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iPhone 4S Reviews: "Best iPhone Yet", Great Camera, Siri Straight Out of Sci Fi

hleewell said:
Isn't SIRI basically a 1st Generation AI?
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No, it works on pre-programmed inputs. It makes no decisions on its own, it just looks for keywords and keyphrases in your spoken input.

It does have a fairly good library of that; and the good news is that its usually easy to add in additional phrases to look for (I have a rather extensive one in employment on my desktop - far more in depth than that of Siri, but it was also set up by myself).
And I suspect (like many others in the thread) an API for this will eventually be presented for App developers to utilize - if not during iOS 5, then at next year's iOS 6 & iPhone5/iPhone4GS)
 
JRoDDz said:
Apparently Siri has read "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" :)
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I think Apple should make something like a competition, where people can submit answers to questions like that. Then rate the answer, give a small price to every submitter with a nice answer, and let Siri pick a random answer of those.
 
Steve's Barber said:
Am I the only one that thinks this feature is kind of "toyish"?

Setting alarms, finding restaurants, knowing the weather is nice but it's just a verbal google search engine or an audio macro. And it can't even read back my email? That's something I need on the road.

And there's just too much unnecessary verbal confirmation on Siri's part. It repeats everything too much. Just a couple of beeps indicating it understands would be ok then go do what you were told.

I predict after 3 weeks you guys will use this just as much as you use FaceTime now.
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Don't let the downranks get you down. I feel the same. Seems gimmicky at best, something of a novelty that will see a spike in usage and then will slowly fade away.

If it's tied to server infrastructure rather than local software, it also becomes a liability down the road where if the feature is not so successful, Apple might just close up shop, making the feature completely unusable. It also means it's prone to network outages and disruptions.

It's a better form of voice control no doubt, but it's not even close to what I think people's expection for it are. It's not "Star Trek" on your phone that's for sure, at best it's a better Dragon Dictation tied to Google that can also pipe some commands in select apps.
 
guch20 said:
Thank you. Apple again innovates and shows the world the possibilities when combining great hardware with amazing software.

Meanwhile, their competitors offer half-assed somewhat similar features, then say "Look, our phones kinda run Flash and have a superer duperer processor!"
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I'm sorry, who's been going on about how good their shmancy new processor is non stop for the last week? Oh, the A5 is so amaaaazing... It blows aaaalll the fandroids phones away!!!!!

Fanbois of any kind annoy the crap out me.

Also, didn't some other people make Siri?? Then apple bought it out and made it better. That's not innovation, that's implementation.

Also, do enough people read this far in the comments to have this rated down past -20?
 
For a v.1 - Siri seems fun to toy around with. Not that I'll be upgrading from my 4 since I don't see much of a reason as the 4 is plenty fast for my use case.

But right now - Siri seems only marginally better than the apps I have (dragon dictation/Vlingo) for most tasks that I would even use.

Siri (and the apps mentioned above) still requires a bit of touchscreen "interference" to truly be hands free/sci fi.

Also - while I do understand the need to be internet connected - that fact (like with the other apps) puts a kink in some usability.
 
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Just got it and doesn't work for my middle class Scottish accent. Recognises like 3/10 of the commands I speak.

Damn you to hell Apple, you suck and fail big time. American is not the centre of the universe.
 
Listen to some of you people...

Siri is just a long winded Google-bot. The so-called childish "wit" is all canned. I fear some of you will soon have actual feelings for your phone. (That's scary).

The "talking" iP4s. Yet another reason for people to stay socially inept.
 
KnightWRX said:
Don't let the downranks get you down. I feel the same. Seems gimmicky at best, something of a novelty that will see a spike in usage and then will slowly fade away.

If it's tied to server infrastructure rather than local software, it also becomes a liability down the road where if the feature is not so successful, Apple might just close up shop, making the feature completely unusable. It also means it's prone to network outages and disruptions.

It's a better form of voice control no doubt, but it's not even close to what I think people's expection for it are. It's not "Star Trek" on your phone that's for sure, at best it's a better Dragon Dictation tied to Google that can also pipe some commands in select apps.
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I don't think you could be more wrong.

Facetime let people talk face to face... It seems cool and has its uses but is a novelty in most cases...

