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I don't get it... What's the point of the Virtual Assistant?

C

complexcommunic

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 23, 2010
133
0
I'm sure they'll make it very clear what they expect us to use it for tomorrow, but I just don't get what the point would be and why people seem so excited about this feature. I have an android phone now, and it has a voice-search/commands button which I never, ever use. Why would I talk to my phone when it has a perfectly nice high-tech capacitive touch screen?
And further more, most of the time I can't talk anyway. That's what texting is for, it's silent.
 
complexcommunic said:
I'm sure they'll make it very clear what they expect us to use it for tomorrow, but I just don't get what the point would be and why people seem so excited about this feature. I have an android phone now, and it has a voice-search/commands button which I never, ever use. Why would I talk to my phone when it has a perfectly nice high-tech capacitive touch screen?
And further more, most of the time I can't talk anyway. That's what texting is for, it's silent.
Click to expand...

Being able to text, get directions, do searches, set up schedules, and much more- all by simply talking while driving by only pushing 1 button? Yes please.
 
complexcommunic said:
Why would I talk to my phone when it has a perfectly nice high-tech capacitive touch screen?
Click to expand...
I'd use it for getting things done when I'm in situations where I can't type (driving), or where talking gets things done faster than touching the screen (like something that involves going back and forth between multiple screens, like a new calendar entry).
 
cyks said:
Being able to text, get directions, do searches, set up schedules, and much more- all by simply talking while driving by only pushing 1 button? Yes please.
Click to expand...

I can see how it might be useful while driving, but surely there are already apps that can do this without forcing a system-wide button on us. That voice-command feature on Android is one of the most annoying features I've ever encountered. I accidentally trigger it about 30% of the time when I'm trying to type.
 
Why did they ever replace the entire phone with a screen when there were perfectly good buttons to complete a task. I just don't understand!
 
The idea of being able to speak to technology in native language is fascinating. At some point it's going to revolutionise how we interface with devices, and Apple is taking one of the largest steps towards that.
 
complexcommunic said:
I'm sure they'll make it very clear what they expect us to use it for tomorrow, but I just don't get what the point would be and why people seem so excited about this feature. I have an android phone now, and it has a voice-search/commands button which I never, ever use. Why would I talk to my phone when it has a perfectly nice high-tech capacitive touch screen?
And further more, most of the time I can't talk anyway. That's what texting is for, it's silent.
Click to expand...

"Phone, I need to let my wife know I can't pick up billy after karate tonight and not to wait for me for dinner. Also confirm my appointment Thursday with Edward Jensen and cancel my appointment Friday with Esther. Also remind me I need to pick up some milk at the store on the way home and pick up a prescription as well."

From this your phone sends a text to your wife telling her "I can't pick Billy up from Karate and do not wait for me for dinner." It will then go in your calender and check your Thursday appointment with Edward Jensen and send him and you a confirmation email. It will also check your calendar for Friday and send a cancellation request to Esther and make a note of that in the calendar. As you get near the store on your way home your phone will signal an alarm and alert you to go to the store and to pick up milk and your prescription.

I understand it is possible YOU would find no use for that kind of service, but I can assure you a lot of people would.

Can you at least understand how this is significantly different then search voice commands?
 
Dangerous Theory said:
The idea of being able to speak to technology in native language is fascinating. At some point it's going to revolutionise how we interface with devices, and Apple is taking one of the largest steps towards that.
Click to expand...

This guy is absolutely right. It may not be so apparent to those just growing up in the past decade, but being able to communicate with technology and use our technology in this way is a novel sensation that's a logical step forward in many respects.
 
marksman said:
"Phone, I need to let my wife know I can't pick up billy after karate tonight and not to wait for me for dinner. Also confirm my appointment Thursday with Edward Jensen and cancel my appointment Friday with Esther. Also remind me I need to pick up some milk at the store on the way home and pick up a prescription as well."
Click to expand...

That would be great, but I have never ever seen voice recognition technology work that well. If anyone could pull it off, maybe it's Apple. But I can't imagine any technology, least of all an iphone, that could handle something like that.
 
complexcommunic said:
That would be great, but I have never ever seen voice recognition technology work that well. If anyone could pull it off, maybe it's Apple. But I can't imagine any technology, least of all an iphone, that could handle something like that.
Click to expand...

Technology like this that were once only seen in Sci-Fi films are becoming reality. We as humans are naturally very curious, and science is wide open to us to pursue these amazing ideas. There really isn't a limit.
 
marksman said:
"Phone, I need to let my wife know I can't pick up billy after karate tonight and not to wait for me for dinner. Also confirm my appointment Thursday with Edward Jensen and cancel my appointment Friday with Esther. Also remind me I need to pick up some milk at the store on the way home and pick up a prescription as well."

From this your phone sends a text to your wife telling her "I can't pick Billy up from Karate and do not wait for me for dinner." It will then go in your calender and check your Thursday appointment with Edward Jensen and send him and you a confirmation email. It will also check your calendar for Friday and send a cancellation request to Esther and make a note of that in the calendar. As you get near the store on your way home your phone will signal an alarm and alert you to go to the store and to pick up milk and your prescription.

I understand it is possible YOU would find no use for that kind of service, but I can assure you a lot of people would.

Can you at least understand how this is significantly different then search voice commands?
Click to expand...

If it actually works like that, with high accuracy converting casual, conversational spoken language into actions... then yeah, it'll be pretty damn cool. I don't see it being quite that good, but maybe I'll be proved wrong tomorrow :)

One obvious question—if they can do this on an iPhone, will there be a Mac app coming out to give our laptops and desktops the same functionality?
 
