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zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,133
17,434
Florida, USA
The main thing I use Siri for is setting alarms and reminders. It seems bulletproof for that task.

"Wake me up at 7 AM."

"Remind me on Saturday at 9:55AM to watch ponies."

...and so on.

For other things it's hit or miss to the point that I just use the phone directly. It only takes Siri getting things wrong once to remove any potential time savings.
 

clukas

macrumors 6502a
May 3, 2010
990
401
Personally I don't use Siri. The only time I use it is when I need to call someone whilst I'm driving. I find features such as Google now more useful (although privacy is a concern here). Siri has potential, but is not incredibly useful to me right now.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
I use it for math problems I have difficulty figuring out in my head while driving. Strange I know but I find that useful. Also very random questions I don't feel like googling.
 

sunking101

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2013
7,416
2,655
I have always seen it as a gimmick. I probably asked it three things out of curiosity when I first got the feature, and then disabled it. I can see it being useful for some folk but I would rather type.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
I also find it very useful when setting an alarm when I'm half asleep ie "wake me up in 20 minutes".

If I set it manually going through the process generally wakes me up enough that I can't snooze.

Flip side is I'm also generally not thinking clearly enough to remember to use Siri.
 

NT1440

macrumors G5
May 18, 2008
14,430
20,354
I use siri all the time when I'm driving or walking with headphones in. Simple stuff, like setting a reminder for when I leave work, or to put on a certain podcast.

It's extremely convenient.
 

Izauze

macrumors 6502
Oct 13, 2013
430
303
Most definitely.

I'm well aware of its shortcomings, but if you're not using it, I feel like you really only have a fraction of the iPhone everyone else has.

To me, not using Siri is kind of silly when I think of how long it would take to: unlock the phone, open phone app, select contacts, select the letter on the right and then scroll through to find the right name, selecting the name, selecting he call button, versus just... "Call mom."

I use it while I'm running to open apps, play podcasts/music, and to read and respond to texts. I use it to get directions somewhere way quicker than you can by any other method. I set super-quick timers when cooking or doing laundry. I check sports scores way more frequently and quicker than you can otherwise. Anytime a thought occurs to me, I keep from losing it by quickly creating a new note, adding it to my to do list, shopping list, reminders, etc., my calendar, or even recording a voice memo.

And as dissatisfied as I still am with Siri's limitations, it is dwarfed by how dissatisfied I am with Apple's touch keyboard experience on this tiny screen. I can write down everything from a quick text to long paragraphs about a project or idea I'm working on so much quicker and with better accuracy. It's really hard to imagine writing anything longer than 100 characters or so without it.

I'm hoping that with iOS 8 and extensions, that it continues to improve.
 

Newtons Apple

Suspended
Mar 12, 2014
22,757
15,253
Jacksonville, Florida
I use it everyday. Mostly to set an alarm, while driving, to remind me to do something when I get home or back to the office. It also sets up calendar dates fast and easy. I never used Siri for a long time but am now using her and she does rather well.

I dictate while sending messages all the time and it works perfectly 95% of the time.:apple:

----------

I use it for math problems I have difficulty figuring out in my head while driving. Strange I know but I find that useful. Also very random questions I don't feel like googling.

Good Grief, this also works VERY well and I had never thought of even asking Siri to help with the math while driving ! Thanks!:D
 

theloon

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2007
99
15
it's like maps...it's just not getting better

I know Apple loves to say its work in progress, like maps.

But who cares?

It either works or it's a fail, especially when considering that other products out there perform better for both maps and voice recog.
 

Narg

macrumors member
Jan 23, 2008
99
44
I know Apple loves to say its work in progress, like maps.

But who cares?

Wow, sucks to be you. I find both Siri and Maps quite good. I use maps a lot, and Google maps, sometimes Bing too (no map is perfect...) Google has failed quite a lot for me in the past few months, but Apple maps has been very good. Lots of people care, you should get out of your bubble.
 

Grolubao

macrumors 68000
Dec 23, 2008
1,579
582
London, UK
Siri is/was a gimmick from the very beginning. Never used it. People are just not prepared to speak publicly to a phone
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,373
43,265
I stopped using it because there were better ways to get the info I was looking for.
 

ncarnall

macrumors member
Jul 18, 2011
64
0
Why everyone stopped using Siri?

I asked Siri for you and he didn't know so checked the web and came up with this very thread on MacRumors.
LOL
 

theloon

macrumors member
Dec 19, 2007
99
15
Wow, sucks to be you. I find both Siri and Maps quite good. I use maps a lot, and Google maps, sometimes Bing too (no map is perfect...) Google has failed quite a lot for me in the past few months, but Apple maps has been very good. Lots of people care, you should get out of your bubble.

