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Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking vs Amazon Nova 2 Sonic

Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking is ahead on reliability, success rate, data accuracy and response time, and Amazon Nova 2 Sonic on agent responses, stalled calls and interruption.

Last updated Methodology by Dileep Chagam

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Success rate by suite

Higher is better
Appointments59 scenariosMedicare23 scenarios
  • Gemini 3.8 Live ThinkingGoogle
    79%
    70%
  • Nova 2 SonicAmazon
    80%
    6%
Each model's share of calls that passed every check, on each suite.
Verdict

Which to pick

Pick Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking for reliability across repeated calls (2.4 points higher), calls that pass every check (16.7 points higher), saving the caller's data correctly (24.5 points higher) and fast replies (0.11s sooner). Pick Amazon Nova 2 Sonic for getting the agent's replies right (5.3 points higher), fewer stalled calls (4.1 points lower) and handling interruptions (0.04 higher).

Every metric, side by side

Reliability

Scenarios that passed on all three runs.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
52.4%8th
Nova 2 Sonic
50.0%9th

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking, 2.4 points higher

Success rate

Calls that passed every check.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
76.0%5th
Nova 2 Sonic
59.3%11th

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking, 16.7 points higher

Agent responses

Calls where the agent's replies reached the expected outcome.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
88.6%11th
Nova 2 Sonic
93.9%9th

Nova 2 Sonic, 5.3 points higher

Data accuracy

Calls where everything the agent saved matched exactly.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
84.4%4th
Nova 2 Sonic
59.9%11th

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking, 24.5 points higher

Stalled calls

Calls where the agent went silent for 10 seconds or more.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
5.3%9th
Nova 2 Sonic
1.2%2nd

Nova 2 Sonic, 4.1 points lower

Interruption

How well it handled being talked over, 0 to 5.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
4.958th
Nova 2 Sonic
4.991st

Nova 2 Sonic, 0.04 higher

Response time

Median time to start replying after the caller finishes.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
2.07s7th
Nova 2 Sonic
2.18s9th

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking, 0.11s sooner

Cost / min

One minute of call at the vendor's published rates.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
No verified rate
Nova 2 Sonic
No verified rate

Not comparable

The small figure is the place among ranked models. The cascade is not ranked.

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking answers first

Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking 2.07s, Nova 2 Sonic 2.18s at the median.

Response time, median to p90

Lower is betterMedianTo p90
Medianp90
  • Gemini 3.8 Live ThinkingGoogle
    Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking: median 2.07s, p90 2.74s
    2.07s2.74s
  • Nova 2 SonicAmazon
    Nova 2 Sonic: median 2.18s, p90 2.76s
    2.18s2.76s
2.0s3.0s
Seconds from the caller finishing to the agent starting to reply, per model.

What we saw on the calls

Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking

  • One of the strongest realtime models on Medicare calls.
All 3 notes on Gemini 3.8 Live Thinking
Model
gemini-3.8-live-extended-thinking
Setting
Thinking level high
Voice
Charon
Turn taking
Service turn detection
Audio
16 kHz
Cost
The export carries audio tokens but not text or cached input, so a per-call cost is not derived.

Amazon Nova 2 Sonic

  • Best voice score of the field.
All 3 notes on Nova 2 Sonic
Model
amazon.nova-2-sonic-v1:0
Setting
Endpointing medium
Voice
matthew
Turn taking
Shared local turn detection
Audio
16 kHz
Cost
The vendor's rates for this model are not yet verified.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking or Amazon Nova 2 Sonic more reliable?

Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking is more reliable, by 2.4 points. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking passed 43 of 82 scenarios on all three runs, and Amazon Nova 2 Sonic passed 41. A scenario only counts when every run of it passed.

Which should I pick, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking or Amazon Nova 2 Sonic?

For a phone agent, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, since it gets more scenarios right on every run. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking is ahead on reliability, success rate, data accuracy and response time, and Amazon Nova 2 Sonic on agent responses, stalled calls and interruption.

Which saves caller data more accurately, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking or Amazon Nova 2 Sonic?

Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking, by 24.5 points. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking saved everything exactly right on 84.4% of the calls that save data, and Amazon Nova 2 Sonic on 59.9%. On Appointments, 88.9% against 82.5%. On Medicare, 72.7% against 1.5%. A call counts only when nothing is missing, wrong, extra or saved twice.

Is Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking faster than Amazon Nova 2 Sonic?

Yes. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking starts replying 0.11s sooner at the median. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking takes 2.07s at the median and 2.74s at p90; Amazon Nova 2 Sonic takes 2.18s and 2.76s. Both are measured on the call audio, from the caller finishing to the agent starting to reply.

Which handles interruptions better, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking or Amazon Nova 2 Sonic?

Amazon Nova 2 Sonic, by 0.04 on a 0 to 5 scale. Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking scores 4.95 and Amazon Nova 2 Sonic 4.99 for how well the agent handled being talked over.

Which goes silent on callers less often, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking or Amazon Nova 2 Sonic?

Amazon Nova 2 Sonic, by 4.1 points. The agent went silent for 10 seconds or more on 5.3% of Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking calls and 1.2% of Amazon Nova 2 Sonic calls.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking or Amazon Nova 2 Sonic?

There is no verified per-minute rate for Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking and Amazon Nova 2 Sonic, so cost cannot be compared yet.

Where does the Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking vs Amazon Nova 2 Sonic data come from?

Cekura ran both as the whole agent in the same open-source Pipecat pipeline, with the same prompt, tools and connection. A simulated caller worked through all 82 scenarios on live calls, three times each, 2,952 calls across the benchmark. A call passes only when the agent said the right things and saved the right data.