Last October we were surprised by Iris, a cool app that’s supposed to be Android’s response to the iPhone’s Siri. And yes, that’s right–Siri spelled backwards is Iris. One of the things that this Android app can brag about is the fact that it was created just within 8 hours. Its claim for omnipotence may not be absolute just yet, but this app is definitely a promising one. It reached a million downloads in a very short time, an indicator of good reception from Android users. The reviews over at the Android Market and over the Internet have been mostly good, too.

You may already have some idea of what this app can do, given it’s a Siri counterpart. The app is indeed a voice recognition utility. You will be able to have a little chitchat with the app, which will try to answer all your questions by searching for information, mainly through Wikipedia.

What are its pros?

This Android app is packed with many useful features. Its main aim is to let you have the ultimate voice interaction with your Android device.

• Easy access to the app by pressing the Search button.
• Through Iris, you will be able to call or dial a phone number just by talking to the app.
• Sending text messages is another nice feature built into the app.
• The app is capable of finding places like coffee shops, restaurants, and hotels.
• You will be able to ask Iris to search and play a song for you.
• Iris is also capable of searching for and playing back video for users.
• The app can also provide you with movie reviews and even recommend which movies to watch.
• You can also ask Iris for the latest news and it will search and read it for you.

The list of things Iris can do is not limited to the things listed above. The app can do more and you can discover them while using Iris.

What are its cons?

The app is not yet perfect. There are many improvements that can be done with Iris. This is an understandable thing since the app is quite new. Iris is a feature-rich app, although not all these features are working properly just yet. Well, Siri is not yet perfect either.

• Sometimes, it does not understand some of the words or phrases you say.
• There is a tendency that you will get irrelevant answers to your questions. Sometimes, it will even give you funny answers.
• At times the app will crash. There are times where it will force close for no reason at all. This will depend on the device you’re using, as well.
• The app is a bit slow in answering your questions.
• The voice used in the app is too robotic.
• The app needs further development.

As you can see, there are a lot of things Iris has to improve on. Many of the reviews would say so, as well. Good thing about this app, though, is that the developers are not stopping just yet. They are continuously making improvements with Iris.

Are you enticed to install Iris now? It is indeed an app worth a try. If you can’t take full advantage of all its features since not all are working properly just yet, for sure the app will have a way of tickling you with its funny answers to your queries. Do you interact with Iris on your phone?