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Cortana is Microsoft’s attempt to rival Google Now and Apple Siri. It’s a virtual assistant that lives in your phone and whose sole purpose it to make your life easier. A lofty ambition, but does it deliver?

A good virtual assistant is like a secretary in your phone. Want a number? Ask Cortana. Need to know the weather on a given day or in a different city? Ask Cortana. Want to dictate a message? Ask Cortana. You get the idea.

Google Now lacks personality, but works exceptionally well. Apple’s Siri has personality and even a sense of humour, but you need to buy an Apple device to use it. So how does Cortana stack up? Very well indeed.

Cortana is named after the AI assistant in Microsoft’s flagship game Halo and will be available to download soon. It also sounds suspiciously like the game character, which is nice. As well as doing useful secretarial stuff, Cortana can also block calls and interruptions, identify songs and so much more. The biggest difference between Cortana and its rivals is that it seems to be built around your needs.

Rather making assumptions like Siri, Cortana asks you if you want her to track your e-mail, to remind you of events or watch for messages from particular people instead of assuming you do. That makes it so much easier. For instance, if you check out the Formula 1 results on Google Now, it assumes you always want to know. Cortana asks you if you want to know. It’s a small but fundamental difference in approach that sets Cortana apart.

If it doesn’t understand what you want, Cortana will ask you more questions. It learns your habits, anticipates your needs and offers multiple ways to track things, remind you and generally make your life easier. If the release version of Cortana works as well as the preview version, it’s going to be an instant hit.

Jesmond Darmanin is a technology enthusiast who has his own blog at www.itnewsblog.com.