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Is Siri Good Now?
- Thread starter John55455
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After the initial testing, I haven't really used Siri for anything but setting up quick timers when cooking. "Timer 15 minutes." This works almost always and it's quite a bit faster than doing it manually. Other than that it's hard for me to think of anything useful to do with Siri, especially as it almost always misinterprets my accented English if I try to say something a bit more complex than that. Have I seen a significant improvement? No, not really. It's somewhat faster that it used to be though.
She can be frustrating sometimes, especially when you have a bad data connection. Its no doubt improved though, and I am sure it will continue to improve.
I once asked it "when does daylight saving end?" and it gave me something to the effect of "Sorry, I don't know the date at [random address elsewhere in my town]". I just tried the same question again and it told me that DST begins on 6 October 2013, which has a couple of issues:
1. I asked when DST ends, not when it begins.
2. It's also the wrong date as it actually starts on 29 September.
I tried to correct it by saying "No, it's on 29 September 2013" but it returned "29 September 2013 isn't a holiday."
At least it initially understood that I wanted DST dates, so I guess it's a small improvement even though it's still completely useless...
Edit: I have now submitted this as a bug (Radar was down yesterday so I couldn't do it then).
1. I asked when DST ends, not when it begins.
2. It's also the wrong date as it actually starts on 29 September.
I tried to correct it by saying "No, it's on 29 September 2013" but it returned "29 September 2013 isn't a holiday."
At least it initially understood that I wanted DST dates, so I guess it's a small improvement even though it's still completely useless...
Edit: I have now submitted this as a bug (Radar was down yesterday so I couldn't do it then).
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Siri is useless for users outside of US. At least on my country, doesn't recognize our accent, and has almost limited functionality.
This is quite a major statement which, I'm afraid to say, I don't believe. I can't imagine you being in a library, the office, on the tube and wanting to send an email, write a note or whatever and using siri to do this.
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You can do that. Google now will write texts to people, add calendar entries etc. Just ask it.
I've just re-read your post - by 'we', do you mean iPhone users? Is Google voice available on the iPhone?
At least on Android, Google Now can pretty much control every aspect of the phone via voice.
here in austria siri ist almost useless and very limited. no cinema informations, no table-reservations...
hopefully it will get better with every update.
i asked siri (in german): "what are you doing?" and she replied "i am learning new tricks.."
maybe this is a hint at some future updates...
hopefully it will get better with every update.
i asked siri (in german): "what are you doing?" and she replied "i am learning new tricks.."
maybe this is a hint at some future updates...
Siri is amazing for setting timers or alarms.
Pretty much it. Maybe its different on other carriers, but if you're on Sprint, Siri's data requirement is apparently too much for the Sprint towers to handle.
Pretty much it. Maybe its different on other carriers, but if you're on Sprint, Siri's data requirement is apparently too much for the Sprint towers to handle.
I don't like voice-triggered functions. I am one of those people who would rather type than talk, and I think it's weird to talk to your machines. Maybe one day it will be socially acceptable to talk to your machines, but even so I doubt I'd enjoy it.
That said, it takes about 5 minutes of using Google now and Siri to see which one is better--it's not Siri. Unfortunately for Apple, it's not even close.
What you're finding is that there is a fundamental difference between the degree of difficulty of things that Google attempts vs the things that Apple attempts. There just aren't that many folks who can do the artificial intelligence stuff well, and they all work at Google and Apple can't hire enough of them away. There are alot of people who can do UI design and vertical integration and supply chain stuff well, compared to the artificial intelligence people. This is why you're seeing Google make leaps and bounds while Apple is more or less doing the same thing that it's always done--refine, polish, tweak, and tweak some more.
My personal opinion is that the artificial intelligence stuff is just inherently harder and not as many people have a knack for it, and it's less teachable. But good UI design and supply chain management and industrial design are more mature fields, or there are more people interested in it, or it's inherently an easier field to master, or all of these things...but whatever the cause, there's a much bigger supply of people with these talents.
If you want to see where the puck is heading, you look at Google these days. Apple will need to fundamentally change the culture of the company if they wish to catch Google. It can't be so concerned with physical design and new materials etc and making devices thinner and thinner. This is happening at other makers too. Samsung, LG, HTC all make comparably thin and in some cases, better built devices. it's not a good bet to stake the future of your company on. At some point forward-looking features that really work well are going to be the norm, and if Google pulls off what it looks like they are on the verge of doing, people will switch over to what works best. Everyone will do it. A culture of cool and nice design is a sustainable business, but it's very susceptible to the whims of pop culture. True forward-thinking substance, however, is a much better business bet. In Apple's defense, maybe I and everyone else keep superimposing this idea that Apple needs to stay #1 to validate itself as a company, when they never said their goal is to become the largest company with the largest market share. They want to make the best products that change lives. But I would not at all be surprised if in the future it's Google who comes up with the next leaps forward, and Apple ends up polishing the crap out of them and makes money that way. The perfect company would be if Google and Apple combined efforts. Google makes the engine, and Apple does the UI and hardware design.
