Is anyone else bothered by Apple's adjustment to the "best smartphone" Siri query?

[kdarling]

So, Apple is a government, now?

Apple is a piece of the pipe from you to the internet, just like a carrier. We expect carriers to uphold net neutrality and not censor, so what about phone makers?

If a carrier manipulated search results that passed through it, what would your reaction be?

For example, what if whenever you searched "What is the best carrier?", the carrier you were on inserted itself as the result in a cutsy message? Would that be okay? And where does this stop?

What it boils down to is whether or not you expect Siri to be a gateway to real search results. If not, then it's not a bother. If so, then it is.

 

[iEnvy]

The ideology of censorship reminds me of the book fahrenheit 451. Good read

 

[briantaylor619]

Is anyone else bothered by Apple's adjustment to the "best smartphone" Siri query?

Seriously?

No I am not bothered by Apple changing the Siri response to a question.

I am more concerned with things like HIV, homeless living on the streets, the growing gap between the rich and the poor

 

[ixodes]

Siri's brought a lot of attention to Apple, they've got to be thrilled. Some people refer to it as a woman, that in & of itself is hilarious. No matter how useful or useless this "feature" is, Apple's getting the attention they crave. Late night talk shows, day time talk shows, news broadcasts. Everyone's having fun with the foibles of Siri.

It will be interesting to see what the development timeline will be as Apple continues to improve this bot. It does seem they've made a long term commitment to insert Siri into a variety of devices. It's not bad enough that there are those loudmouth people talking to a human on the phone, with iPhones everywhere the roar of chaos & chatter will certainly make an impact. The possibilities are endless.

If you haven't been exposed to a bunch of twelve year olds yucking it up with Siri, you've not experienced yet another developing phenomenon. Six kids all yelling & laughing at Siri sounds like twenty five little kids. It's a surreal scene. Oh yeah, it only gets more comical. And it's about to head in yet another direction as people begin barking commands into their Pebble's

 

[bushman4]

Keep in mind that Siri's answers are not all 'factual, they are based on Fact, Forums, News headlines and Opinion. Its up to the user to determine if the answer is appropriate.

 

[r.j.s]

Keep in mind that Siri's answers are not all 'factual, they are based on Fact, Forums, News headlines and Opinion. Its up to the user to determine if the answer is appropriate.

But when siri's web results are replaced with a one-liner because the web results didn't return an Apple-approved answer, it is troubling.

At what point does siri start protecting you from results that might be objectionable?

 

[b24pgg]

I am more concerned with things like HIV, homeless living on the streets, the growing gap between the rich and the poor

Then why aren't you in an HIV research lab, giving a meal to a homeless person, or lobbying your Congressman on income inequality instead of posting here?

 

[chrono1081]

This is without a doubt a very real problem. It reeks of censorship and control in the worst of ways. I can't even imagine if Samsung did this with one of their phones. Can you imagine if this same question was asked on a SGS3 and it answered with "iPhone 4S", and then Samsung changed it to answer it's own phone. Man o man, the hate would be in over flow all over this forum. I just love how it's being down played here.
Honestly, the whole purpose of siri was to assist you in what you did not want to type manually. So if your looking for the best smartphone, hoping siri does a quick yet very real search on the net, it won't. What else could you not do a "best" query of. You go into google to search manually and you get the real and accurate answer. But you do it via Siri and you get what Apple wants you to know. A very bad precedent indeed.

I can only assume this is sarcasm without the face to clarify things...

 

[JAT]

Apple is a piece of the pipe from you to the internet, just like a carrier. We expect carriers to uphold net neutrality and not censor, so what about phone makers?

If a carrier manipulated search results that passed through it, what would your reaction be?

My reaction would be to use words that apply to a carrier. MacRumors, for instance, blocks or replaces certain words with *s to maintain the level of decorum that Arn has chosen for his website. It is not a censor. Just like I don't allow smoking in my house or car. My place, my choice. I like people to use words appropriately, it separates us from the animals. (by which I mean Green Bay Packer fans, of course)

Siri is a service from Apple. Cutesy replies are (apparently) what people wanted, when comparing the popularity of Siri with similar services from other places. How many of the first 2 million questions asked of Siri after the 4s came out were dumbass questions hoping for a "cool" answer of some sort? Also, the question, "Which is the best phone/carrier" is not a question with a factual answer. So, it's not much of an example.

And, all search engines currently in use on the web already manipulate results, either for advertising or an attempt to match the individual searching. But you know that already, I'm sure you understand it better than I.

 

[adrianweller]

they value nothing more than money and control. Apple's history proves it.

They value nothing more than delivering the best user experience they can. To do that requires money and control.

Apple don't strive to deliver the best user experience so they can make more money - they make money so they can deliver the best user experience.
...and yes, I really do believe this is the case.

 

[ixodes]

They value nothing more than delivering the best user experience they can. To do that requires money and control.

Apple don't strive to deliver the best user experience so they can make more money - they make money so they can deliver the best user experience.
...and yes, I really do believe this is the case.

Apple loves your money more than you realize...

 

[lilo777]

Or Apple is fixing a quirk that gave inaccurate results. Perhaps this issue brought to light a problem with how sources are weighed (in this case, reviews from Best Buy).

Do you even believe what you write?

Apple actually warned us about this scenario in their infamous 1984 commercial. Nobody listened.

 

[matttye]

I wouldn't ask it stupid questions unless I was messing around and I certainly wouldn't give two hoots about the reply.

 

[Sedulous]

Do you even believe what you write?

Apple actually warned us about this scenario in their infamous 1984 commercial. Nobody listened.