However with Siri you would never have to open up a wikipedia app, Google something, set an alarm or reminder or timer or look something up in the dictionary... Unless it was too noisy to get a reading or I wanted privacy I would never create an alarm manually again.

It has many uses and the novelty will wear off but the usefulness wont.
 
SeniorGato1 said:
If only the iphone had integrated navigation, similar to android's....
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I think that is the next big thing they will introduce. They have been working on advanced maps and navigation for some time.

I have the TomTom app which is better than any stand alone GPS I have ever owned which is great but to have it integrated would be so much better.
 
Clown Boy said:
Just got it and doesn't work for my middle class Scottish accent. Recognises like 3/10 of the commands I speak.

Damn you to hell Apple, you suck and fail big time. American is not the centre of the universe.
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And u think Siri is going to recognize a high class Scottish accent?
Scottish doesn't even sound like English. My dad was Irish and People had a hard time understanding him... At least u are not Welsh. Hehe
 
Clown Boy said:
Just got it and doesn't work for my middle class Scottish accent. Recognises like 3/10 of the commands I speak.

Damn you to hell Apple, you suck and fail big time. American is not the centre of the universe.
Click to expand...

I gather you have seen this youtube video which was posted on this site previously?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avp9aUkM5g0

(Two scottish guys on an elevator which uses voice recognition technology)
 
Captainobvvious said:
I don't think you could be more wrong.

Facetime let people talk face to face... It seems cool and has its uses but is a novelty in most cases...

However with Siri you would never have to open up a wikipedia app, Google something, set an alarm or reminder or timer or look something up in the dictionary... Unless it was too noisy to get a reading or I wanted privacy I would never create an alarm manually again.

It has many uses and the novelty will wear off but the usefulness wont.
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The problem is that it is slower at doing those tasks than just doing it the old way. That's the way I see it anyway, it's not a question of wrong or right, it's my opinion. Why bring in Facetime ? I didn't bring that up.
 
FroMann said:
One week everyone complains about the 4S being junk, next week people will call it the best phone ever.
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Well there were several analysts that said Siri would be the killer feature that made this phone, so I guess they were right.

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KnightWRX said:
The problem is that it is slower at doing those tasks than just doing it the old way. That's the way I see it anyway, it's not a question of wrong or right, it's my opinion. Why bring in Facetime ? I didn't bring that up.
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not slower or less practical if you're in a car or have your hands full and can't fully type. I'm going to use Siri all the time while traveling for work. I'm surprised I haven't been in a wreck yet trying to respond to emails and texts while driving. Siri, you may have saved my life. HA
 
KnightWRX said:
The problem is that it is slower at doing those tasks than just doing it the old way. That's the way I see it anyway, it's not a question of wrong or right, it's my opinion. Why bring in Facetime ? I didn't bring that up.
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Depends on the task and the situation. If your iPhone is in your pocket while you use a bluetooth headset, it is much quicker to use Siri to schedule a reminder or check a stock price.
 
KnightWRX said:
The problem is that it is slower at doing those tasks than just doing it the old way. That's the way I see it anyway, it's not a question of wrong or right, it's my opinion. Why bring in Facetime ? I didn't bring that up.
Click to expand...

You didn't but many compare Siri to Facetime as a novelty feature that will stop being used in time.

I don't see how doing it manually.

1) Click home button
2) Swipe to unlock
2a) Maybe hit home button again to get to springboard if already in an app
3) Swipe to different springboard page
3a) Maybe open a folder
4) Open clock
5) click on alarm tab
6) Click add
7) Set dials
8) Click save

PHEW TIRED!

Or I can hold the home button and say "Wake me up tonight at 7:30pm"

DONE!

Forget being in the car with a hands free headset... That is faster even if I am sitting at my desk with the phone in my hand.

Same with Wikipedia, Wolfram Alpha questions, alarms, timers, reminders, directions, stocks, weather... Etc... Now assuming frustration getting voice texts right with voice recognition, say it doesn't understand you 100% then yes typing texts it likely faster.

Not saying your opinion is wrong but the number of common tasks it can do and MUCH FASTER than the manual alternative will make this something I will always use.
 
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