As nice as this sounds, I don't see what massive improvements it could have over voice commands already offered by Android, which can run on a 1GHz processor just fine. If this has some magical feature that I can't conceive of, then it's fair to limit it to the iPhone 5 only, but if it's just a polished up version of what Android does then I'll be a bit disappointed.
 
Plus, anyone that has seen the 24th Century-era Star Treks (Next Generation, Deep Space 9, Voyager, and the movies Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis) knows the potential and advantages (and awesomeness) of being able to give commands to technology verbally.
 
marksman said:
"Phone, I need to let my wife know I can't pick up billy after karate tonight and not to wait for me for dinner. Also confirm my appointment Thursday with Edward Jensen and cancel my appointment Friday with Esther. Also remind me I need to pick up some milk at the store on the way home and pick up a prescription as well."

From this your phone sends a text to your wife telling her "I can't pick Billy up from Karate and do not wait for me for dinner." It will then go in your calender and check your Thursday appointment with Edward Jensen and send him and you a confirmation email. It will also check your calendar for Friday and send a cancellation request to Esther and make a note of that in the calendar. As you get near the store on your way home your phone will signal an alarm and alert you to go to the store and to pick up milk and your prescription.

I understand it is possible YOU would find no use for that kind of service, but I can assure you a lot of people would.

Can you at least understand how this is significantly different then search voice commands?
Click to expand...
Or more than likely, it will sent a text intended for your girlfriend - to your wife. "Carol, wear that slinky negligee I bought for you on our trip last month (the one where I told the old hag I was going on a business trip). I've got a big surprise for you".

...and wonder why your wife has all your clothes thrown out in the front yard when you get home.
 
i thought i would never use a touch screen phone and ever since having a iPhone i don't think i could look back so i think the VA will take some time getting use to but in a couple of months it will just be second nature how to text ect ect
 
marksman said:
"Phone, I need to let my wife know I can't pick up billy after karate tonight and not to wait for me for dinner. Also confirm my appointment Thursday with Edward Jensen and cancel my appointment Friday with Esther. Also remind me I need to pick up some milk at the store on the way home and pick up a prescription as well."

From this your phone sends a text to your wife telling her "I can't pick Billy up from Karate and do not wait for me for dinner." It will then go in your calender and check your Thursday appointment with Edward Jensen and send him and you a confirmation email. It will also check your calendar for Friday and send a cancellation request to Esther and make a note of that in the calendar. As you get near the store on your way home your phone will signal an alarm and alert you to go to the store and to pick up milk and your prescription.

I understand it is possible YOU would find no use for that kind of service, but I can assure you a lot of people would.

Can you at least understand how this is significantly different then search voice commands?
Click to expand...

yeah as if it would be able to do that in the way you've said. it wont be able to pick up conversation like that as casually, fragment is as concisely etc.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

aoaaron said:
marksman said:
"Phone, I need to let my wife know I can't pick up billy after karate tonight and not to wait for me for dinner. Also confirm my appointment Thursday with Edward Jensen and cancel my appointment Friday with Esther. Also remind me I need to pick up some milk at the store on the way home and pick up a prescription as well."

From this your phone sends a text to your wife telling her "I can't pick Billy up from Karate and do not wait for me for dinner." It will then go in your calender and check your Thursday appointment with Edward Jensen and send him and you a confirmation email. It will also check your calendar for Friday and send a cancellation request to Esther and make a note of that in the calendar. As you get near the store on your way home your phone will signal an alarm and alert you to go to the store and to pick up milk and your prescription.

I understand it is possible YOU would find no use for that kind of service, but I can assure you a lot of people would.

Can you at least understand how this is significantly different then search voice commands?
Click to expand...

yeah as if it would be able to do that in the way you've said. it wont be able to pick up conversation like that as casually, fragment is as concisely etc.
Click to expand...

That is the foundation of the technology.

Well at least we know people will be blown away by the iPhone 4s tomorrow.
 
Personally, I don't think I would trust voice control to do what I tell it to accurately—I'd have to look at the screen to make sure the thing heard me correctly, which would then defeat the purpose of having it in the first place.
 
marksman said:
"Phone, I need to let my wife know I can't pick up billy after karate tonight and not to wait for me for dinner. Also confirm my appointment Thursday with Edward Jensen and cancel my appointment Friday with Esther. Also remind me I need to pick up some milk at the store on the way home and pick up a prescription as well."
Click to expand...

From this your phone sends a text to your wife telling her "I can't pick your belly button if it is snotty and too tight and do not put any weight on." It will then go in your calender and check your Thursday appointment with Edward Norton and send him and you a confirmation email. It will also check your calendar for Friday and send a cancellation request to eat her and make a note of that in the calendar. As you get near the store that you would never go to in the middle of the ghetto that happens to be on your way home your phone will signal an alarm and alert you to go to the store and to pick up milk duds and some precision.
 
Last edited:
antonchigurh said:
From this your phone sends a text to your wife telling her "I can't pick your belly button if it is snotty and do not put any weight on." It will then go in your calender and check your Thursday appointment with Edward Norton and send him and you a confirmation email. It will also check your calendar for Friday and send a cancellation request to eat her and make a note of that in the calendar.
Click to expand...
Damn, you nailed it! It's revolutionary!
 
marksman said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)



That is the foundation of the technology.

Well at least we know people will be blown away by the iPhone 4s tomorrow.
Click to expand...

I fully support the development of voice recognition but I'd rather the virtual assistant being screen-based also... like being a tiny hub for 5-6 vital apps where they'd all be integrated so I can do whatever I want really quick. I wouldn't know how to go about it but thats apples job, heh ;).
 
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