One of the major selling-points of Apple's latest iPhone is Siri, a voice recognition 'personal assistant' that gradually learns as you speak to it. (For more on how it works, check out our hands-on Siri review).
A group of Android developers has hit back at the 4S's flagship feature with a personal assistant of their own. This one's called Iris (which is 'Siri' spelt backwards, cheekily).
"Iris makes your phone talk on topics ranging from Einstein to Mozart," explains the Iris' app page. "Inspired from the iPhone feature Siri, Iris interacts with you in voice. Just ask Iris [and] she will talk to you on any topic. Ranging from Philosophy, Culture, History, science to general conversation."
The app comes with a range of simple voice actions, including making phone calls, bringing up contacts and searching for something on the web. Note that Iris users will need to have Voice Search and TTS library installed in their phone for Iris to work.
Currently in Alpha stage, Iris isn't as sophisticated or responsive as its Apple prececesor (which is putting it mildly), and it also lacks the same deadpan wit. But it's early days yet, with the team reportedly releasing the first version after just eight hours of development time.
To give the Iris Beta a test drive, pay a visit to the Android Market.
You can also see how the app fares in its current state by watching the video below:
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