Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Siri...another game changer from Steve?

A

arunim

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 6, 2009
49
0
I know that most of the people who watched the iPhone 4s product launch last Tuesday were pretty disappointed that it wasn't a "brand new iPhone 5"

Firstly, what's in a name? They could have easily called it 5, maybe that would have had a slightly better reception... Anyway...

I think this Siri assistant thing is a game changer. The fact that you can do simple tasks just by telling it to your phone it totally a revolutionary idea. I think I know exactly what Steve had in mind.

For example, to set a morning wake up alarm currently takes about 30seconds to navigate through the menus and set up all the details. With Siri, you just tell it "Set alarm for 7 AM tomorrow morning", and BHAM it's done. Didn't even take 5 seconds. Not to mention how highly convenient it was. All I had to do is press a button. After this, I can never see myself setting a simple alarm "manually" using the touch screen ever again.

I think in the not very near future, all other Smartphone OSs will be scrambling to implement their own version of Siri.
Dont get me wrong, I KNOW that Apple didnt invent this and neither are they the first to do it (like many other things that they have done). But, their implementation is brilliant. It's user-friendly. It's usable. I think they've cracked it once again, and they've got it right yet again! It's going to be a huge hit. Using our phones will never be the same again

And as Siri get's out of beta and is slowly opened up to 3rd party developers (it's imminent) it's only going to get better and better.

From graphical user interface....to multi-touch...to voice activation... Apple is getting it right everytime with it's implementation. They have one dream...Steve's dream....minimalist design and better user experience.

I cant believe it, Steve is pioneering the tech industry even in his eternal sleep. A true genius!

I dont care what others say, but I predict that the iPhone 4S is going to be an even bigger hit than it's predecessor.

This is going to be my first iPhone, and I cant wait to get one into my hands!
(Upgrading from a Nokia 6230 :D)
 
arunim said:
I know that most of the people who watched the iPhone 4s product launch last Tuesday were pretty disappointed that it wasn't a "brand new iPhone 5"

Firstly, what's in a name? They could have easily called it 5, maybe that would have had a slightly better reception... Anyway...

I think this Siri assistant thing is a game changer. The fact that you can do simple tasks just by telling it to your phone it totally a revolutionary idea. I think I know exactly what Steve had in mind.

For example, to set a morning wake up alarm currently takes about 30seconds to navigate through the menus and set up all the details. With Siri, you just tell it "Set alarm for 7 AM tomorrow morning", and BHAM it's done. Didn't even take 5 seconds. Not to mention how highly convenient it was. All I had to do is press a button. After this, I can never see myself setting a simple alarm "manually" using the touch screen ever again.

I think in the not very near future, all other Smartphone OSs will be scrambling to implement their own version of Siri.
Dont get me wrong, I KNOW that Apple didnt invent this and neither are they the first to do it (like many other things that they have done). But, their implementation is brilliant. It's user-friendly. It's usable. I think they've cracked it once again, and they've got it right yet again! It's going to be a huge hit. Using our phones will never be the same again

And as Siri get's out of beta and is slowly opened up to 3rd party developers (it's imminent) it's only going to get better and better.

From graphical user interface....to multi-touch...to voice activation... Apple is getting it right everytime with it's implementation. They have one dream...Steve's dream....minimalist design and better user experience.

I cant believe it, Steve is pioneering the tech industry even in his eternal sleep. A true genius!

I dont care what others say, but I predict that the iPhone 4S is going to be an even bigger hit than it's predecessor.

This is going to be my first iPhone, and I cant wait to get one into my hands!
(Upgrading from a Nokia 6230 :D)
Click to expand...

Siri is a great piece of tech, but it existed long before there was an iPhone 4S. It was Apple's (smart) decision to purchase and work with Siri to implement it into the entire iOS.
 
Yes, that's what I mean. The implementation is incredible
 
The man is a true visionary.

Mark my word. Android handsets gonna be "improving" their current voice control soon... Not to "copy" Apple Siri ofcourse ... Since voice control technology has been around for ever !-)
 
damant said:
... Since voice control technology has been around for ever !-)
Click to expand...

I'd love to use text with Siri. The most impressive part about Siri isn't its voice recognition but how it parses the natural phrases, understands the context and perform system tasks integrated with the OS , those things do not require voice control at all.

So instead of going into an app or trying to speak to the computer, I can simply type "I'm going to the dentist at 3 tomorrow" in a text box without having to think about it, which takes no deliberate thought process.

Bring it to Mac with text box! Oh and iPad too. :)
 
About the same time that Apple acquired Siri Google purchased a smaller company that did a few things similarly named Aardvark (www.vark.com)

Sadly Aardvark was cancelled along with other projects

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393447,00.asp

Products like Siri represent a threat to Google's search dominance because they abstract the user from a basic search engine and they don't provide adds (at least in Apple's version) thus Google can be stripped from the whole equation.

Look for Microsoft to get into this market and use Bing as a backend and figure out a way to monetize it through adds or some other way.

Look for Siri to remain clutter free and become more and more functional.
 
damant said:
The man is a true visionary.

Mark my word. Android handsets gonna be "improving" their current voice control soon... Not to "copy" Apple Siri ofcourse ... Since voice control technology has been around for ever !-)
Click to expand...

I ve had voice comand on my Vibrant for the 17 months that ive had it . Just dont use it very often but when im driving i have used the voice to text to reply to texts so i dont have to type and Use it for google search and it works good.

Again, you guys are just catching up.
 
