Cortana: Tips and Tricks (Halo Questions in OP)

[marratj]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Here is a screenshot from my settings menu. I turned Cortana off and was still able to set it.

http://i.imgur.com/IGGyDdD.png

But that seems to work with U.S. settings only. In the emulator, as soon as you switch the language or region to any different one, Quiet Hours is gone, too

 

[maks327]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Can Cortana change bluetooth or wifi settings? For instance, can I ask her to simply turn on bluetooth? Or better yet, can she geofence it so that it turns on bluetooth when I'm at work? Thanks!

 

[Brad Miller2]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Can I configure Cortana to use Navigon instead of Drive + when I ask for her to navigate somewhere for me? Drive + has never worked well for me (i do a lot of driving for work in rural SE Ohio and WV and the Drive+ maps are far inferior to Navigon's). For that matter, can I simply tell Cortana what navigation app I want, or am I locked into Drive +?

 

[marratj]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

the Drive+ maps are far inferior to Navigon's

Well, that's not entirely true. Navigon gets its maps from Nokia's HERE division (formerly Navteq), just like about 70 % of all other consumer satnav systems.

What Navigon does better than HERE's own app are extra features, like POIs, traffic rerouting, etc... That's something where Drive+ has still a long way ahead and I'm starting to believe that we will never see full feature parity as they probably don't want to cut into their licensing income from other vendors, which would inevitably happen if they offered all the features the others have.

 

[Brad Miller2]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

That's really surprising, because Here Drive + took me about 2 miles in the wrong direction and put me in the middle of a residential street. Mapquest wouldnt take me anywhere because it couldnt resolve the address beyond the entire city, and Navigon took me directly to the store I was trying to find in all 3 cases.

Wouldn't the same maps give the same results? Granted, this happened (going to this location with Drive VS Navigon) about a month apart, but still...

 

[marratj]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Not necessarily. The maps should be identical, but it may very well be that Navigon has an own different address database and I bet they also use their own routing algorithm instead of Nokia's.

 

[Kronus24]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Can we ask Cortana how many emails, text, phone calls, we made to today, this week, this month? Or How many times did I call my mom last month? These simple questions should all be feasible. Right?

Can Cortana handle complex two step requests?

ex.1. To send a text to a person at a certain time?

2. "If my mother doesn't call me before 8:00, tell her to call the plumber".
3. " Cortana, Send text "Happy birthday" to everyone in my Famliy Group on there birtday date.

 

[Talderon]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Can we ask Cortana how many emails, text, phone calls, we made to today, this week, this month? Or How many times did I call my mom last month? These simple questions should all be feasible. Right?

Can Cortana handle complex two step requests?

ex.1. To send a text to a person at a certain time?

2. "If my mother doesn't call me before 8:00, tell her to call the plumber".
3. " Cortana, Send text "Happy birthday" to everyone in my Famliy Group on there birtday date.

Timed and dated requests like these are not yet in Cortana, but it is on the roadmap.

 

[Kronus24]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Copy that, how do you know if that are on the road map? But, if what you say is true, which is easy add, this is going to be one power and personal asst.

Just think if Microsoft add there other technology to this. Where you speak, and then it will translate it to the language you want, and as your voice sounds. ex. "Cortana, translate "how are you doing today" to Spanish.

thanks for reply

 

[jleebiker]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Talderon, thank you for all your time and patience. You are a one man marketing team helping get the word about WP8.1 and Cortana out there. You should get a bonus!!!

That being said, I have one need that has not been met since I left BB. Basically, I need to be able to set an audible alert based on phone, text AND email that is DIFFERENT from whatever I pick as the default. I *think* I might be able to do that via the Inner Circle feature, but can you confirm that? Will it take some combo of Inner Circle AND Cortana to be able to do the logic and notify me? Thanks again for all your unpaid info!

 

[VenumX]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Talderon, thank you for all your time and patience. You are a one man marketing team helping get the word about WP8.1 and Cortana out there. You should get a bonus!!!

That being said, I have one need that has not been met since I left BB. Basically, I need to be able to set an audible alert based on phone, text AND email that is DIFFERENT from whatever I pick as the default. I *think* I might be able to do that via the Inner Circle feature, but can you confirm that? Will it take some combo of Inner Circle AND Cortana to be able to do the logic and notify me? Thanks again for all your unpaid info!

if you're just looking to have different sounds for each applications, you're in luck! With windows phone 8.1 ( emulator ) it has separate for each...
see attached...

 

[jleebiker]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

if you're just looking to have different sounds for each applications, you're in luck! With windows phone 8.1 ( emulator ) it has separate for each...
see attached...

View attachment 61871

Thanks, but no. Please read my post. I am specific in what I am asking for.

