An Extensive List of Things You Can Say to Siri

[MacinDoc]

Of course! When Apple codes it NOT TO RUN ON "older hardware", it won't! If it doesn't by the end of the year, forget it - I'll swap my iPhone 4 for the best NON-Apple device. I've had enough of this tactless manipulation by Apple!

When software is coded not to run on older hardware, it looks for a device identifier to determine whether it can run on a device. A jailbroken phone can likely masquerade as an iPhone 4S just by changing the device identifier. Or the search string in the Siri software can be modified to include the iP4 as a supported device. But that doesn't mean that the software will run on it. Keep in mind that the A5 is a much more sophisticated chip than the A4, and likely has capabilities that are necessary for the operation of the Siri Assistant, which appears to be considerably more sophisticated than the Siri app.

 

[fitshaced]

It's pretty clear that you don't understand what makes Siri "more" than voice control. Hit Wikipedia and look up more info. Siri really cannot be defined quite so easily.

Sure it can. Its control of your phone by voice. Doing a web search for the nearest cafe, telling me what the weather will be like tomorrow or moving my meetings around is the work of the phone. Asking it to do all that is by voice. But many phones are well capable of telling me these things without Siri. And its not hard to use them. Not saying Siri will be difficult, but it wont win me a week back every year.

This is a gimmick. If you buy an iPhone 4S because of this, you are sucked in.

 

[jegbook]

I dont understand your logic.

Are you suggesting that I am as likely to set my alarm as accurately as voice recognition, or my reading comprehension skills are lacking to the point where I cant tell time correctly?

I'm pretty sure I know what time I need to be alarmed. I'm also quite aware of what numbers I'm reading as I set an alarm.

I would forget to set the day correctly for alarms so that I just set a standing random alarm that was every day and so when I adjusted the time and turned it on I knew it would work.

Alternatively, if I could say "set alarm for 6:45am tomorrow", provided it was close, would get the right day at least.

I'm a pretty anal retentive guy, but I still would always forget to check the right day of an alarm. Go figure.

Please don't call me incompetent or some other derogatory name implying that I should just do it right.
I'm a very functioning person who happens to not get every detail right all of the time. A little techno help would be great.

Cheers all.

 

[MacinDoc]

Really hope it understands Aussie english. I'll forgive it if it can't find a good tradie for a bung dunny but the dealbreaker for me will be if it knows 'McDonalds' (I feel weird even typing that out) is Maccas...

I am guessing that you can just tell Siri that, the same as you would tell it that "my wife's name is Rachel" for future reference when you want to call or text your wife.

 

[theBB]

Of course! When Apple codes it NOT TO RUN ON "older hardware", it won't! If it doesn't by the end of the year, forget it - I'll swap my iPhone 4 for the best NON-Apple device. I've had enough of this tactless manipulation by Apple!

Umm, good luck. Most Android manufacturers do not even release updates months after Google releases a new version. Blackberry's new OS will not run on any current smartphones. Nokia's Symbian is dead. Windows Phone is a little better, but it is a bit behind times and its interface may take some getting used to.

 

[wol]

SIRI's distant cousin - 18 years ago

http://images.ucomics.com/comics/db/1993/db930827.gif

 

[theBB]

Does Siri need a connection to a server? If it needs to search the net for some question, it certainly does, but if all the iPhone does is record your voice, come up with some kind of voice print like Shazam and SoundHound and send it to a server, does it really need the power of A5?

 

[b.c.]

Now it just needs a K.I.T.T. voice.

Or Jarvis.

or Samuel L. Jackson: "What the F*** can I do for you?!"

 

[friedmud]

how would it know you left home?

GPS.

Watch the Siri videos from Apple... they show this type of thing directly.

Now how it knows where your house is I'm not sure. I think you'll have to tell it "I'm at home" at some point... then it will remember where your house is.

I'm hoping you can do the same for work: "Remind me to call Susan when I get to work" and other places: "When I get to Sears remind me to get some weed eater string"

_If_ Siri works as well as it is claimed it does... I do believe this could change things as much as the multitouch screen did with the original iPhone....

