this happens, I hope Google makes it available in the Play Store.

As existing GS3 owners, how did you decide on this phone and was the risk of these overlapping features part of your consideration when picking a new device?

When Google announced they were dropping the price of the Galaxy Nexus to $350, I was actually tempted. But the SGS III won out and I'm now very happily rocking a brand new pebble blue slab of awesomeness. My final decision came down to what was important to me. Jelly Bean looks freaking awesome, but that was really the only thing the Galaxy Nexus could offer. For me, the camera is a big deal. The GNex camera just sucks. The GPS was important for me, too...and I've heard nothing but rave reviews about the SGS III GPS (and yes, I can confirm that it absolutely destroys in this regard). So in the end, practicality won out over the latest and greatest software update schedule. The camera, GPS, and screen are better than the GNex. Plus it has LTE (don't have it where I live, but do have it where I work). And the Galaxy S III is wicked responsive and fast. I came over from a Captivate (first Galaxy S model), and the difference is like night and day.

I will say, though, that Touchwiz still sucks (that's the Samsung skin...much like HTC's Sense). It works great. It's very responsive. But it's ugly as hell. I downloaded Nova Launcher and I'll probably play around with it to see if I can configure the interface more to my liking. But if it's laggy, I'll deal with Touchwiz. I want no lag. I'd rather have ugly and responsive than pretty and laggy.

Thanks for your time, and thanks for being a great resource.

 

[anemrac]

I was a die hard crackberry fan, but I've been converted. The only things I really miss are the physical keyboard, battery life, and notification customization options. Just stick with the higher end android phones and you'll forget those features while sifting through the thousands of apps.

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