Android's Andy Rubin slaps down Siri

Andy Rubin, the head of Android at Google, has taken a swipe at the Siri personal assistant feature on the new Apple iPhone 4S.

Following the launch of Android 4.0 in Hong Kong, Rubin today said that your smartphone shouldn't be for talking into, but for communicating with people.

"I don't believe that your phone should be an assistant," said Rubin during an interview.

"Your phone is a tool for communicating. You shouldn't be communicating with the phone; you should be communicating with somebody on the other side of the phone."

Projecting the future

Rubin did applaud Apple's foresight in bringing the tech to the market at the right time, but was keen to point out that Siri isn't a new idea.

"To some degree it is natural for you to talk to your phone. We'll see how pervasive it gets," he added.

"This isn't a new notion. In projecting the future, I think Apple did a good job of figuring out when the technology was ready to be consumer-grade."

Android Ice Cream Sandwich, like previous versions of the OS, does have excellent voice-to-text functionality and the Google Translate app, which now can be used in 14 languages, is also a godsend for many.

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