The Siri thread

Bluefoam

So it seems that Siri is the stand out feature of the new iPhone 4 even though it is only in beta testing right now...

It seems to be a slightly advanced variation on the Voice Commands integrated into Android phones. TBH, the Google commands work quite well, but I rarely use them... I just wonder why people seem so blown away by Siri...

I did notice that in the Apple trailer, they show the guy using a set of headphone with a lanyard microphone, and he keeps pulling the mic closer to his mouth so it will hear his commands which seems a bit of a stupid thing to highlight in a promo video (it wouldn't have happened in Steve Jobs day...). I'd like to see how well it works if he was huffing and panting as he ran.

In general, I think Apple have done another masterful job at making something look amazing when it is really only average... and while doing so have taken the attention away from what is a lack-lustre phone launch.

I'm not Apple bashing here, I was the original fanboy, but would be interested in a good discussion on Siri...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZSkvwpBBok

Bluefoam

According to The Reg:

We've skipped it not because it's not strictly part of the iPhone 4S, but because we believe it's a bit of a gimmick – even if it works as advertised.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/05/iphone_4s/page2.html

Crazy World

Yep it seems that this is just a stop gap. So for for hdmi out etc . I will be buying anyway just as I did the 3GS.

Hopefully there is some good competition for the providers to offer good deals on bills.

PortoLad

Anyone have first-hand experience of Siri?

Paparazzo

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9620723.stm
Not detailed, but I just happened to watch it before I saw the thread. Definitely something I just done believe would work as well in the real world as the ad leads me to believe

Spook80

Ive been loving Siri and find it great, it understands quite a lot and i don't see accents as much of a problem unless you're seriously trying to make it fail.

It would be even better if they release it for places and searches in Ireland but even as it is now i'm finding it very useful and using it more than i thought i would.

southafrica2010

DaveM80 wrote: »

Ive been loving Siri and find it great, it understands quite a lot and i don't see accents as much of a problem unless you're seriously trying to make it fail.

It would be even better if they release it for places and searches in Ireland but even as it is now i'm finding it very useful and using it more than i thought i would.

Is the location idea the only part of Siri which will work in Ireland when it launches? I believe the uk is same. If so, what is the reason for this and how soon can we look forward to this feature being available in ireland?

Spook80

southafrica2010 wrote: »

Is the location idea the only part of Siri which will work in Ireland when it launches? I believe the uk is same. If so, what is the reason for this and how soon can we look forward to this feature being available in ireland?

The only thing that doesn't work is finding places, maps etc but in terms of locations services i can ask Siri to remind me to pick up milk when i leave work. Once its set to remember where you work it will remind you as soon as the gps in the phone leaves work.

If i ask the phone to "find me an takeaway" it will say "sorry dave, i cannot search for places in Ireland"
But if i say "find me a takeaway in chicago" it will give me a list of them.

Or another one i said "i wanna see boobs in newyork" and the response "ok I've found a number of strip clubs for you in newyork" :pac:

southafrica2010

DaveM80 wrote: »

The only thing that doesn't work is finding places, maps etc but in terms of locations services i can ask Siri to remind me to pick up milk when i leave work. Once its set to remember where you work it will remind you as soon as the gps in the phone leaves work.

If i ask the phone to "find me an takeaway" it will say "sorry dave, i cannot search for places in Ireland"
But if i say "find me a takeaway in chicago" it will give me a list of them.

Or another one i said "i wanna see boobs in newyork" and the response "ok I've found a number of strip clubs for you in newyork" :pac:

What is the reason for it not working in Ireland and how soon would we be hopeful that that feature will be up and running?

Spook80

southafrica2010 wrote: »

What is the reason for it not working in Ireland and how soon would we be hopeful that that feature will be up and running?

I don't have a clue i'm just like anyone else hoping they bring it out. Very early days yet.

Bluefoam

southafrica2010 wrote: »

DaveM80 wrote: »

The only thing that doesn't work is finding places, maps etc but in terms of locations services i can ask Siri to remind me to pick up milk when i leave work. Once its set to remember where you work it will remind you as soon as the gps in the phone leaves work.

If i ask the phone to "find me an takeaway" it will say "sorry dave, i cannot search for places in Ireland"
But if i say "find me a takeaway in chicago" it will give me a list of them.

Or another one i said "i wanna see boobs in newyork" and the response "ok I've found a number of strip clubs for you in newyork" :pac:

What is the reason for it not working in Ireland and how soon would we be hopeful that that feature will be up and running?

Can Irish users use itunes to download books, movies and tv yet?

Et Cetera

To clear up:

- It will be available in Ireland from the off but only in beta, it's localised for the UK, Aus and USA right now. Once it moves on from beta in 2012 it will be more forgiving for the Irish accent. In fairness unless you have a /very/ strong accent it should be ok. The non-localised means local data like maps won't be available etc.

- Also there's a team of hackers working to get it working on the iPhone 4 and this will happen within the next few weeks.

Spook80

Bluefoam wrote: »

Can Irish users use itunes to download books, movies and tv yet?

yeah you can download movie and books or ya can get an open an american account and get the movies earlier

alexboard

Quite fun, works great but no Maps, direction and directory in Ireland yet.

FIRST thing to ask Siri:

HI SIRI, What is the worse network in Ireland:

Alex, Three of course ...

