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Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, Cortana: One Bluetooth Headset From Hong Kong Could Rule Them All

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The Envoy can interact with Siri, Cortana, Alexa and Google Assistant.

Vicartek

In a popularity battle that isn't unlike a high school prom court, Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, Microsoft's Cortana, and Google's, uh, Assistant, are the four front-runners to be queen. With Samsung about to add a fifth candidate -- Bixby -- soon, it seems the A.I. voice assistant catfight is reaching its apex. This is good for us, the consumers, because when billion collar companies compete -- we win. But it's also stressful and annoying having to deal with so many different platforms right now.

One Hong Kong-based company -- Vicartek -- is looking to streamline the process with a bluetooth headset that is natively compatible with Siri, Alexa, Google Assistant, and Cortana, all accessible via a tap or two on the device's touch panel, without the need for the user to pull out their phone.

Vicartek

The headset, named Envoy, is actually the first bluetooth headset that works with the Google Assistant and Alexa without requiring the user to unlock the phone first. According to Vicartek's founder Mark Peng, tapping on the Envoy once activates Alexa, while two taps calls out Siri or Google Assistant. And after the initial query and action, Envoy stays on-call for a couple minutes so you don't have to tap again. Throughout all this, the phone stays in your pocket or on a table, without needing to be touched.

Peng said he initially envisioned the Envoy to be an Alexa-exclusive headset, but soon realized that "each digital assistant excels at different types of tasks, and everyone uses their assistants differently".

"For example," he added, "Siri is obviously for tasks on the iPhone, but Alexa actually has a far wider range of skills set, especially with smart homes."

The Envoy.

Vicartek

Peng said he and his team of developers spent months writing a customized software algorithm that connects to different digital assistants at all times. To improve voice recognition accuracy, Vicartek used a proprietary dual microphones design to eliminate background noise. Peng claims the Envoy has a 90% accuracy rate, and that the Envoy's API is open to developer so it could work with other lesser known voice assistants in the future. So if Samsung's Bixby picks up in popularity, it'd be reasonable to expect the Envoy to be able to work with that eventually. 

Of course, whether the Envoy works as advertised remains to be seen. The product is taking pre-orders now for about US$40, but won't be available until early May.