One of the key features that attracted many people to purchase the Apple iPhone 4S was its Siri voice assistant and many Android users now wish they had access to Siri too. However there are Android alternatives available, for example the successful Skyvi, so is there a real need for Android Siri too?

Many iPhone 4S users now enjoy hearing Siri’s dulcet tones delivering just the required information they need but if you have an Android device you can access a similar service. Apple’s Siri has been so popular that Skyvi was developed to offer a similar experience on Android. It uses voice command in much the same way as Siri and finds your location using your Android handset’s GPS. Just like Siri though it seems that sometimes it has trouble picking up a voice so you’ll need to enunciate every word.

If you head to this Android Market link you can find out more about Skyvi actually listed as ‘Skyvi (Siri for Android)’ which already seems to be a huge success with a 4.5 from 5 star rating. It’s a free app for a limited time so what’s stopping you trying it out. In fact looking at some of the comments from those who’ve downloaded Skyvi it seems that many don’t imagine a need for Siri and find Skyvi more than acceptable, especially as the developer says that although its not perfect they’re working hard to make it better than Siri. If you want to find out more check out the video below this story for more on Skyvi.

We’ve told readers about other Siri alternatives on previous occasions too. For example we’ve compared Siri to Evi. Evi is not only available as an Android app but also for other non-Siri iOS devices and could be a real contender. Another voice assistant that we told about was Cluzee, now also available for Android phones. We also informed readers of another possible alternative at some point, HTC Speak, which appears to be a virtual assistant being developed by HTC and yet more competition to Apple’s Siri.

Of course there’s also Vlingo, which some refer to as the original virtual assistant and is available on all major platforms including iOS and Android. Or how about the Speaktoit Assistant on Android, yet another voice buddy. Both of these are also available on the Android Market and both are free apps. You can see links to these from the Skyvi Android Market link above.

As you can see then there are plenty of alternatives on the Android platform to rival Apple’s Siri. Maybe some feel that because Siri is an Apple innovation it somehow has to be better, though many would certainly disagree with that idea. So is there still a need for Siri on Android? We can’t answer that but many of our readers probably can. Do you currently use any voice assistants on your Android device? If so which one, and how do you find it? Would you still like Siri for Android? Let us know with your comments.

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