If 'Assistant' is the biggest new feature of the iPhone 5, will you be disappointed?

[El3ctronics]

As the title asks, aside from specs bumps, will you be disappointed if the voice enabled 'Assistant' is the biggest new feature in the iPhone 5?

EDIT: I posted this link below but I'll add here to the OP as well. While we surely don't know all the details of 'Assistant', this article from 9to5mac has some pretty detailed info: http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/26/the-new-iphone/

 

[boshii]

How could you be disappointed about something you don't really know about?

 

[appleguy123]

It really depends on what 'assistant' is... Why even ask until we know?

 

[El3ctronics]

How could you be disappointed about something you don't really know about?

Fair point...Let's base our answers on what we've heard to this point. This article has pretty detailed info... http://9to5mac.com/2011/09/26/the-new-iphone/

 

[Agent-P]

Based on what we're guessing Assistant is, I'd say it would be a great feature to have. But since we don't know for sure, I can't tell you until after 4 October.

 

[Macguy76]

I will not be disappointed if voice control is the main feature.

Voice control has been so-so for years now on mobile devices.

Just leave to the folks at Cupertino to make it something that not only works, but becomes an essential part of our mobile devices!

 

[Patriot24]

Depends on implementation and functionality. At this point we don't know a whole lot.

I suspect that Assistant will cater most to those that are in their cars a lot. Imagine connecting your phone via bluetooth to your car, having it read you text messages as they come in, and responding by voice (a completely hands and eye-free experience so you can focus on the road). That definitely has potential.

IMO success depends a lot on how accurate it deciphers voice commands and the capabilities thereafter. Most voice-control products are shaky at best. I want to be able to speak as I normally do, not talk slowly and robotic so that it can recognize my words.

Edit: I also think that voice alerts make a lot of sense as well. For example, if you are an MLB At-Bat App user, perhaps you could set it up to alert you vocally when a scoring play happens, etc.

"Justin Upton homers on a fly ball to left field. Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 2 in the bottom of the 5th inning."

 

[theperipheral]

My problem with voice stuff is that usually, by the time I can hold down the home button and say whatever it is I want, I could've opened the app and found it already.

 

[Tom8]

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I just can't imagine "talking to my phone" in social situations. It's just awkward and a bit silly, in my opinion.

Voice to text is ok for when you're driving or have a long message that's already scripted, like an email for example where you can speak fluidly (presuming the software doesn't recognise "umms" and "erms" as natural in speech and decides to convert those to text to, it might be smarter than that)

Like many have said, I might upgrade if the specs are right. I'm not one for these gimmick features (which assistant could potentially be)
I bought my iPhone 4 because it was well specced with a good design, not because it had FaceTime...

 

[JMC08]

Edit: I also think that voice alerts make a lot of sense as well. For example, if you are an MLB At-Bat App user, perhaps you could set it up to alert you vocally when a scoring play happens, etc.

"Justin Upton homers on a fly ball to left field. Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 2 in the bottom of the 5th inning."

Wow....this would help push the boundaries of what a phone can do and how users interact with their phone even more than the already described Assistant features, and it would be very useful and pleasant for people to use (as long as there are choices on the voice and it doesn't sound robotic). I think that they will implement this and use it in the announcement. Probably as a preview, with 5.1 adding it fully.

This Assistant feature won't be flat out Siri. It will be highly upgraded, and it will be big.

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I just can't imagine "talking to my phone" in social situations. It's just awkward and a bit silly, in my opinion.

Well, people are going to be doing it and doing it a lot in the next few years. I guarantee it. It will be comparable now to when people take their ipods out in the subway and change the song. They won't be using voice to change songs, but they will be using voice to do relatively complex tasks quicker.

 

[Tones2]

I will not be disappointed if voice control is the main feature.

Voice control has been so-so for years now on mobile devices.

Just leave to the folks at Cupertino to make it something that not only works, but becomes an essential part of our mobile devices!

Yea, just like Face Time is.

Tony

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

When the leaked images of the iPhone parts supposedly from the 4s or iPhone 5 i thought to myself if this the only phone they release with only a minor spec bump then the siri + nuance speech will probably be the wow factor that apple tries to advertise. I hope this won't be that thing they advertise as the main new feature because to anyone with an iPhone 4 that isn't tech savvy will only recognize the camera and the nuance as something new. So i will be mad if it is the only new feature even if it is amazing. The event on the 4th will be interesting ill be waiting with anticipation.

 

[na1577]

Yes. I'm not a fan of gimmicky features like voice. They never work like they're supposed to, and talking to your phone in public is embarrassing.

 

[Patriot24]

Yes. I'm not a fan of gimmicky features like voice. They never work like they're supposed to, and talking to your phone in public is embarrassing.

I think the question is, if it "worked like its supposed to" and actually made tasks faster, would you indulge?

That's likely the question that Apple is attempting to answer with any kind of Assistant functionality.

 

[Tom8]

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Edit: I also think that voice alerts make a lot of sense as well. For example, if you are an MLB At-Bat App user, perhaps you could set it up to alert you vocally when a scoring play happens, etc.

"Justin Upton homers on a fly ball to left field. Diamondbacks 4, Rockies 2 in the bottom of the 5th inning."

Wow....this would help push the boundaries of what a phone can do and how users interact with their phone even more than the already described Assistant features, and it would be very useful and pleasant for people to use (as long as there are choices on the voice and it doesn't sound robotic). I think that they will implement this and use it in the announcement. Probably as a preview, with 5.1 adding it fully.

This Assistant feature won't be flat out Siri. It will be highly upgraded, and it will be big.

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I just can't imagine "talking to my phone" in social situations. It's just awkward and a bit silly, in my opinion.