Na, it really does not suck at all to be me. I am totally awesome, everyone says so. When I'm not rescuing kittens from tall trees I'm spending my time helping the poor and needy, and writing cheques to charities and developing new cures for tropical diseases.

But you....well it's very odd really that right off the bat you would drop to making a comment personal, when this a discussion about tech.

You got some issues of your own? You wanna share them with the rest of us? Come on, we all promise not to laugh....really...come on just share them dude, you will feel better. Fill the whole page with them if you need to. We all care for you.

Back to the actual discussion - I don't know where you are, but try using in different countries and compare it to pretty much any other map system you mention.

The inaccuracy and also the amount of missing data in Apple maps, side by side with Google map when outside of the US is vast.
 

zipa

macrumors 65816
Feb 19, 2010
1,442
1
I guess Siri could be useful. I mean, if english was my native language, if all my friends and family had english names and if I only used english while speaking/texting them. And if I only ever had to visit places with english names providing english services. If, if and if, then yes, it might be useful to me.

As it stands, Siri is nothing but a dysfunctional gimmick to me now. Hopefully this changes somewhat with the new dictation languages. I don't mind speaking english to Siri as long as I don't have to butcher every name, address and place into some horrible englandisized version.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
Siri is/was a gimmick from the very beginning. Never used it. People are just not prepared to speak publicly to a phone


If that's a problem for you you can hold the phone to your ear and Siri will use the ear piece speaker. Indistinguishable from a phone conversation to those around you.
 

sunking101

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2013
7,416
2,655
If that's a problem for you you can hold the phone to your ear and Siri will use the ear piece speaker. Indistinguishable from a phone conversation to those around you.

Except that in most conversations we aren't barking out orders in an exaggerated manner so that the other person stands a better chance of understanding us..
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,154
Except that in most conversations we aren't barking out orders in an exaggerated manner so that the other person stands a better chance of understanding us..

I speak to Siri exactly as I would speak to a human. Calm and collect.

I wouldn't use Siri if I needed to "bark out orders in an exaggerated manner". lol
 

csixty4

macrumors regular
Apr 8, 2010
204
1
Somerville, MA
Holy reanimated thread, Batman! Since 2012 I use Siri a lot more.

* My single-cup coffeemaker takes almost exactly 4 1/4 minutes to make a cup of coffee. I have Siri set a timer so I know when it'a ready.

* If I'm cooking and I see we're out of something, I ask Siri to add it to my shopping list in Reminders so I don't have to fumble with my phone & get the screen all messy.

* Load of laundry running in the basement? That's a 35 minute timer. Clothes in the dryer? 50 minutes.

* When I'm about to head out the door, I have Siri check the temperature so I know whether or not I'll need a jacket.

* When I'm walking around town, I usually have my headphones on and can ask Siri what time it is or to send my wife a text letting her know when I'll be home.

* Siri helps me manage urgent emails & text messages while I'm running, and can send tweets if I see anything interesting along the way. Then, she'll convert my exact distance in km to miles for me.

* I don't follow sports closely, but sometimes it's nice to have Siri check how the Red Sox or the Bruins are doing if there's a game going on.

* Using Siri to create reminders is so much simpler than using the Reminders app.
 

sunking101

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2013
7,416
2,655
Holy reanimated thread, Batman! Since 2012 I use Siri a lot more.

* My single-cup coffeemaker takes almost exactly 4 1/4 minutes to make a cup of coffee. I have Siri set a timer so I know when it'a ready.

* If I'm cooking and I see we're out of something, I ask Siri to add it to my shopping list in Reminders so I don't have to fumble with my phone & get the screen all messy.

* Load of laundry running in the basement? That's a 35 minute timer. Clothes in the dryer? 50 minutes.

* When I'm about to head out the door, I have Siri check the temperature so I know whether or not I'll need a jacket.

* When I'm walking around town, I usually have my headphones on and can ask Siri what time it is or to send my wife a text letting her know when I'll be home.

* Siri helps me manage urgent emails & text messages while I'm running, and can send tweets if I see anything interesting along the way. Then, she'll convert my exact distance in km to miles for me.

* I don't follow sports closely, but sometimes it's nice to have Siri check how the Red Sox or the Bruins are doing if there's a game going on.

* Using Siri to create reminders is so much simpler than using the Reminders app.

The ramblings of a tech addict :)
 
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