What do you think of China's Xiao Na?

Microsoft just announced the availability of Cortana in China and the United Kingdom. In China, Cortana will be going by the nickname Xiao Na. Not only is the name different in China, but Cortana looks different and has been given a pair of eyes. This is in order to serve the Chinese culture. We think Xiao Na looks pretty great and want to ask you the same. Take our poll and share your thoughts on Xiao Na.

We'd love to see an option to go between the different styles of Cortana. Though we're very happy with our futuristic circle. Hit up the comments below to share your thoughts on Xiao Na.

Reading this in our app? Head to Internet Explorer to take the poll.

162 Comments

It's nice, but being able to choose between different 'faces' would be cool. I know "Xiao" means small but what does "Na" stand for? Is it just a name? I hope she'll be intensively marketed to boost Windows Phone sales in China.
Na can mean a lot, it would be useful to see the Chinese character to translate it.
Na as in CortaNA
Let's visit china with my L625. I would like to compare Cortana with Xiao Na.
In Chinese Cortana is called Ke Ta Na
That's科塔娜
It's just a name . Like little Na.
小娜， just a name, based on my understanding
I'm Chinese.NA is娜. Usually it's a name for females, but it also means"elegant" or "graceful",an adjective to describe women.
Ok, thanks. So 小娜 is indeed a nice name.
so it means "Small cutie"?
"Na" is just the last syllable of Cortana. In China people like to give nicknames to people they're close with (especially given to children), oftentimes prefixed with "Xiao" meaning "little" and the last character of their name. Because Cortana is roughly pronounced as "Ke Ta Na" in Chinese, "Xiao Na" is like a close nickname meaning Little Na.
Probably written like 小娜 in Chinese characters. 娜Na means a woman with graceful movements. 小Xiao is a way to address someone in an endearing fashion. That's the literal translation, MS may mean it to be something completely different.
I tough Na was sodium :v
Hehe...
Kawaii desu
It's ok if they wanna cage the name so it could be in their native tongue. But jeez... This logo is ugly
for what i've read xiao stands for smile and Na i think it's for cortana.
Dude ! It takes the colour of your theme so what are you talking about?
I am pretty sure XiaoNa blinks from time to another ^^.
It should be court Na for UK
Looks cool! I wanna see a video hands on on how it is animated. :)
She blinks ^__^ , that would super cute
I wish she can bow or do something. Does she change shape as well ??
Aahhhh, it's soooooo cuteeeeee 0~0
Well but I think she's so ugly!!! Like a snout!
+1520
it is cute and now we know the real reason why the Chinese government raided Microsoft. they didn’t get it in the dev. preview and wanted it first.
+920 hahaha
Nice, different than original cortana..... Hopefully microsoft make Cortana available with indonesia language cause not all of indonesian really understand English language, Good work Microsoft.
Should microsoft use a different name?
And then they'll name it 'Kartono' just to make it sound a bit more Indonesian. I doubt we will ever get Cortana in Indonesia by the way.
LOL. About getting Cortana in Indonesia, I really doubt it, but I hope that WP users in Indonesia will still be able to use Cortana, even though without local content or modifications (but it's better if there's one)
Do you know if either Siri or Google Now speaks Indonesian?
Kartini, oh wait. . .
Ugly view
I agree with you, I prefer the halo
Yea!I prefer the halo too!
So do I but the article says "in order to serve the Chinese culture" so maybe it means something in Chinese. I have Chinese blood but starting with my father, we have lost our Chinese heritage so can't say much about the topic.
Cool, but will still go with Cortana any day, and I really like the halo
It sucks
Xiao Na looks like a "SPY" (literally, OOPPPS!) #ThisIsWar
no wonder they got raided...
LAWL!!!
She looks so cute lol. Better than the circle.
I like both. Xiao Na is a cutie, but I find the Circle more inline with the interface and more elegant. It'd be cool if the circle cortana could morph into Xiao Na for specific animations.
Improve the Chinese input pls, I respect if MS wants to keep out of the third party keyboard software but improve the existing.
I agree, it's quite hard to type on this keyboard, one wrong button and you have to input the whole thing again.
No you don't have to type the whole thing again... Just press and hold the text for a second and a cursor will appear. Move it to the desired place and edit the text you want
Thanks for your advice.
Actually if the keyboard could able to link with internet or cloud, then it probably the best, the thing that I said already appeared on some OS but I don't want to mention here since we are all WP fans.