 

[VenumX]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

Thanks, but no. Please read my post. I am specific in what I am asking for.

if you're looking for individual contact control over ringtone for their phone number, sms and emails from JUST their contact info -- it is the same as windows phone 8 on the 8.1 emulator, just control over sms tone and ringtone.

 

[jleebiker]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

if you're looking for individual contact control over ringtone for their phone number, sms and emails from JUST their contact info -- it is the same as windows phone 8 on the 8.1 emulator, just control over sms tone and ringtone.

So no way to designate a specific alert tone for a contact's email address? Crap.... What if I created different groups and just put one contact in a group and assigned a ringtone for that group? Is that possible?

 

[boshkop]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

I would love to be able to ask for word definitions, like on BING or Google.

 

[Reebs Reebs]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

I would love to be able to ask for word definitions, like on BING or Google.

View attachment 61879

I really think this should be there.

 

[Talderon]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

I would love to be able to ask for word definitions, like on BING or Google.

View attachment 61879

You can, just parses web result: http://i.imgur.com/VmD9soi.png

Remember, she IS powered by Bing!!!

 

[kayb27]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

I've got a question. Can Cortana search photos and other files saved on the phone or on OneDrive? Example: If I have my favorite park in my places can I say "find the last few pictures taken at My Favorite Park" ...blah blah Cortana being awesome... "send them via email to my brother". Also, say I need to be reminded to stop somewhere when I'm near it, not necessarily there. "Remind me to swing by the bank on my way home" and have the notification come up as I'm approaching the bank.

 

[Talderon]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

I posted this in another thread, but does belong here as well, so sorry for the multiple post:

Here was how I used Cortana yesterday:

Wake up at 4am
To Cortana: Remind me to follow-up on the database issue when I get to work
Take shower and get ready for work.
To Cortana: Remind me to stop at Freddy's and pick up some milk and wine.
Arrive at work
Cortana: Reminder: Follow-up on the database issue
To Cortana: Remind me to ask my wife about her client meeting next time I talk to her
To Cortana: Remind me to log into Mumble for guild meeting at 8:30pm tonight
Wife Texts me. Cortana Reminder: Ask your wife about client meeting. (she is ecstatic that I remembered and asked)
On my way home I am near Freddy's: Cortana Reminder: Pick up milk and wine
8:15pm arrives. Cortana Reminder: Log into Mumble for the Guild Meeting at 8:30pm.

I have had days where I use her more and less, but that is what I did yesterday. Kept me out of trouble and reminded me to do things that were important to me.

To break this down, there IS some work that needs to be done by you to help Cortana understand.

Just like a REAL LIFE personal assistant, you can't just hire someone and from day one expect them to know where Home, Bank, Freddy's or any other favorite location is. You have to GIVE them the information to make the correlation.

After you launch Cortana, tap the menu icon and click Places.

Here is where you will store all your favorite places that you can assign a Nickname too. This should be what you would call it (like for me, Fred Meyers is Freddy's). The more detail you put in here, the more Cortana can help you.

Now, when it comes to PEOPLE, you don't want to put everyone into your inner circle (even if you don't use quiet hours, because one day, MAYBE you might) since they can break through Quiet Hours. You can put as many people in here as you wish, but the big advantage is, you can assign these people up to 3 nicknames.. If you edit a contact in the People Hub, you can only assign one. Other than that, the Quiet Hours is the only other reason you would want to put anyone here.

Now, once you have all that information set up, you can do things like (as requested above):

Also, say I need to be reminded to stop somewhere when I'm near it, not necessarily there. "Remind me to swing by the bank on my way home" and have the notification come up as I'm approaching the bank.

Now, I have not tested how close you have to be, but I have not has an issue with it since I drive near the places I normally go on my commutes and whatnot.

As for this:

Example: If I have my favorite park in my places can I say "find the last few pictures taken at My Favorite Park" ...blah blah Cortana being awesome... "send them via email to my brother".

No, this functionality is not there. Yet.

I know that there is a LOT to Cortana and a LOT expected from Cortana. We just need to keep in mind that this is Version 1.0 of Cortana and things can only get better from here!!!

Let me know if anyone has any other questions.

Thanks!

 

[jleebiker]

Re: Cortana: Tips and Tricks

This is beautiful. I think I may cry.... ;-)

All this via VOICE commands!!!! Where's my tissue??? ;-)

All kidding aside, I do a lot of driving and am in a lot of meetings. This ability to QUICKLY enter reminders is huge for me. The geofencing will be very helpful as well. I find I am always forgetting one thing or another at the grocery store.

As for the combo tasks, I'm wondering if someone is going to create an add-on for Cortana or app, that will break down a combo task into individual tasks. Hmm....