Well, people are going to be doing it and doing it a lot in the next few years. I guarantee it. It will be comparable now to when people take their ipods out in the subway and change the song. They won't be using voice to change songs, but they will be using voice to do relatively complex tasks quicker.

I can't speak for what goes on in the US, but in the UK I rarely see anyone ever use voice commands. I've only seen it a hand full of times in supermarkets where people have both hands full and their phone connected to a set of headphones. Since I don't use a subway, I can't comment on that, but I sometimes use buses and I've never seen anyone using voice commands there.

Another thing we need to know is what proximity is the device going to have to be held at for this to work. I'd hope it's work at arms length, because if not you're making your body alter to use the phone, which doesn't make for the best experience, in my opinion.

Still, I'll reserve judgement before I see it. I want to know why (other than a selling point) this appears to be iPhone 5 exclusive, from what I've read it doesn't appear to be something the 4 couldn't handle. Again, we'll have to wait and see on that one too. On a side, I wonder if they have any intentions of bring this sort of client to Lion, I know there's "some" voice commands, but they're a bit hit & miss in my experience, so I've never really seen them as a viable alternative.

It should be a very interesting event.

 

[wordoflife]

No.

First of all, this Assistant thing is an iOS feature, not an iPhone 5 feature per se. I'm sure the next iPhone they'll release will be different (A5, camera, etc) so I won't be disappointed. Also lets not forget about what we know about iOS 5

 

[PDFierro]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)Still, I'll reserve judgement before I see it. I want to know why (other than a selling point) this appears to be iPhone 5 exclusive, from what I've read it doesn't appear to be something the 4 couldn't handle. Again, we'll have to wait and see on that one too.

I'm pretty sure I read it's because of the RAM it requires, but I could be wrong.

 

[El3ctronics]

No.

First of all, this Assistant thing is an iOS feature, not an iPhone 5 feature per se. I'm sure the next iPhone they'll release will be different (A5, camera, etc) so I won't be disappointed. Also lets not forget about what we know about iOS 5

Your information seems to be incorrect. According to the article linked above:

It so far appears that iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS users will be left out in the fun, unfortunately, because the feature requires the A5 CPU and additional RAM.

 

[Number 41]

Yes -- the current form factor, while selling well, is fundamentally flawed with poor antenna design and an insistence on using fragile glass as the primary construction material.

Apple needs to redesign the exterior. Otherwise, my next phone will NOT be an iPhone.

 

[JMC08]

Everyone who is voting 'yes' needs to download the Dragon Go app, and realize Apple is going to unveil that their feature is even better than that.

 

[wordoflife]

Your information seems to be incorrect. According to the article linked above:

I didn't read the article, just the thread title, post, and poll question.
I'm sure a JB tweak will be available to let iPhone 4 users in on the fun. I guess this is the same way only the 3GS was allowed to have voice controls and a battery percentage indicator.

 

[El3ctronics]

Everyone who is voting 'yes' needs to download the Dragon Go app, and realize Apple is going to unveil that their feature is even better than that.

I have the Dragon app and basically never use it. It can be a 1000x better than that but I'd still probably never use it. I have no reason to talk to my phone (unless I'm driving) no matter how well it's implemented.

 

[JMC08]

I have the Dragon app and basically never use it. It can be a 1000x better than that but I'd still probably never use it. I have no reason to talk to my phone (unless I'm driving) no matter how well it's implemented.

Just to clarify, I am talking about an app that is not Dragon Dictation. Not sure if that's what you are referring to..

So you are saying that you'd rather:

1. Go into Maps, wait for it to load, type in a location (which includes full street name and number, and sometimes city state and zip code), and click 'route'

Instead of holding the home button for one second and saying directions to 'location', and having the maps app open and ready with the directions you took one second to say?

2. Go into apps, wait for the homepage of apps to load, click on search, type in the name of a free app that you want to download, click on the app, and click on the install button after a second of loading

Instead of holding the home button for one saying and saying download 'app', and having the app appear on your screen to start downloading?


There are infinite examples of this concept.

 

[Number 41]

Incidentally, Apple techies have been playing with this concept for almost two decades -- I'm surprised it's taken them this long to realize it into something:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRH8eimU_20

At the end of the day, this is a bunch of nerds in a room thinking everything should work like it did back in the 90s on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." These types of features have no use in the real world because no one wants to be sitting alone talking to their phone or their computer.

 

[JMC08]

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I can't speak for what goes on in the US, but in the UK I rarely see anyone ever use voice commands. I've only seen it a hand full of times in supermarkets where people have both hands full and their phone connected to a set of headphones. Since I don't use a subway, I can't comment on that, but I sometimes use buses and I've never seen anyone using voice commands there.

The words I used signified that it will be that way in the near future. Not now, or six months ago.

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Incidentally, Apple techies have been playing with this concept for almost two decades -- I'm surprised it's taken them this long to realize it into something:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRH8eimU_20

At the end of the day, this is a bunch of nerds in a room thinking everything should work like it did back in the 90s on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." These types of features have no use in the real world because no one wants to be sitting alone talking to their phone or their computer.

In three months, this dude and a lot of people will have made posts that either A. reference using Assistant (multiple times) and/or B. Say how useful Assistant is.

It's amazing how some of you guys can't step back and look at this on a wider scale. Just because you, you particularly, don't like, don't accept, or can't picture change on a wider level (not talking about changing speeds or changing screen size), it doesn't mean that you are right and that 'people', in the general sense, aren't going to respond greatly to the change. You guys do realize that what you think at this exact moment probably isn't the exact same thought as 99.9 percent of the people in the world are having, right?