Taking a page from Google, Apple’s Siri-based voice Assistant activates when you put the iPhone to your ear

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ3Glr5Ff28]

Google’s iPhone Voice Search promo video

We already knew that iOS 5 would mimic some Google Android features. There’s the Android-like notification system and system-wide Nuance speech-to-text functionality, but now we’ve discovered that Apple’s yet to be announced voice Assistant will be activated in Google fashion. Above is Google’s promotional video for their voice-powered Google search App Store application for the iPhone.

As you can see in the video, all a user has to do is put the iPhone up to their face, start speaking, and Google search results will appear on screen within a few seconds. Apple is going to be providing the same convenience to their iOS 5 users for their system-wide Assistant feature. According to code strings we have found in the iOS 5 SDK, all a user will need to do is move their iPhone to their ear, speak, and the requested action will occur.

This is much quicker than Apple’s current Voice Control activation method. With Voice Control, users need to hold down their home button for a few seconds in order to activate. Assistant activation will not simply be activated via the iPhone’s proximity sensor sensing your ear, but will rely on the phone’s motion sensors as well for accuracy.