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iPhone 4s will change the world mark my words

I still think Siri will be more of a novelty than anything... I just don't think people will want to talk to their devices if they don't have to.

That said the 4S is going to be a great device and I'm looking forward to my delivery :)
 
BuckDot said:
I still think Siri will be more of a novelty than anything... I just don't think people will want to talk to their devices if they don't have to.

That said the 4S is going to be a great device and I'm looking forward to my delivery :)
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People are already getting used to talking to devices. Most large corporations now have voice controlled phone answering system. The knowledge is already there from consumers that have dealt with navigating voice controlled system.

Siri is coming at precisely the right time to leverage this as a new way to input and retrieve data. If it works it moves beyond novelty and into useful territory.
 
nuckinfutz said:
People are already getting used to talking to devices. Most large corporations now have voice controlled phone answering system. The knowledge is already there from consumers that have dealt with navigating voice controlled system.

Siri is coming at precisely the right time to leverage this as a new way to input and retrieve data. If it works it moves beyond novelty and into useful territory.
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But we have had voice controlled programs and they just never seem to really take off. Dragon sounds great for just talking into my iPhone to text but it isn't that popular. Why are people thinking Siri will be the difference?
 
D1G1T4L said:
But we have had voice controlled programs and they just never seem to really take off. Dragon sounds great for just talking into my iPhone to text but it isn't that popular. Why are people thinking Siri will be the difference?
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Because siri is exponentially more comprehensive, intuitive, efficient and integrated.
 
D1G1T4L said:
But we have had voice controlled programs and they just never seem to really take off. Dragon sounds great for just talking into my iPhone to text but it isn't that popular. Why are people thinking Siri will be the difference?
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Because of the architecture. Voice Control has been done well for years. I've used Nuance's Dragon NaturallySpeaking and after brief training and correct enunciation it is more accurate than 90% of typists.

What makes Siri different is that it mashes together the necessary ingredients.

Natural Language Input with Speech to Text
Latent Semantic Mapping to actually analyze and understand the words
Context sensitivity (Today, Tomorrow,)
Conversation flow and Delegation (reschedule to 2pm, reply, etc)

What people know now is Speech to Text with the results thrown into a search engine. That was impressive a few years ago but these systems are easy to fool and thus become novelty features much sooner.

Siri is broken up into a module architecture. The front end handles the speech input which should support far more languages. The middle handles the analysis and the rear is the their domain systems that link to external API like Yelp, Wolfram and much more.

For more potential API simply look at
http://www.programmableweb.com/

Which details startups and more with API based services. They are all natural candidates for Siri.

Also I'm betting that WWDC 2012 announces developer support for Siri via an API. I'd love to be able to say "Create a task" and have Siri understand that I want OmniFocus to get that task and not another app.

LWP777 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9U2ekOVL5Q
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Classic!
:D
 
D1G1T4L said:
Care to elaborate?


Again I see this as another FaceTime. Great to use for some but won't change the world.
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I see no correlation between Siri and FaceTime. FaceTime is great for those moments where a picture indeed says a thousand words but it was never intended to be something that you use on an hourly basis.

Siri is leveraging what most humans have done for the vast majority of their life...speak. There are times where I want to set a quick reminder or a timer and I don't because i'm too lazy to pick up my phone and unlock it and navigate to my app buried in a folder, launch it and configure the timer or reminder.

If I can just unlock the phone and hold down a button and say "set a timer for 10 minutes or set a reminder for tomorrow at 5pm" that's a much more fluid system and one that will be leveraged for more than FaceTime which requires another party at the other end.

Siri is about you. It's about your personal needs which is why it's called an assistant.
 
With the passing of Steve, I see a very stagnant tech market for a few years.
I am not an apple fan but I have to say Steve drew me in every freaking time a new product was coming out.
Tim is no Steve.
The ip4s may not change to world. But the 4s will further the advancement of the software and functionality of the devices.
For instance, I thought FaceTime was a farce, we tried it while we were on vacation. That has prompted the sale of two iPhone 4s and 3 ipad2.
Will any of these devices change the world? In a way they will change individual worlds.
 
nuckinfutz said:
I see no correlation between Siri and FaceTime. FaceTime is great for those moments where a picture indeed says a thousand words but it was never intended to be something that you use on an hourly basis.

Siri is leveraging what most humans have done for the vast majority of their life...speak. There are times where I want to set a quick reminder or a timer and I don't because i'm too lazy to pick up my phone and unlock it and navigate to my app buried in a folder, launch it and configure the timer or reminder.

If I can just unlock the phone and hold down a button and say "set a timer for 10 minutes or set a reminder for tomorrow at 5pm" that's a much more fluid system and one that will be leveraged for more than FaceTime which requires another party at the other end.

Siri is about you. It's about your personal needs which is why it's called an assistant.
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The correlation is they are both advances in technology that only a small amount of people use or will use. Well at least that is my opinion.
 
Sort of a dumb question, but Siri will basically be the replacement for the current Voice Control feature on iPhone 4, correct?

Does anyone even use the current Voice Control feature? I love my iPhone 4 but that Voice Control feature leaves a lot to be desired. It understands next to nothing, to be quite honest. 9 times out of 10 it's worthless. I'm really excited about Siri. BUT, like others have said - as long as it works exactly as advertised it will be amazing. If it turns out to be just like the current Voice Control, it will be a huge letdown.
 
jmpnop said:
Siri is really good but it has its disadvantages. When you're in public, touch input is better than voice. Using Siri in public would look dumb.
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no really, what about those who talk over the phone using bluetooth. Look more crazy walking on the street talking to themselves.
 
keigo said:
no really, what about those who talk over the phone using bluetooth. Look more crazy walking on the street talking to themselves.
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Exactly. And how many people are shouting at their phones. They don't seem embarrassed (and they should be). I voice dial al the time. I just talk quietly in to the mic no big deal. No different than the conversation I'm about to have on the phone.
 
Maybe when it becomes smarter, like being able to address these questions: "Is there any news about the iPhone 5 since last Wednesday?" or "I want to know more about the NBA lockout" or "How much is Amazon selling the Playstation 3?" Maybe then I will interact with Siri more. But say for example, I want to check the weather today. It would be 10x faster to just open the weather app than to ask a question and wait for Siri to process it.
 
Of course it'll change the world, Skynet had to start somewhere. :)

And as to looking foolish in public, nothing can look dumber than a guy using a Bluetooth. Nothing. :)
 
I think the iPhone 4s will change they way phone manufactures make phones from now on. But then again, so does every refresh of the iPhone. I really like how apple might not be the first to implement new features such as text-to-speech or other things, but IMO, they always do it the right way and not half-assed. So, I do kinda think it is going to change the world.
 
Blinny83 said:
I agree with the OP. Voice control has been around for a long time, and it has sucked. It's something that needs to be nearly flawless in order to be adopted. It's kind of an "all or nothing" feature. If anyone can do it right, it's Apple.
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Yeah, with the current voice control you need to say the exact phrase 5 times in a perfectly clear voice with no ambiant sound. Not worth it, you may as well just do the task with your goddam mouse and keyboard...

But if there were voice control that could understand what you say no matter what phrasing you used, if there was background noise and if you were mumbling a bit, and still get it right first time... It'd be epic!
 
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