3G coverage is rubbish, if you want to call n text you're prob OK, but as a smartphone user, biggest mistake ever and now stuck for 24 months.
Even in city it keeps switching to the back up voice network with extremely slow GPRS, I had never seen the blue circle on my iPhone being used so often. This is actually the Vodafone network. The Three network is 3G only (displayed as 3 3G) and everywhere when you can't get it, it automatically switches back to Vodafone (displayed as 3) through a roaming agreement they have. The thing is once it has switched, it takes 5 to 10 minutes to look again for the 3 3G network, or you have to manually re-scan!!! During your time on the virtual Vodafone 3 network, you don;t get 3G or pretty much any data at all, even the EDGE barely works.
Absolutely rubbish, and I don't even mention Cork to Dublin train journeys or any venture outside urban jungles. I wish I could get out, if any one knows a way please post, It's killing me

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056415717&page=2

120_Minutes

hmmm

"the more you use Siri, the better it will understand you. It does this by learning about your accent and other characteristics of your voice. Siri uses voice recognition algorithms to categorize your voice into one of the dialects or accents it understands. As more people use Siri and it’s exposed to more variations of a language, its overall recognition of dialects and accents will continue to improve, and Siri will work even better."

so the more its used, worldwide, the better it gets....

Chris P. Bacon

Put it on Australian and say G'day mate

120_Minutes

ask: "where can i hide a body?"

3206jake

Could Siri be used to write a assignment the same way it writes a text ???would be very handy.

Spook80

3206jake wrote: »

Could Siri be used to write a assignment the same way it writes a text ???would be very handy.

technically yes as i use it a lot for making notes and usually its accurate enough but i reckon for something like an assignment and that amount of text you'd be spending more time correcting it than it would take to just type it.

Still though, a sign of how things will be as it advances maybe.

sssssiiiiimon

How do you end sentence and start a new one with Siri

120_Minutes

when you're speaking, say "full stop" or "comma" and it inserts them.

s8n

I've just picked up an Iphone 4 S and it's not installed - Do I get it from the app store ?

Mr Moon

s8n wrote: »

I've just picked up an Iphone 4 S and it's not installed - Do I get it from the app store ?

You have to enable it in the settings!

s8n

Mr Moon wrote: »

You have to enable it in the settings!

Many Thanks - Haven't played with it yet so appreciate the heads up

Hootanany

How do i enable Siri please

The Rook

Hootanany wrote: »

How do i enable Siri please

Settings -> General -> Siri -> On

Simples !

ArthurG

Are people actually using Siri?.

My OH got a 4s on launch day (i've an 18 month old 4, was considering changing but will hang on for the next iteration).

After a few hours of playing with the thing, setting unwanted reminders, sending texts, asking stupid questions etc, its lost its charm somewhat.

Not sure if its the gimmick factor, or the Irish dread of looking like an eejit by trying to sound authoritative when talking to your phone in public.....

waynegalway

ArthurG wrote: »

Are people actually using Siri?.

My OH got a 4s on launch day (i've an 18 month old 4, was considering changing but will hang on for the next iteration).

After a few hours of playing with the thing, setting unwanted reminders, sending texts, asking stupid questions etc, its lost its charm somewhat.

Not sure if its the gimmick factor, or the Irish dread of looking like an eejit by trying to sound authoritative when talking to your phone in public.....

Hi. I wonder about this myself.

It's either a gimmick that will fade relatively quickly (ie. the owner of the phone will stop using it within a couple of weeks),

OR

Apple has just paved the way for a revolution in how we interact with technology forever.

I've had voice activation before on various handsets and laptops over the years. I should say, I don't have a 4S, so I have no first hadn experience with Siri. But it does SEEM to be a huge advance in voice control for a device.

I'm old enough to remember when all texts were free (back in the mid 90s) because network operators didn't think it would become popular for people to use essentially 10 or 11 buttons to type text messages. Plus the texts were sent on the carrier signal and so didn't incur any additional cost for the operators. Anyway, my point is that the interface was thought to be gimmicky at the time, and maybe that's what will happen with Siri too. It really could become THE way we use technology.

I think Apple have done such a good job on this compared to other voice control that it will take off for them.

The Rook

ArthurG wrote: »

Are people actually using Siri?.

My OH got a 4s on launch day (i've an 18 month old 4, was considering changing but will hang on for the next iteration).

After a few hours of playing with the thing, setting unwanted reminders, sending texts, asking stupid questions etc, its lost its charm somewhat.

Not sure if its the gimmick factor, or the Irish dread of looking like an eejit by trying to sound authoritative when talking to your phone in public.....

Yeah I use it every day. Before I got the 4S I'd have my phone in my pocket with my headphones on walking to & from work and I'd have to take it out to read/write texts but now just get Siri to do that for me.

I used it just this morning for checking flight times from Dublin to Hong Kong and it gave me a response in about a tenth the time it would have taken me to google it!

When you say "trying to look authoritative" when talking to the phone, you don't have to bark orders at it!! You could just talk normally as you would on a normal conversation and it'll do it just the same !! (I know you know that already but I love the idea of someone shouting at their phone saying "I want you do set that appointment up NOW!!"

Hootanany

The Rook wrote: »

Settings -> General -> Siri -> On

Simples !

I have an Iphone 4 for and cant find Siri

DYLF

I have an Iphone 4 for and cant find Siri

its only on the 4s