TOUCHPAL really did a good job. During typing Chinese, it able to find the best prediction if we are online status. That's what I never forget about that software.
Perhaps MS doesn't need to follow some third parties input, but I hope the Chinese input with phone dial mode can be improve. Most of people using Chinese input are using nine blocks phone dial mode.
Thanks for appreciations.
I'll stick with the halo
Yeah me too
Ўхг фжжл фдээю фйўз жжжлжффы
Its looking cool..I would love to have an option to change the look of Cortana ;)
what time can I talk with Xiao na by chinese？
Any time you want...
I think what he means is 'when is it going to be aviliable in china..?'
Right now, but you must update your phone to the cyan or get the8.1GDR1
No, you don't.
1520 is available for international version today, probably some people going to downgrade and then update to cyan, then install again PD to get the GDR1 next week.
Hahaha
Its look like alien :-p
It's super cute, wish they would add more animation to add, as well as cortana for sure. It's good to see the passion and motivation Microsoft is going with lately. Keep up the good work Microsoft.
Looks like an alien
I'd like to use the English version of Cortana though I'm Chinese, I hate the alien-like face =,=
Does the alien face do anything fun? Animation? Does she know Clippy?
Maybe a poll on how many WPC members are from China would be more appropriate. Bet yah its less than 5%
Why would Chinese WP users come to WPC in the first place? English is not any preferred language in China
This is what I think ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Looks like a butt than a face. It's super cute, wish they would add more animation to add, as well as cortana for sure.
It's good to see the passion and motivation Microsoft is going with lately.
Keep up the good work Microsoft.
Hahah :) It would be cool if Cortana had different faces yes
How do I get it in the UK? I have got rid of 8.1, my 1320 is unlocked and I still have no update for either Cortana or Cyan. =(
It's funny looking.
with the pink theme it would look like a pig's snout;P
Try crimson .
Lol, true
Hello 小娜
You are from wpxap
How can one 'opt in' to Cortana in the UK?
I'm wondering the same, cant seem to get it
Xiao na and Xiao Bing are sister in China by Microsoft.Xiao na is for WP, while Xiao Bing is for sina weibo and wechat. They are digital assistants
Well ,Xiao Bing is just a chatting robot, She can't do real work
Xiao Bing monks.
Now that looks like a beta app. It's sad to see MS giving so much attention to China when you consider how much the Chinese pirate MS' software. I also noticed that in that pic, there is no beta tag in the upper right hand corner like there is on my 1520.
I can see the Beta tag.
In other news Nokia Singapore announced Windows Phone 8.1 for Lumia 520,820,920 & 1320
No Xbox in China do don't expect people know halo or Cortana in China. So Xiao Na is definitely a much better name and iteration
Indeed X-Box is well-known in China, though it is not allowed to sell together with PlayStation.
Don't you know there are numerous halo fans in China?
Yeah, I am
I'm from mainland China that's why I can tell you few people know about halo/Cortana compared to the total population. Even if 10 million people know, that's still less than 1% of population. Absolute numbers do not have much meaning for China, you need to look at the percentage
I hope cortana be available for more language specially Persian and user could improve it for yourself and each cortana grows up with his owner education like his children :)
Can I change it Clippit? Running out of territories to go, while running from kotana!
you know in China, 'r' is not pronounceable. People in India are very grateful.
I think it is in Japan that 'r' is not pronounceable...
I live in Malaysia and Chinese people are the second largest population here.
If they give it a bit realistic look...it would be amazing...it would be like watching the girl/assistant behind the pretty sound of Cortana!
I agree
The face is not an option for outside China. Chinese culture places high values on eye contact. That's the sole reason why they went with this. I like the circle more though. The best part is that India is also getting Cortana officially!!!!! Huzzah!
I had a feeling it was eye contact but I wasn't sure. Well, you learn something new every day ;-)
Cute! If only, that's option is available for international.
Looks so cute...... But still prefer halo ring
When is she gonna start calling names out loud
Looks like a fucking alien creep..
Why the hell they're diluting their brand Cortana..?? Idiots..?? I think what Africans, Egytians, Indians, Japanese, UAE would get.. TOTALLY STUPIDENDOUS ..!!
It is actually good move, but your point is logical too. But it is a good marketing strategy.
changed all my settings back on 8.1 DP and no Cortana? any ideas? I'm in the UK
I prefer the halo / futuristic circle as am a minimalist. However some may prefer how Xiao Na looks, to each their own.
