Siri: Maps and Local Search for International Customers Coming in 2012

[Xenc]

I'm sorry about that. Maybe I was too ignorant.

Cheers.

Still, it's puzzling since everything UK Siri says it can't do can be achieved through touch input (with the exception perhaps of Yelp searches). And from the promotional videos it appears that phrases such as "What's the traffic like around here?" just open up the Maps app. I'm not sure why that's not an option for everybody.

I wonder if the limitation is due to inaccuracies in interpreting location names? Can those in the States ask Siri questions such as "Show me a map of Paris"?

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

Still, it's puzzling since everything UK Siri says it can't do can be achieved through touch input (with the exception perhaps of Yelp searches). And from the promotional videos it appears that phrases such as "What's the traffic like around here?" just open up the Maps app. I'm not sure why that's not an option for everybody.

I wonder if the limitation is due to inaccuracies in interpreting location names? Can those in the States ask Siri questions such as "Show me a map of Paris"?

I'm guessing the real reason why Siri is US only right now is so that they can gauge capacity. You have to have a live connection to do anything with Siri at all. I think all the voice recognition is done in the 'cloud' (hence Siri being an 4S feature only is probably artificial product differentiation).

They knew that they had enough iPhones for the first time to satisfy demand and so there would be an insane number of people trying out Siri straight away. Even afterwards, they'll want to gauge how much features are used. Location based services, in particular mapping ones, are likely to be some of the most complex in terms of what the 'cloud' has to do so it makes sense to limit those first.

I've noticed Siri having trouble connecting once today, at about 8pm Eastern time when my phone had full 3G and full wifi reception to a 37mbit connection (i.e. not an internet connectivity issue). Siri said "Sorry, I'm having trouble connecting to the network." "Sorry, I'm not able to connect at the moment."

As capacity increases and spontaneous first day use decreases, I'm sure they'll make the service available in more areas, likely starting with other English speaking countries first.

 

[the8thark]

Beta software does not have all the features everyone wants.
Duh! - It's still beta.

 

[Nord]

I thought Apple doesn't release things until it "just works"??

No, no, no. Until it "just works" *

*in the US

is the correct sentence. You clearly live in the US for not being aware of that, almost nothing is the same outside the US.
For instance, AppleTV took 4 years to go international with TV Shows and movies ! And there are many things like this.
At least, they say 2012. Let's hope they keep the schedule, they said a year for TV, it took 4... even with Steve around !

 

[daveathall]

Good thing I didn't buy mine for Siri. I guess all the people who keep downranking me because I don't find Siri the 2nd coming need to chill a bit.

It's a beta version of software that is better voice control. If you bought the phone simply for that, I don't know what to say. I'm in it for the A5 processor and better camera myself.

Don't know why this got the thumbs down by so many, makes perfect sense to me.

 

[MacinDoc]

I'm guessing Siri is the reason that the iP4S was delayed, given that even now, it's not finished, and considering that it was the only significant new (as opposed to improved) feature introduced with the 4S. Probably would have been delayed even longer, if Apple had been willing to face the awkward questions that would have been asked at its quarterly financial conference this week.

Edit: does this mean I can't use any location services with Siri in Canada? For example, asking Siri to remind me to do something when I am leaving the office?

 

[KnightWRX]

Don't know why this got the thumbs down by so many, makes perfect sense to me.

Every post that somehow doesn't find Siri to be god like gets thumbed down for some reason. Everyone who is not overly enthusiastic about it is targetted by a kind of pro-Siri mob somehow.

I don't know who these Siri lovers are, but they sure don't want anyone saying anything bad about it. Like I said in another post, I played around with it last night for a while and frankly, I find it slow and inefficient for now. Doing things manually (setting reminders, writing e-mails/texts, searching the web, etc...) is more productive and less error prone. The speech recognition is far from perfect, the analysis of what was said takes quite a while and confirmations just exacerbate the inefficiencies.

It's a nice gimmick for now, good for showing off to people. Real world use seems somehow limited to me though, just like Voice Control before and just like every other voice control/commands my previous phones have had for the last 10 years. If you got a 4S for Siri, you'll be disappointed. I'm quite happy with the A5/Camera though, those are quite awesome and the reasons I bought the phone. Also, upgrading from a 3GS, the little things the 4 added last year are quite a welcome change on my part.

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Edit: does this mean I can't use any location services with Siri in Canada? For example, asking Siri to remind me to do something when I am leaving the office?

Just tried it and it seems to work. It properly created the reminder with a location: Home.

 

[Kimbie]

While Siri maybe in Beta, and was mentioned at the Keynotes, in the UK no cell phone store staff or the odd Apple staff mention anything about the local search NOT working in the UK