In November, Google also plans to update Android's voice input engine with on the new . ICS will include a new hands free voice-activation feature, as well as an overhauled voice input engine.

With Siri just out and ICS' new voice features on the way, the two companies look to be gearing up for a voice-activated showdown. But how do the two competing feature sets compare? Are Apple and Google offering the same services, or does the newcomer Siri offer advantages that even improved Android Voice Actions can't match? Here's a look at the feature highlights for both services, as well as a few third-party Android apps that can help augment Voice Actions if you happen to start feeling Siri-envy.

Toe-to-toe

There are a number of features in which Siri and Voice Actions can do the same thing--such as dictating text messages and emails, playing music, calling contacts from your address book, searching the web, and dictating notes. You can also open webpages using both services, though Siri first routes you through a web search and makes you select a result. Android can open a webpage directly using commands such as "Go to Wikipedia."

Some of these voice command features, such as calling a contact or playing music, were also part of the iPhone's previous voice control features. However, in my experience, the iPhone's pre-Siri voice control wasn't particularly reliable. My iPhone 3GS, for example, is obsessed with playing Radiohead, no matter what I ask it to play. Apple appears to have improved its voice command features with , at least for iPhone 4S owners.