Google prepping Majel - a Siri rival for Android

It looks as if Google has finally found its voice in the smartphone market and is to follow in Apple's footsteps by prepping its very own Siri rival, which goes by the codename of Majel.

This is according to Android and Me, which reckons it has the inside skinny on new voice functionality being tested by the phone bods at Google.

Called – for the moment – Majel, it is thought that the new technology will be announced for Google phones sometime in Q1 of 2012, a date that marries rather nicely with Mobile World Congress in February.

Speak easy

There have been a number of unofficial apps on the Android Market – most notably Iris – that tackle voice control but none have really nailed it like Apple has with Siri.

This doesn't mean that voice control won't work for Android phones, as none of the developers so far have the development power that Google has.

While Majel may sound like an odd name for many, if you are a Star Trek nut you will know it as the woman behind the voice of the Starship Enterprise's computer.

Instead of going after personality like Apple did with Siri – well, if you call adding some geek references to the tech personality – it is thought that Google is trying a different tack and giving its voice functionality much deeper integration – so you can control every aspect of your phone with voice, from browsing to app management.

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