Cortana is designed to be conversational and a little bit quirky. Smartphone platforms are essentially required to have a voice assistant of some sort in this day and age, and now Microsoft has built one for Windows Phone - it’s called Cortana (like the Halo AI). Let’s see how Windows Phone 8.1 stands up to the latest and greatest version of Android. Now Microsoft is taking aim at Android by ditching OEM licensing fees on Windows Phone and adding a plethora of new features seemingly designed to counter Android. Android was already starting its meteoric rise as Windows Phone launched in 2010, but the open nature, customizability, and rapid update cycle have helped Google’s platform take the lion’s share of the mobile market. Microsoft has spent the last few years struggling to gain relevance in the mobile world, which is an unfamiliar situation for the undisputed king of desktop software. This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page.