Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

I know Siri is 4S only, but does Dictation work on iPhone 4 also?

A

acousticbiker

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 28, 2008
983
199
I understand that Siri is only for the 4S, but am confused about whether Dictation capability (using the microphone button that is on the iOS5 keyboard) is also available on iPhone 4. In the Siri section of Apple's website, Dictation is mentioned specifically on the 4S:

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/siri.html (see bottom)

But in the iMessages section, it mentions Dictation (without specific mention of the 4S):

http://www.apple.com/iphone/built-in-apps/messages.html (see bottom)

Can anyone with the iOS5 GM installed comment on this?
 
Last edited:
I don't have GM but I'm certain it is only an 4S feature, but you can always use something like 'Dragon Dictation' (by the people who run siri) app then copy and paste
 
Pennine said:
I think that Dragon is by Nuance, Siri is a different thing again
Click to expand...

That's right. Nuance make Dragon and also provide the tech for Siri (according to the good ol' www)

Another option is Vlingo which is a bit more slick than Dragon for sending sms and e-mail. Tech seems to work just as well as Nuance
 
Pennine said:
I think that Dragon is by Nuance, Siri is a different thing again
Click to expand...

Correct. Siri was acquired by Apple. There was talk that Apple would also acquire Nuance and utilize its voice recognition technology but I never saw anything official announced. This old post indicates that Nuance is indeed the technology behind iOS speech recognition:

https://www.macrumors.com/2011/06/1...on-settings-confirm-nuance-apple-partnership/

In any case, I kind of understand (although disagree with) Siri being 4S only, but Dictation would seem to require less processing power than the full-on 'AI' of Siri.

So I'm still very curious about Dictation on iP4, as an integrated solution (through a mic button on the keyboard) would make me want to use it much more than existing 3rd party apps like Vlingo and Dragon which require extra steps
 
acousticbiker said:
In any case, I kind of understand (although disagree with) Siri being 4S only, but Dictation would seem to require less processing power than the full-on 'AI' of Siri.
Click to expand...

both are solely done in the cloud so both use practically zero local processes... I'll let you make your own conclusions why siri and dictation aren't on the the 4 (or even the 3GS to be fair)
 
androiphone said:
both are solely done in the cloud so both use practically zero local processes... I'll let you make your own conclusions why siri and dictation aren't on the the 4 (or even the 3GS to be fair)
Click to expand...

Not to mention the iPad2, which has the same processor. Might not be nearly as useful without text messaging. But it should have iMessage with iOS5, right? And it should also have stocks, weather, etc. Still, being almost as powerful as the iPhone 4s, I'm not sure why it wouldn't get the same features, other than to convince people that only the iPhone 4s can pull it off.
 
androiphone said:
both are solely done in the cloud so both use practically zero local processes... I'll let you make your own conclusions why siri and dictation aren't on the the 4 (or even the 3GS to be fair)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification, androiphone. Based on the bit on the iMessages part of Apple's website (having nothing to do with Siri), I still hold out hope for Dictation on my iP4! I know we'll find out tomorrow, but still would appreciate hearing from anyone using GM...
 
acousticbiker said:
Thanks for the clarification, androiphone. Based on the bit on the iMessages part of Apple's website (having nothing to do with Siri), I still hold out hope for Dictation on my iP4! I know we'll find out tomorrow, but still would appreciate hearing from anyone using GM...
Click to expand...

It will not be available on iPhone 4, only on iPhone 4S. As androiphone said, the servers do all the work, so in general Siri can run on iPhone 4 / 3GS and iPad 2 as well.
 
Neocron said:
It will not be available on iPhone 4, only on iPhone 4S. As androiphone said, the servers do all the work, so in general Siri can run on iPhone 4 / 3GS and iPad 2 as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Neocron. Yes, the fact that Siri is only available on the 4S is well-documented but dictation appears to be a separate feature as mentioned in the section describing iMessages, which is an iOS5 (and not just iP4S) feature.

Siri example: "Tell Peter that I'm running late"
Dictation version: from within iMessages app and in thread with Peter, tap microphone button to dictate reply, hit send
 
This is all purely speculation as to why or why not it isn't on the iPhone 4 or 3GS. None of us really know. However, in the end, like ALL OTHER PRODUCTS on the market, you didn't buy a 3GS or a 4 with the promise for Siri right? Apple paid quite a bit for Siri and the Licensing of Nuance right? So if you aren't buying a new phone, how does Apple pay for those expenditures?

In the end, it probably could work on an iPhone 4 (memory limitations of the 3GS might be a problem), but Apple needs to take in revenue in order to pay for things like Siri and Nuance (and don't give me the whole "Apple already has X billions of dollars" because if they just gave away the farm they would end up broke/bankrupt). So if they feel that only new phones deserve Siri, more power to them. It isn't like by NOT giving you Siri/Nuance that you iphone 4 will no longer do what you bought it to do a year ago right? They aren't taking away promised features when you bought it over a year ago, they just aren't adding a new feature (that you didn't pay for).

EDIT: I have two iPad 2's that won't be getting Siri either, but I didn't buy my iPad with the promise of Siri. Although to be fair, you would need a constant internet connection and my iPad's are only wifi.
 
paulrbeers said:
This is all purely speculation as to why or why not it isn't on the iPhone 4 or 3GS. None of us really know. However, in the end, like ALL OTHER PRODUCTS on the market, you didn't buy a 3GS or a 4 with the promise for Siri right? Apple paid quite a bit for Siri and the Licensing of Nuance right? So if you aren't buying a new phone, how does Apple pay for those expenditures?