Na，stand for Sodium¬_¬ Of course just a joke
Can we use Xiao Na in other countries if we would change the region to China??
Of course you can, because I can use US Cortana after changing the region to US for I prefer the halo ring
That's great..
So does this mean we could see the same animated character for more asian countries? Or will it be limited to China? Hey MS why not give us the option to choose either animation!
I am using Lumia 920 CV GB version. After it's available, can I use both Xiao Na and UK Cortana?
You can change the reagion
Personally I would have left it as Cortana as that's what it was meant to be. It nice for MS to take and interest I in other cultures to better things, would also mean when Cortana is released on xbox one the Chinese version will be named this.
It looks a lot like the lame alien cat logo Cyanogenmod came up with. If they needed something with a face (yeah right) they could have put eyes on the existing Cortana circle instead of creating this... thing.
lol, absolutely
Ah Come to India baby....
They need pikachu
Yeah we are waiting for you Cortana since a long time..;)
It is too anime, suits best for them.
I'll keep the look of cortana we have now, but I guess some folks might like to choose an avatar for it. I do like the robot face of EVE in WALL-E.. Think that would look good as she had mood expressive eyes
I'm a Canadian living in China, and I have the Lumia 925 (bought in China). I sure hope I'll have the option to use Cortana, and NOT Xiao Na.
I would love to get Clippy in UK .
Hey we need GlaDos in here Aperture Science Laboratory.
I hope not if GlaDosiri is anything to go by: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTg00wIijNY
Don't know as I have to wait another week for something that we were told would be in China and the UK in less than two weeks!!!!!
I changed n downloaded language to UK so ma region but no Cortana...
That's because Microsoft are making us wait another week for the GDR1 DP!!!!
if we need update 1? does that mean only DP people will actually get Cortana in the UK? or is there going to be a small update for all to activate her?
strange...the eyes dont look chinese
The name should called "小三" hahahaha
All to feed the twisted Chinese government propaganda. Lovely.
Ok. Now being her in India.
Asian cartoonish; not my cup of tea, but it would be great with customizable "faces" to suit the individual user!
I prefer the "Halo" ring for Cortana to match the origins of Cortana. Its cooler that way.
I like my circle, is weird.
Cortana in Japan please! Even if I set my region US, as long as my default language is Japanese, there's no Cortana. :'(
Microsoft is showing partiality . Make everything one
Insane. Different cultures appreciate different things. Otherwise, they'd be being U.S.-centric and Western-centric, which isn't smart for a company trying to appeal to markets around the globe.
Wo ai ni!
seeing as an update is required to activate this i'm assuming this is a leaked image? I know Cortana has been announed for China and UK but we can not yet use her under our native regional settings etc?
She'll be coming with update 1 next week, I presume
Ok, the first thing I was was a nose...not a face...but, once I saw it, it looks good.
Does mean Cortana will have different names according to the language or only for non-latin-based languages? Otherwise, I propose Cortana to be called Lupe in Spanish.
Great localization! Not only language, but culture too by crafting the character. Way to think outside the circle!
Xiao Na is very cute in my opinion :)
I hope they eventually ad in a model that looks like Cortana from Halo... At least for the Americas although an A.I. lady that's practically naked would probably sell well in Japan too.
Looks like meep(facebook sticker)
Just out of curiosity, if I change the region and language to China, will I get to experience Xiao Na instead of Cortana ?
Cool I want to hear the British Cortana
It kinda reminds me of that Cortana doll they use in some of the images here.
Fantastic,just what was missing in WP !
na
Actually it's a cartoon steamed stuffed bun and if you don't like it you can change back to halo。
The UK one user Metric system right? I'll change to UK then... Write annoyed any it using US region
Canada?
Honestly, it looks too much like Google’s Android mascot to me. I would prefer if they just used Cortana’s face from the game but I’m sure that wouldn’t happen without having to jump through a bunch of hoops.
OMG, Cortana is a Poring creature from MMORPG Ragnarok! http://static.giantbomb.com/up...0/103881/2157564-poring.jpg Awwwnnnn <3
Xiao Na looks like pig's nose
As I said from the beginning Cortana shoud have had a face! Nothing fancy just a simple animated face. It should also be the same everywhere!
How about the other country??

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