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Am I missing out NOT using Siri?

JasonR

JasonR

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 11, 2008
958
2
Has anyone else found Siri to be mostly useless? It was cool for the first week or two, but I haven't found myself using it. Am I missing out? Is there some sort of guide that actually makes using Siri useful?

Not hating...love the iPhone...I just don't think Siri is that great.
 
JasonR said:
Has anyone else found Siri to be mostly useless? It was cool for the first week or two, but I haven't found myself using it. Am I missing out? Is there some sort of guide that actually makes using Siri useful?

Not hating...love the iPhone...I just don't think Siri is that great.
Click to expand...

This ought to answer a few questions.
 
I find it useful for a few things, such as setting the timer for laundry, or looking up directions while I'm driving.
 
Siri is useful to the individuals personnel wants and needs.

I use Siri to set reminders, calendar notes, send texts and read them etc

Its useful to play my individual playlists.
 
Would Siri make any of your common tasks easier? -> No -> Not missing out on anything
Would Siri make any of your common tasks easier? -> Yes -> Missing out, turn on Siri
 
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JasonR said:
Has anyone else found Siri to be mostly useless? It was cool for the first week or two, but I haven't found myself using it. Am I missing out? Is there some sort of guide that actually makes using Siri useful?

Not hating...love the iPhone...I just don't think Siri is that great.
Click to expand...

No. You are not missing anything. Except novelty maybe. It's hard to get people to notice you talking to Siri because Siri doesn't have much to say.

A better feature is actually the SPEAK feature that comes with iOS 5. It's available on iPhone 4, iPad and iPod touch. It allows "Siri" to read back blocks of text like email, news storys, essays anything you want.

It's in Accessibilty settings and it's way better than Siri.
 
Siri works great for getting directions on the run, putting in reminders, texting or emailing in the car, etc.
 
Ive noticed that most people that say they don't use it because it doesn't work are usually the ones that haven't spent the time to learn to use it properly.

That being said, you'll only find the answer to your question when you start to use it (properly) and decide for yourself if its worth it.
No one can answer it for you, only give opinions on what they think.

I use voice control all the time and my son uses his Siri constantly now he's spent the time to learn how to use it. He said it took him about a day or two.
 
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Siri is only cool if you need an actual fact that you dont feel like google'g. For instance..."Who was the 19th President". Everything else it's simply faster to do it myself.
Gotta say though. She's quick and damn good at what she does.

Oh...setting alarms is great too.
 
I use it when I don't feel like searching the web or locating a number in the phone book

Call Pizza hut
~I have found 4 pizza huts in your area...
 
iceterminal said:
Ive noticed that most people that say they don't use it because it doesn't work are usually the ones that haven't spent the time to learn to use it properly.

That being said, you'll only find the answer to your question when you start to use it (properly) and decide for yourself if its worth it.
No one can answer it for you, only give opinions on what they think.

I use voice control all the time and my son uses his Siri constantly now he's spent the time to learn how to use it. He said it took him about a day or two.
Click to expand...
He doesn't say it doesn't work.
 
Not really. It's faster to do it yourself most of the time. It rarely works on 3G for me. And she is stupid and doesn't understand you correctly most of the time.
 
What happens to me more often then not is I'll do some mundane task then say "I should have used siri to do that."

So I usually find it useless cause I forget to use it.

When I do remember it usually works pretty good. Things like finding a restaurants phone number or directions. It's useful for reading back a gigantic text when I'm driving too, a lot times it's pretty comical too. :)
 
I feel this is just the start, as Siri type technology develops it will eventually become awesome.

one day it will control many aspects of our lives including car and home....

some people will start to psychologically bond to it.

this is just the start......(now open the god dam pod bay doors Siri)
 
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Siri, I rarely use (I like it for setting alarms and reminders, which I don't do too often), but I do use the speech to text a lot when I am sending text messages that are a bit on the lengtheir side (more than a couple words). I do believe that technically uses the siri server, so not sure if we call that Siri or not.
 
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JasonR said:
Has anyone else found Siri to be mostly useless? It was cool for the first week or two, but I haven't found myself using it. Am I missing out? Is there some sort of guide that actually makes using Siri useful?

Not hating...love the iPhone...I just don't think Siri is that great.
Click to expand...

At the moment it's limited. And it was hyped for its personality, which a lot of people overhyped it and expected it to do far more than it does.

Here's my most common uses. I drive a lot as a salesperson for work.

*when I need to remind myself to do something: "remind me to pull a report when I get home"

*parking meters: "remind me to move my car in thirty minutes"

*quick text messages. Typing short messages in a text conversation now makes me impatient and I dictate most things.

*voice calling. Far more useful than the old unusable voice calling

*composing emails. No comments from the peanut gallery!!!!

*asking when daylight savings time starts or when the sun sets today. Seriously.

If you're overall an impatient person, it is easy to get frustrated and declare it useless. But I tend to not let it bother me, I understand it's limitations and, for what it can do, I maximize those abilities and it's becoming more and more irreplaceable.

Finally, spend the money on a good Bluetooth. One where the talk button accesses Siri. And one with a superior mic to limit dictation errors.

The soundid six button is inconvenient: you can't carry any back and forth with Siri.

The top of the line plantronics works well.

Old jawbones don't have a button that functions well.

And I own the Bose series 2. Worth every overpriced penny.
 
I got Siri via Spire on my iPhone 4. I bought a certificate etc.
I used it... For one day. Literally. I'm selling that soon and buying iPhone 4S, but I think I'll disable it too.
 
Living in "Rain"couver, every morning when I wake up... "Siri... do I need an umbrella today".
 
iceterminal said:
Ive noticed that most people that say they don't use it because it doesn't work are usually the ones that haven't spent the time to learn to use it properly.
Click to expand...

I think when most people say it doesn't work they mean that it doesn't have full functionality in their country.
 
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