 

[milo]

Voice control has been around for quite some time and hasnt taken off.

And couldn't it be because it has never been done that well before?

When the iPad shipped everyone insisted it would flop because tablets had been around but never taken off. Gee, how did that one turn out?

You'll understand when you start using it. You'll learn that it's much faster to do it by typing because Siri will only be able to understand what you are trying to say every tenth time (if you are lucky)

You were able to get hands on experience with it already? Wow, that's so cool, how did you manage that? But your experience doesn't jive with any of the reports from the event from reporters who used it and tried to make it fail but couldn't - I wonder why that is?

I can't believe the new Siri won't be able to do this.

Is it confirmed that it can't? If it doesn't do it right away, doesn't seem like much of a stretch to get it to do that fairly quickly.

 

[JMC08]

It'd be awesome if it understood commands like:

- launch Facebook app
- dial 6654656460 using Skype app
- define/pronounce the word spelt as P-A-N-A-C-H-E (in case one doesn't know its pronunciation)
- how do you spell the word FACADE? (in case one knows its pronunciation but not the spelling)
- restart my iPhone
- check for software updates
- set passcode lock
- decrease brightness
- turn WiFi off
- clear all notifications in the notification center
- take me to the page that has the app Angry Birds
- delete Google+ app
- clear Safari browsing history
- back up my iPhone in 2 days
- check the App Store for any app updates
- translate the word HAPPINESS into French
- fetch lyrics for the currently playing song on Safari
- search App Store for the most popular social networking app and install it
- lock my iPhone
- (while on a call) turn on the speaker
- (while on a call) press number 3
- clear all notification badges on all apps
- mark all my mail as read
- show me all contacts whose phone number ends in 6520
- tweet the latest photo in Photos app
- mute all sounds at 12AM
- what is the next holiday in the US?

Given they have had a year and a half of lead time before releasing this, again, it is fair to ask for a lot of these commands right out of the box. Instead, about 40 percent of these will become available in March. Really unfortunate that Apple works this way.

 

[mamcx]

As a developer, always entertain me me how the average person misunderstood so badly how hard is the software side of things.

The new iPhone don't have a new external case change and is bad.

But have a excellent implementation of one of the HARDEST thing to do in software as pattern/voice "understanding" with functionality way ahead everything else, and the average person... not, the average person not! I show that to some folks around me and ALL OF THEM GET AMAZED!.

Is only the in-his-mind-more-techie-person that can downplay it that badly. Not waiting to the reviews at least.


Seriously? Is a bit-large-display a TRUE innovation? In contrast with decipher human voice/commands, and return decent answer back?

Do you know the diference between the two? Is simple.

All new androids have large display. Made by companies with a BAD record in true innovation, using a path made by Apple.

A increase in some inchs can be made by almost anybody.

Do the siri thing, in contrast? Well, the android world don't have it. And if you thing yes, it have, well.... then is a waste to argue about it...

 

[rockrigo]

so after you say your message (text/email/etc), does it read it back to you to confirm, or do you have to look at it and then confirm?

if it reads it out to me thats more time than it would take me to type it in accurately, if it even gets one word wrong I will have to waste more time to go back and correct it

it sounds interesting, just voice recognition software has to be nearly perfect and no one has been able to achieve that

(I bet this would not work very well for my Mother who has a very thick Hispanic accent)

 

[nuckinfutz]

Sure it can. Its control of your phone by voice. Doing a web search for the nearest cafe, telling me what the weather will be like tomorrow or moving my meetings around is the work of the phone. Asking it to do all that is by voice. But many phones are well capable of telling me these things without Siri. And its not hard to use them. Not saying Siri will be difficult, but it wont win me a week back every year.

This is a gimmick. If you buy an iPhone 4S because of this, you are sucked in.