In the end, it probably could work on an iPhone 4 (memory limitations of the 3GS might be a problem), but Apple needs to take in revenue in order to pay for things like Siri and Nuance (and don't give me the whole "Apple already has X billions of dollars" because if they just gave away the farm they would end up broke/bankrupt). So if they feel that only new phones deserve Siri, more power to them. It isn't like by NOT giving you Siri/Nuance that you iphone 4 will no longer do what you bought it to do a year ago right? They aren't taking away promised features when you bought it over a year ago, they just aren't adding a new feature (that you didn't pay for).

EDIT: I have two iPad 2's that won't be getting Siri either, but I didn't buy my iPad with the promise of Siri. Although to be fair, you would need a constant internet connection and my iPad's are only wifi.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Paul. For the most part, I agree. But I didn't start this thread to discuss why Siri is not on the iP4. Rather, I have a very specific question about whether dictation functionality (separate from Siri) will make it onto the iP4.
 
acousticbiker said:
Thanks, Paul. For the most part, I agree. But I didn't start this thread to discuss why Siri is not on the iP4. Rather, I have a very specific question about whether dictation functionality (separate from Siri) will make it onto the iP4.
Click to expand...

You'll know tomorrow if the iphone 4 gets dictation when iOS 5 is released.
 
paulrbeers said:
You'll know tomorrow if the iphone 4 gets dictation when iOS 5 is released.
Click to expand...

Yes, we will find out tomorrow. I understand that Siri's voice recognition end was powered by Nuance, but still distinct technologies. In any case, I see how the overlapping of these (in the context of additional rumors) would cause confusion. No worries, we're all on the same side here. Thanks for weighing in...
 
Neocron said:
It will not be available on iPhone 4, only on iPhone 4S. As androiphone said, the servers do all the work, so in general Siri can run on iPhone 4 / 3GS and iPad 2 as well.
Click to expand...

The iPad does not have a mic nearly as good as the iPhone. I doubt we will see Siri until the iPad 3
 
paulrbeers said:
This is all purely speculation as to why or why not it isn't on the iPhone 4 or 3GS. None of us really know. However, in the end, like ALL OTHER PRODUCTS on the market, you didn't buy a 3GS or a 4 with the promise for Siri right? Apple paid quite a bit for Siri and the Licensing of Nuance right? So if you aren't buying a new phone, how does Apple pay for those expenditures?

In the end, it probably could work on an iPhone 4 (memory limitations of the 3GS might be a problem), but Apple needs to take in revenue in order to pay for things like Siri and Nuance (and don't give me the whole "Apple already has X billions of dollars" because if they just gave away the farm they would end up broke/bankrupt). So if they feel that only new phones deserve Siri, more power to them. It isn't like by NOT giving you Siri/Nuance that you iphone 4 will no longer do what you bought it to do a year ago right? They aren't taking away promised features when you bought it over a year ago, they just aren't adding a new feature (that you didn't pay for).

EDIT: I have two iPad 2's that won't be getting Siri either, but I didn't buy my iPad with the promise of Siri. Although to be fair, you would need a constant internet connection and my iPad's are only wifi.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Apple's nearly broke.

----------
PhoneI said:
The iPad does not have a mic nearly as good as the iPhone. I doubt we will see Siri until the iPad 3
Click to expand...

Rubbish
 
androiphone said:
both are solely done in the cloud so both use practically zero local processes... I'll let you make your own conclusions why siri and dictation aren't on the the 4 (or even the 3GS to be fair)
Click to expand...

Ae you're about that? I've seen conflicting reports about this. It's pretty clear that siri's language parsing is done remotely but the actual speech to text wasn't so clear cut. Ill be curious to try out the dictation on the 4s while in airplane mode to see if it works at all.

I now Google offloads the speech to text to their servers for android, but that doesn't mean Apple is too. (Please note I am not saying you are wrong, just that I've read things that indicate it could be either or and I do not know... Where's one of those lucky Germans when you need them, eh?)
 
thewitt said:
But completely untrue...
Click to expand...

well here is the proof that the iPhone 4 is more than capable to run siri
I quote from 9to5mac
Perhaps the biggest news here is that we’ve determined that there is no technical reason for Apple not to allow Siri to run on the iPhone 4.
Click to expand...
http://9to5mac.com/2011/10/14/siri-voice-command-system-ported-from-iphone-4s-to-iphone-4-video/
http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/15/siri-ported-to-an-iphone-4-old-phone-learns-a-new-trick/

so the only reason it doesn't work is because apple hasn't 'flicked the switch' on their server.

mrgreen4242 said:
Ae you're about that? I've seen conflicting reports about this. It's pretty clear that siri's language parsing is done remotely but the actual speech to text wasn't so clear cut. Ill be curious to try out the dictation on the 4s while in airplane mode to see if it works at all.

I now Google offloads the speech to text to their servers for android, but that doesn't mean Apple is too. (Please note I am not saying you are wrong, just that I've read things that indicate it could be either or and I do not know... Where's one of those lucky Germans when you need them, eh?)
Click to expand...

it was clearly said in the keynote (and on apple's website) that the dictation requires a data connection therefore it is all server side, there is no 'on device' speech to text happening at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back