Cortana isnt as smart as its advertised

[Azurus]

I know its only beta and I'm not blaming anyone. but the way they displayed Cortana against Google Now and Siri was very impressive

I updated to windows Phone 8.1 preview a few hours ago, I'm pretty impressed but Cortana ALMOST ALWAYS does a Bing search except for the basic commands of course which is kind of irritating
If I am supposed to switch something on or off to get the Cortana I can mess around with when I'm bored then please let me know
Or is it just the beta ??

 

[mase123987]

Have you use Siri or Google Now? Both use web searches for MANY things.

 

[Vinoth Di]

Agreed.
Cortana can't answer simple questions like 'who am I?', 'Who are you?', 'What's your name?'
It is still in Beta and should get better and better in months time.

 

[SpaceyO]

Partly just the beta, and partly cortana has to learn, both from you the user and the userbase in general. We'll see a much smarter Cortana in the weeks and months to come.

 

[JudgeHolden]

I told Cortana to turn off my ringer when I got to work.
Cortana set a reminder for me, when I walked into work, titled "ringer."

That's a step in the right direction, but there's no reason why it shouldn't be able to silence my phone rather than remind me to do it myself.

 

[dcutting]

Open Cortana from the app list and walk through her questions first and then you should be good to go.

 

[narv]

I am curious since you said you just updated... if you ask her what the weather is, does she tell you or do a bing search? There was an error yesterday that may still be out there that caused cortana to bing search EVERYTHING except for stuff like "call someone".. ask her to tell you a joke, if she doesn't and she bing searches it you may have that bug... otherwise you may be expecting too much ... but yes.. beta.. though that will get old soon, haha.

 

[DaT Franchise]

I have done all the suggested things including a factory reset and still its pretty much a voice activated web search. She still can't tell me her name, tell me my name, tell me where I am, home, work, favorite places, no voice greeting from search key or live tile. Yes she can set reminders (toast notification really??) no chit chat, a few witty responses well the same response starting to sound like a broken record.

I know she's bata but she doesn't even live up to her bata hype we all have seen. I am in north Florida using a att branded 1520 so that's not the issue. Just strange she works so well for some people and not at all for most.

Any more tricks to get her to work?

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Idk what you're doing wrong but she is rather chatty with me lol

I have done all the suggested things including a factory reset and still its pretty much a voice activated web search. She still can't tell me her name, tell me my name, tell me where I am, home, work, favorite places, no voice greeting from search key or live tile. Yes she can set reminders (toast notification really??) no chit chat, a few witty responses well the same response starting to sound like a broken record.

I know she's bata but she doesn't even live up to her bata hype we all have seen. I am in north Florida using a att branded 1520 so that's not the issue. Just strange she works so well for some people and not at all for most.

Any more tricks to get her to work?

 

[Azurus]

I am curious since you said you just updated... if you ask her what the weather is, does she tell you or do a bing search? There was an error yesterday that may still be out there that caused cortana to bing search EVERYTHING except for stuff like "call someone".. ask her to tell you a joke, if she doesn't and she bing searches it you may have that bug... otherwise you may be expecting too much ... but yes.. beta.. though that will get old soon, haha.

No Cortana is fine in that aspect she does bring up the weather but I honestly want to mess around with her but she isn't interacting with me at all :c I feel unloved :c

 

[berty6294]

I haven't figured out how to get her to check the traffic for me. I commute to class an hour away and it would be helpful if she would answer haha

 

[TheKingsEighth]

I haven't figured out how to get her to check the traffic for me. I commute to class an hour away and it would be helpful if she would answer haha

Make sure you have some locations set up under the places section of the notebook. I have my work and home location entered in and I can ask her "what's the traffic like on the way home?" and she lets me know.

 

[majortom1981]

Cortana tells me the weather. It also updated me with a freeze warning for my area. It did ask me to add in my flight info . I can also turn my wifi on and off through voice command also. I haven't tried anything else yet.

Make sure you add her as a live tile on the start screen. then click on the live tile and run through the wizard.

 

[Graelock]

Partly just the beta, and partly cortana has to learn, both from you the user and the userbase in general. We'll see a much smarter Cortana in the weeks and months to come.

True she relies on cloud processing for some things, so even small server side improvements and updates should make a difference. The whole assistant feature is speculated to be in Beta well into 2015 as well. Can't be to hastey and make calls and accusations right off the get go. If this was the exact condition she was in, come the end of the year, then I'd be worried.

 

[Azurus]

Cortana tells me the weather. It also updated me with a freeze warning for my area. It did ask me to add in my flight info . I can also turn my wifi on and off through voice command also. I haven't tried anything else yet.

Make sure you add her as a live tile on the start screen. then click on the live tile and run through the wizard.

The problem is there is no wizard,
1. Cortana absorbs the internet
2. Cortana asks me for my name
And that's it
Am I missing something ?

 

[txkimmers]

I can also turn my wifi on and off through voice command also.

Works for bluetooth this way as well.

 

[Brian Holmgren]

Agreed.
Cortana can't answer simple questions like 'who am I?', 'Who are you?', 'What's your name?'
It is still in Beta and should get better and better in months time.

Quotes from Cortana
Who am I -> Web search
Who are you ->
- How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?
- I'm your personal assistant. You can tell me the things that interest you and I'll keep it in my Notebook. That way I can make suggestions and keep you up to date.
- In short, I am your personal assistant. I try to make things easier to do on your phone.
What's your name ->
- Cortana
- I'm Cortana
- My name is Cortana.
- You probably know it already, no? I'm Cortana

So she has no problems telling me who she is, also she sings.

Sing for me ->
- Here's one I know: [sings] Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon!
- [sings] Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.

 

[Brian Holmgren]

The problem is there is no wizard,
1. Cortana absorbs the internet
2. Cortana asks me for my name
And that's it
Am I missing something ?

When you open Cortana she shows try "***" all of which you can try and she will answer, also you have "see more" which you can click on and it will shows you "Here are some things I can help you do" and list things like Phone, Messaging, Reminder, Alarm, and more and also apps that supports Cortana, if you click on one of these you will see "Here are some ideas" and a list of things you can ask Cortana, either to answer or to do for you.

 

[Arya Satya]

No Cortana is fine in that aspect she does bring up the weather but I honestly want to mess around with her but she isn't interacting with me at all :c I feel unloved :c

Same here man. I'm a bit disappointed with her lack of 'witty answer' and personality

 

[Rein]

Phew! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a borked Cortana. Hopefully they update her so that she'll be more than a glorified search engine.