Siri is a bit more ambitious than that. Current technology allows me to take "Speech to Text" and feed the result into a search engine. What Siri aims for is

1. Natural Language Input that understands the meaning of the query.
2. Understanding time in a deeper way
3. The ability to tailor itself to the user (my wife, my brother etc)
4 The ability to take delegation (in the video the runner found a scheduling conflict and delegated a new time to Siri which, hopefully, wasn't confused. It was still in the same thread of conversation
5. The AI necessary to quickly find the right information (i.e. Wikipedia, Wolfram, Yelp etc) and quickly return results.

Sure it's Beta but even in Beta the results from Engadget and other sites shows that Siri is already highly accurate and for this to be successful the implementation is everything. People will stop using it if it doesn't deliver results easier or quicker than manually entering data.

No gimmick

 

[b.c.]

IMO Siri will be really useful in the car - especially in places with restrictions on driving with handheld devices (are there any places left that don't?)

now, handsfree access to a LOT more than just voice calls

 

[ingramLee]

1. How will you be able to specify what sound you want for your alarm?
2. How will it know how long your meeting will be when you set up a meeting?

 

[JMC08]

Is it confirmed that it can't? If it doesn't do it right away, doesn't seem like much of a stretch to get it to do that fairly quickly.

Right, which is why they should have it in the shipped version, or at least, like you said, very quickly. The problem is that we have no evidence that says it will be done quickly, and it most likely won't. By following Apple's patterns, 'quickly' and 'updating' hardly ever match.

 

[nuckinfutz]

1. How will you be able to specify what sound you want for your alarm?
2. How will it know how long your meeting will be when you set up a meeting?

Most apps have defaults for Alarm Sounds and even duration. It's probably feasible to say something like

"Set up a 30 minute meeting with John Doe on Friday the 13th"

setting a particular alarm sound could be a bit too granular however.

 

[fitshaced]

And couldn't it be because it has never been done that well before?

When the iPad shipped everyone insisted it would flop because tablets had been around but never taken off. Gee, how did that one turn out?

They said that video calling hadn't been done right. It hadn't because no-one wanted it that badly.

The iPad is not the same thing. That doesn't require people to change how they behave. Video calling and directing your phone by voice does and I believe people just wont use their phones this way in public. If you're not doing it in public, then when? At home? Whilst jogging? In your office (should you have one)? Down the pub to give your friends a laugh (should it be quiet enough)? So, wheres the need for it? There is no need. Its a waste of money if you upgrade for this feature, unless you have a disability which this helps you with.

 

[ZipZapRap]

I think the 4S is pretty ordinary, BUT Siri really has my curiosity piqued.

This is where the industry has been going, but Apple looks to have gone that extra step. Very exciting technology. Well done Apple (though you didn't need to release a "new" phone to show it off)

 

[bassfingers]

I'm so using the note dictation feature

 

[Daws001]

Can't wait!

 

[Keebler]

i just hope i can switch it to a female Australian voice like I can with my Garmin

seriously though, this is going to be amazing I believe. The speed of things just creeped up a bit again. There's been a few times I've wanted to email a client while driving and now I can make that happen. Or text the wifey.

 

[d4rkc4sm]

siri is the new sherlock

 

[iBug2]

They said that video calling hadn't been done right. It hadn't because no-one wanted it that badly.

The iPad is not the same thing. That doesn't require people to change how they behave. Video calling and directing your phone by voice does and I believe people just wont use their phones this way in public. If you're not doing it in public, then when? At home? Whilst jogging? In your office (should you have one)? Down the pub to give your friends a laugh (should it be quiet enough)? So, wheres the need for it? There is no need. Its a waste of money if you upgrade for this feature, unless you have a disability which this helps you with.

At home, in your car, jogging if nobody is around, riding your bicycle etc. I can think of plenty of places where I could use Siri.

Plenty of places I won't use Siri for sure, but that doesn't mean it's useless.

Also, 15 years ago seeing someone talking into a phone in the street was weird. 5 years ago seeing someone speaking into air due to bluetooth was weird. But people got used to both. So just because something looks weird in public today does not mean it'll look as weird in couple of years.