... or weighing Best Buy reviews too heavily skewed results. Realistically, the Nokia is a good phone but certainly is not the definitive "best" phone. Quite frankly, I believe comparing this to "1984" is hyperbole. Siri DOES have competition in the search realm and by no means represents some kind of information monopoly used to suppress society.

 

[unlimitedx]

They value nothing more than delivering the best user experience they can. To do that requires money and control.

Apple don't strive to deliver the best user experience so they can make more money - they make money so they can deliver the best user experience.
...and yes, I really do believe this is the case.

Apple's marketing has succeeded

 

[B777Forevar]

When I asked Siri, she told me this:

 

[twigman08]

What do you expect Apple/Siri to say back? It is IMPOSSIBLE to say what is the best smartphone, it is 100% subjective. What may be the best smartphone for one person may not be the best for you. So no matter what the response is/was the results are still a lie. I'd rather have a joke response than one that goes by Best Buy reviews (cause we all know Best Buy reviews make something the best smartphone ever). Plus the response is true. You really expect Apple or any company to say their phone isn't the best? EVERY SINGLE phone out tries to find a way to say it is the best phone. Maybe all the phones companies should be in trouble also as not every phone can be the best phone out.

Like someone stated earlier, walk into an AT&T or a Verizon store. Ask them what the best carrier is. Do you expect AT&T people to go by "stats" or something and say "Verizon is right now" or do you expect Verizon to say AT&T is because their 3G network is faster.

If the question was, "what phone has the largest screen" and it said iPhone then I would have a problem. That is a lie. Just like if Verizon said they had the FASTEST 3G network, that would be a lie really which is why they don't say they have the FASTEST 3G network.

That question is pure subjective. I agree with Siri, I think it is one of the best smartphones out though.

 

[chambone]

What do you expect Apple/Siri to say back? It is IMPOSSIBLE to say what is the best smartphone, it is 100% subjective.

Exactly. There is no best smartphone. Folks driveling on about 'neutrality' and whatnot crack me up.

 

[mastsethi]

That's a disgrace! Lol

 

[Rogifan]

Apple is a piece of the pipe from you to the internet, just like a carrier. We expect carriers to uphold net neutrality and not censor, so what about phone makers?

If a carrier manipulated search results that passed through it, what would your reaction be?

For example, what if whenever you searched "What is the best carrier?", the carrier you were on inserted itself as the result in a cutsy message? Would that be okay? And where does this stop?

What it boils down to is whether or not you expect Siri to be a gateway to real search results. If not, then it's not a bother. If so, then it is.

First of all it's a dumb question to which there is no factual or objective answer.
What would be real search results for "best smartphone ever"? Ratings on Amazon or Best Buy or Consumer Reports? The iPhone just received the highest customer satisfaction rating from ACSI. Should Siri use that? Or should Siri just take you to a google search? Btw, when I asked Siri that question it gave me a list of nearby companies with the word ever in their title.

 

[GoCubsGo]

Pure rage face outrage! grrrrr!

 

[Rogifan]

What do you expect Apple/Siri to say back? It is IMPOSSIBLE to say what is the best smartphone, it is 100% subjective. What may be the best smartphone for one person may not be the best for you. So no matter what the response is/was the results are still a lie. I'd rather have a joke response than one that goes by Best Buy reviews (cause we all know Best Buy reviews make something the best smartphone ever). Plus the response is true. You really expect Apple or any company to say their phone isn't the best? EVERY SINGLE phone out tries to find a way to say it is the best phone. Maybe all the phones companies should be in trouble also as not every phone can be the best phone out.

Like someone stated earlier, walk into an AT&T or a Verizon store. Ask them what the best carrier is. Do you expect AT&T people to go by "stats" or something and say "Verizon is right now" or do you expect Verizon to say AT&T is because their 3G network is faster.

If the question was, "what phone has the largest screen" and it said iPhone then I would have a problem. That is a lie. Just like if Verizon said they had the FASTEST 3G network, that would be a lie really which is why they don't say they have the FASTEST 3G network.

That question is pure subjective. I agree with Siri, I think it is one of the best smartphones out though.

What the anti-Apple crowd expects is for Siri to say anything but iPhone. I'll bet mot of the complainers don't even own a Nokia Lumia and don't regard it as the best smartphone ever.

----------

... or weighing Best Buy reviews too heavily skewed results. Realistically, the Nokia is a good phone but certainly is not the definitive "best" phone. Quite frankly, I believe comparing this to "1984" is hyperbole. Siri DOES have competition in the search realm and by no means represents some kind of information monopoly used to suppress society.

Everyone knows this is much ado about nothing but of course the Apple haters will hype it up and scream censorship. I wish Apple would tweak Siri to take you to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index ranking where the iPhone came out on top with a score of 83.

 

[MacDawg]

Who really uses Siri this way in real life?
Honestly, this all comes from kids who sit around asking Siri silly questions and giggling at the response

If I wanted to know the best smartphone, I would research it
Not ask Siri on an iPhone

If I want to set an alarm, find the nearest pizza, text someone... then Siri is a good choice

Siri will eventually be taken seriously by Apple and the users, but kids will continue to post silly YouTube videos about how Siri responds to manufactured situations

 

[GoCubsGo]

Who really uses Siri this way in real life?
Honestly, this all comes from kids who sit around asking Siri silly questions and giggling at the response

I did, last night. Then again I had 4 beers in 2 hours so that could be the reason why I was talking to Siri. My dog was asleep and my cat was plotting my dog's death so I wanted someone to talk to. FWIW, she doesn't know why someone I know is an ******* either. /shrug.

 

[SR45]

"relatively benign question"​

Benign question is an understatement. Who would even be concerned enough to bother with this ? Posts like this, where people get rattled on a non issue is confusing to me. Don't people have other things to do ?