It has been rollcoaster year for Cortana, but Microsoft insists it is committed to its voice assistant. Perhaps to show this, the company has today rolled out a new UI update for the Windows 10 app. The release introduced a new design for the Cortana app with a focus on efficiency of control.
Microsoft initially launched the new update to Windows Insiders in the United States. However, we are seeing reports that people in other regions are also getting the bump. That means it is likely to be rolling out to all users, but we’ll keep an eye on the situation.
As mentioned, the focus of the update is creating a more seamless user interface. Part of Microsoft’s plans with Windows 10 is to create a connected ecosystem. To that end, Cortana now has direct links to Settings, Documents, Photos, Web, and other services.
MSpoweruser also points to a new group of options that appear when searching. It is worth noting that to get this update you just need to sit back and relax. This is not a download release as Microsoft has upgraded the UI through the backend.
Although, this is happening in stages, so some users may have to wait longer than others to see the changes.
50% of the Time, it Works Every Time
Last month, a study by Loup Ventures found that Cortana gets most of her queries wrong. In comparison, Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google Assistant all performed well.
Google Assistant was victorious, answering 86% of the 800 questions correctly. Siri answered 78.5% of the 800 questions correctly. Alexa was much less accurate with 61.4% correct.
As for Cortana, Microsoft many be worried to see she answered just 52.4% of the questions correctly. This means Cortana is likely to get around half of all questions asked to her wrong.