Why is UK Cortana so rubbish

[EBUK]

I was really expecting Cortana to be a bug deal. But having finally got Cortana UK she seems a bit dim. Just a news and media feed with most question answered by bing web results. She does not ask where live or work, my wife's name in her notebook. The notebook is just basic, US centric interests sites and sports. Nothing to really profile my interests and priorities.
A huge disappointment for UK users unless she really improves to learn my personal situation, interests and priorities.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Cortana UK is a very big disappointment. It's as if MS doesn't realise there is a world outside of the US. Shame, because the World market is 4.5 BILLION people compared to a hundred million in the US.

 

[Senrir]

At least you have Cortana. The other parts of Europe have Nada.

 

[Scienceguy Labs]

Cornada

 

[Bobvfr]

It must be me, maybe I am just too easy going, I think it is great, but you do need to put some stuff in, for example places, I tested this twice I set up my home and work as places and then asked Cortana to remind me XXX when I got to work and home.

Spot on results.

I have tested it playing music, reminders, sending texts, working with OneNote, love it to bits and I am still learning.

And I am in the UK.

Also you can set up news items specific to you for example I have put the company I work for as a news item and any articles that mention that company are shown.

Go into the settings and play with it, she is only dumb if you are.


Bob

 

[neo158]

It must be me, maybe I am just too easy going, I think it is great, but you do need to put some stuff in, for example places, I tested this twice I set up my home and work as places and then asked Cortana to remind me XXX when I got to work and home.

Spot on results.

I have tested it playing music, reminders, sending texts, working with OneNote, love it to bits and I am still learning.

And I am in the UK.

Also you can set up news items specific to you for example I have put the company I work for as a news item and any articles that mention that company are shown.

Go into the settings and play with it, she is only dumb if you are.


Bob

Exactly how I feel, especially the last part. I would guess that most people haven't actually been through the initial setup for Cortana which is why they think it's "crap" and a "disappointment" in the UK.

 

[Ebuka Allison]

Compared to the USA version, she is rather rubbish. Interests that show up when I switch to the US vanish when I swap to the UK

 

[neo158]

Compared to the USA version, she is rather rubbish. Interests that show up when I switch to the US vanish when I swap to the UK

Because some interests are region specific and others aren't, which ones disappear?

 

[Ebuka Allison]

Because some interests are region specific and others aren't, which ones disappear?

Like Windows phone, IOS, Android, avengers? They show up fine in MSN news
Only Iraq stayed :|

 

[Bobvfr]

So can't you just add more interests, not the hardest thing in the world to do.

 

[CliveSinclair]

Works not bad for me - also in the UK. Knows my wifes (when setup correctly) name. Certain is pretty slow at learning my 'routines' and I never expected her to work as well as the US version. Other comparable systems (Google and Siri) are the same.

 

[Ebuka Allison]

So can't you just add more interests, not the hardest thing in the world to do.

But...when I'm interested in THOSE specifically. They show up in the interests pane, but not on the dashboard.
Edit: Also, several apps that are Cortana enabled when I switch to US don't show up in the UK(even if they used the old Tell Me functionality)

 

[CGA1]

At least you have Cortana. The other parts of Europe have Nada.

I don't even have simple speech recognition.

 

[neo158]

Like Windows phone, IOS, Android, avengers? They show up fine in MSN news
Only Iraq stayed :|

Then you need to add them as specific news items, they don't show up as interests.

 

[Ebuka Allison]

Then you need to add them as specific news items, they don't show up as interests.

That's what I meant. News Items are added to your interests you know

 

[LeiChat]

I added "Xbox" (and "Windows Phone") under the "news" section, it has the "Articles about xbox" enabled and the "Notify me where are new stories" checked but I've only once had anything appear on the Cortana dashboard.

​Any ideas please?

 

[Pedro Bustos]

Exactly how I feel, especially the last part. I would guess that most people haven't actually been through the initial setup for Cortana which is why they think it's "crap" and a "disappointment" in the UK.

No its because Cortana UK is still crap a year later. Nothing I enable or fiddle has improved her. She just sits there doing nothing.

I'd love "Time to leave" to work but it doesn't. Yes everything possible is enabled. In any case, if you are selling this on TV, it should be intuitive to anyone.

 

[neo158]

No its because Cortana UK is still crap a year later. Nothing I enable or fiddle has improved her. She just sits there doing nothing.

I'd love "Time to leave" to work but it doesn't. Yes everything possible is enabled. In any case, if you are selling this on TV, it should be intuitive to anyone.

You're stating that as if it's fact, I have no issues with Cortana here in the UK on either WP8.1 or Windows 10. That doesn't mean that others have no issues, give me specifics about what isn't working and I can help but just saying Cortana is "crap" in the UK doesn't help. The only notifications I get on Windows 10 are for football results, everything else just shows on the Live Tile.

Cortana did have issues here in the UK when Windows 10 launched but those should be fixed now, it might also be that because I use Windows Phone the settings were pulled in automatically for me which is why I had no issues.

 

[Jcmg62]

You're stating that as if it's fact, I have no issues with Cortana here in the UK on either WP8.1 or Windows 10. That doesn't mean that others have no issues, give me specifics about what isn't working and I can help but just saying Cortana is "crap" in the UK doesn't help. The only notifications I get on Windows 10 are for football results, everything else just shows on the Live Tile.

I can't get "hey Cortana" to work properly on my Lumia 950 (running latest W10 slow insider). I can't work out if this is hardware or software related but it's definitely a lot poorer than it was on my 1520 running 8.1

I've gone through the learn my voice process about a dozen times and still cannot get the phone to wake from sleep mode when I say (and eventually shout) hey Cortana. This was something my 1520 handled well, and something I used several times a day to set reminders.

Regardless of whether it's hardware or software, it still feels like a step in the wrong direction.

I'm going to create a separate post to see if other 950 users are having similar issues....maybe there's a fix to be found in the community

Cortana did have issues here in the UK when Windows 10 launched but those should be fixed now, it might also be that because I use Windows Phone the settings were pulled in automatically for me which is why I had no issues.

 

[Pedro Bustos]

You're stating that as if it's fact, I have no issues with Cortana here in the UK on either WP8.1 or Windows 10. That doesn't mean that others have no issues, give me specifics about what isn't working and I can help but just saying Cortana is "crap" in the UK doesn't help. The only notifications I get on Windows 10 are for football results, everything else just shows on the Live Tile.

Cortana did have issues here in the UK when Windows 10 launched but those should be fixed now, it might also be that because I use Windows Phone the settings were pulled in automatically for me which is why I had no issues.

My issue(s) is that she has been advertised on TV to tell me when to leave for an appointment. If it's on TV it must mean its easy to set up. She sometimes tells me when to leave for work, but not every time. How can you rely on an intermittent assistant?

Is the "leave now" function reliant on it being a business appointment? The ads and web promotional stuff don't qualify, so I assume its any appointment I add to my calendar - you can't add reminders in Cortana that use a time WITH a location, so calendar is the only place to set this up. Yes I have places set as Favorites in Maps. But it still doesn't work as promoted. And that is why i say "crap".

Should flight checking work in the UK? It never has for me yet. If she scans email for flight numbers that suggests this service is automated. Correct?

Cortana is promoted in such a way to suggest she is intuitive but I see very little evidence.

I joined Insider recently and upgraded to Win10, just to see if Cortana works better, but i get the same lack of dependability that I have already described.

Sorry, I want to love Cortana but so far she is a big disappointment.

If you think I can be redeemed, you are welcome to try