Above all over this little paragraph of ideas, no company stays on top forever. None. I can't say how Google/Apple/FB,Amazon will fall, but fall they will. I give it 20 years tops. No one is invincible. Microsoft, IBM, Carnegie, Rockefellers Standard Oil, they all fell. It'll happen eventually, so perhaps we should think of peak success more along the lines of athletic careers--10-15 years on top is a mighty and maximum ceiling these days for a company, and to fall back to earth after that is no shame.
That said, it takes about 5 minutes of using Google now and Siri to see which one is better--it's not Siri. Unfortunately for Apple, it's not even close.
What you're finding is that there is a fundamental difference between the degree of difficulty of things that Google attempts vs the things that Apple attempts. There just aren't that many folks who can do the artificial intelligence stuff well, and they all work at Google and Apple can't hire enough of them away. There are alot of people who can do UI design and vertical integration and supply chain stuff well, compared to the artificial intelligence people. This is why you're seeing Google make leaps and bounds while Apple is more or less doing the same thing that it's always done--refine, polish, tweak, and tweak some more.
My personal opinion is that the artificial intelligence stuff is just inherently harder and not as many people have a knack for it, and it's less teachable. But good UI design and supply chain management and industrial design are more mature fields, or there are more people interested in it, or it's inherently an easier field to master, or all of these things...but whatever the cause, there's a much bigger supply of people with these talents.
If you want to see where the puck is heading, you look at Google these days. Apple will need to fundamentally change the culture of the company if they wish to catch Google. It can't be so concerned with physical design and new materials etc and making devices thinner and thinner. This is happening at other makers too. Samsung, LG, HTC all make comparably thin and in some cases, better built devices. it's not a good bet to stake the future of your company on. At some point forward-looking features that really work well are going to be the norm, and if Google pulls off what it looks like they are on the verge of doing, people will switch over to what works best. Everyone will do it. A culture of cool and nice design is a sustainable business, but it's very susceptible to the whims of pop culture. True forward-thinking substance, however, is a much better business bet. In Apple's defense, maybe I and everyone else keep superimposing this idea that Apple needs to stay #1 to validate itself as a company, when they never said their goal is to become the largest company with the largest market share. They want to make the best products that change lives. But I would not at all be surprised if in the future it's Google who comes up with the next leaps forward, and Apple ends up polishing the crap out of them and makes money that way. The perfect company would be if Google and Apple combined efforts. Google makes the engine, and Apple does the UI and hardware design.
Above all over this little paragraph of ideas, no company stays on top forever. None. I can't say how Google/Apple/FB,Amazon will fall, but fall they will. I give it 20 years tops. No one is invincible. Microsoft, IBM, Carnegie, Rockefellers Standard Oil, they all fell. It'll happen eventually, so perhaps we should think of peak success more along the lines of athletic careers--10-15 years on top is a mighty and maximum ceiling these days for a company, and to fall back to earth after that is no shame.
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lol you got me! Yes, in areas where silence is respected I do engage in the prehistoric ritual known as "touch-screen texting". At work, home, or in the car (the 3 major areas) all my messages are dictated.
Even that seems primitive. You would think that with all the spying data Apple has on us, that Siri could generate a hypothetical text response to an incoming message which then you could choose to send it or modify part or all of the message. Filter it based on who it is, wife for example and depending on the message and your location it could generate a response using your humour as well. But I guess that would creep people out. It will come one day though.
I agree that Google seems to be doing some amazing things. This must, however, be at the expense of fouling up some of the formerly more reliable services they've been providing for years.
Unfortunately I live in the UK where the powers that be have decided that no network I connect to ever needs to give me higher than 2Mbps down/0.1Mbps up so it's only very occasionally quick enough to even consider using - therefore I don't use it on a regular basis.
The times I have used it and it hasn't told me to come back later it has been just amazing and if I had a decent data connection consistently I think I would love it.
The one thing I do know is it absolutely blows google now out of the water, simply on voice recognition! It could be that I have a nexus 7 and the fact it's a tablet may mean the speakers just aren't up to the standards required for reliable voice recognition, but not once has it recognised what I am trying to say - it rarely even gates one word correct! Siri on the other hand - when it works - gets what I'm trying to say almost every time (with the exception of 'Southampton' which it likes spelling as 'Southhampton')
The times I have used it and it hasn't told me to come back later it has been just amazing and if I had a decent data connection consistently I think I would love it.
The one thing I do know is it absolutely blows google now out of the water, simply on voice recognition! It could be that I have a nexus 7 and the fact it's a tablet may mean the speakers just aren't up to the standards required for reliable voice recognition, but not once has it recognised what I am trying to say - it rarely even gates one word correct! Siri on the other hand - when it works - gets what I'm trying to say almost every time (with the exception of 'Southampton' which it likes spelling as 'Southhampton')