Microsoft's voice assistant from the popular Xbox title Halo has been around for the Android platform for a couple of months now in beta form. While it does not have the exact features and deep integration that it has with its Windows Phone counterpart, Cortana for Android seems to be a welcomed addition in the plethora of apps already in the Google Play store as it provides up-to-date information on what matters most for the users. Now with the latest update, Cortana on Android now goes hands-free as it can now listen to commands when users call her name.
Hey Cortana might come off as old news for Windows Phone users running Windows Phone 8.1 or Windows 10. However, for the Android platform, calling her by her name back when the beta app was first released will yield to a silent response. As Microsoft continues to push Cortana to be a cenralized hub for everything Microsoft, Redmon has recently released an updated to the Android app. Version 1.0.0.289 is now up and is set to bring a hands-free search experience to the Android platform.
For users that are taking part of the Cortana beta app, Hey Cortana can be activated by ticking the check box on the first item of the app settings. By doing so, users will then be able to activate the personal assistant simply by calling her name.
While Microsoft's move may seem to make its users move further away from Windows Phone since the company is already baking its features into Android, it works in the contrary. Microsoft had set some limitations on Android devices as well, similar to it not having a deeper integration to the platform. Hey Cortana can only work if the Android device's display is active, similar to how Okay Google works.
Cortana has been around in Google since August of this year as a beta app, and Microsoft has been providing updates to it. However, there is still no official announcement on when the company will release a non-beta version.