Vegastouch said:
Again, you guys are just catching up.
Click to expand...

Again, Siri is more about context-awareness and natural phrase than voice recognition. iPhone already had rudimentary voice recognition. I use an Android phone too but Siri is not like the Android's built in voice function. You can take voice recognition off Siri and it'll still be a great addition.
 
nuckinfutz said:
About the same time that Apple acquired Siri Google purchased a smaller company that did a few things similarly named Aardvark (www.vark.com)

Sadly Aardvark was cancelled along with other projects

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393447,00.asp

Products like Siri represent a threat to Google's search dominance because they abstract the user from a basic search engine and they don't provide adds (at least in Apple's version) thus Google can be stripped from the whole equation.

Look for Microsoft to get into this market and use Bing as a backend and figure out a way to monetize it through adds or some other way.

Look for Siri to remain clutter free and become more and more functional.
Click to expand...

Vlingo......?
 
fertilized-egg said:
Again, Siri is more about context-awareness and natural phrase than voice recognition. iPhone already had rudimentary voice recognition. I use an Android phone too but Siri is not like the Android's built in voice function. You can take voice recognition off Siri and it'll still be a great addition.
Click to expand...

There is also this in the Android Market and it is also now available for iPhone. Its called Voice Actions

Just saying Siri isnt ground breaking. This stuff has been around for a while and Apple is just catching up. Check out the video. You can make the video bigger to see it better.
 
Last edited:
i eversaw said:
Siri is a great piece of tech, but it existed long before there was an iPhone 4S. It was Apple's (smart) decision to purchase and work with Siri to implement it into the entire iOS.
Click to expand...
The majority of us tech fans will be fully aware of that, but to the general consumer(which must outweigh the tech crowd by several orders of magnitude), Apple will have invented it, and there'll be no better implementation on any other OS, further adding to the 'magic'.
 
Vegastouch said:
There is also this in the Android Market and it is also now available for iPhone. Its called Voice Actions

Just saying Siri isnt ground breaking. This stuff has been around for a while and Apple is just catching up. Check out the video. You can make the video bigger to see it better.
Click to expand...

I use the same phone - Galaxy S Vibrant - as you do and frequent Android forums. I know what's available for Android, and it's not like Siri. Siri's strength is not the voice recognition part but its AI integrated within the OS.
 
Vegastouch said:
There is also this in the Android Market and it is also now available for iPhone. Its called Voice Actions

Just saying Siri isnt ground breaking. This stuff has been around for a while and Apple is just catching up. Check out the video. You can make the video bigger to see it better.
Click to expand...

You mean you cannot see/understand the difference here?

Pro Tip: "question and answer" session with your phone aren't impressive. This has been done for a LONG time where you speak into your phone and it searches and finds a canned response. The thing to look for in the next generation AI tools with be conversations that stay in context. I only saw one example of that in the vide you link to where he searched for Bill Clinton and then uttered a command to email and it wasn't interactive at all.

Now contrast that to the Siri video where the runner tries to make an appointment and Siri says there's a conflict for the time he's chosen and he says "reschedule to n time"

Think of this as layers. The 1st layer is the ability to ask and receive an answer. The second being the ability to ask another question in context and receive an answer that is relative and still linked to the conversational flow. As we get deeper and deeper it's going to require more and more smarts for the software to keep things in order.

We take human interaction for granted but what Siri has as an architectural advantage is the infrastruction to go more layers deep. Is it enabled yet? Probably not hence the Beta tag but Apple tends to be conservative at first. By the 3rd major revision of Siri you will likely be able to maintain many conversations with intelligent responses from Siri at a level that we cannot fully grasp now because no one has done it.

Apple hasn't caught up with the current technology they've leapfrogged it.
 
fertilized-egg said:
I use the same phone - Galaxy S Vibrant - as you do and frequent Android forums. I know what's available for Android, and it's not like Siri. Siri's strength is not the voice recognition part but its AI integrated within the OS.
Click to expand...

Just like facetime, its something that wont be used that often. IOt doesnt matter to me, im noit getting an iPhone for many reasons. Im waiting for the Nexus Prime.
Fact is Apple is catching up. Siri good or not is something that has been out for 1.5 years. I had it on my 2G. Steve or whoever did a good thing using it better with the iPhone but there are similar things out there. Apple didnt invent it.

Im not against the iPhone at all, i have Apple products and like them but the fanboys always think what they have is always some sort of groundbreaking thing when they are, for the most part now, catching up to a system that didnt exist til 2 years after the iPhone came out.
 
Vegastouch said:
Just like facetime, its something that wont be used that often. IOt doesnt matter to me, im noit getting an iPhone for many reasons. Im waiting for the Nexus Prime.
Fact is Apple is catching up. Siri good or not is something that has been out for 1.5 years. I had it on my 2G. Steve or whoever did a good thing using it better with the iPhone but there are similar things out there. Apple didnt invent it.

Im not against the iPhone at all, i have Apple products and like them but the fanboys always think what they have is always some sort of groundbreaking thing when they are, for the most part now, catching up to a system that didnt exist til 2 years after the iPhone came out.
Click to expand...

No one says Apple invented artificial intelligence, they're just the ones who will make it mainstream. They did the same with thin laptops, touch screen smart phones and tablets. None of those three items were being designed or built by anyone until Apple created them.

I disagree with you in how much Siri will be used, I believe it will be used greatly. And, in 6-8 months every phone that's launched will have a similar feature. Two years ago people thought the iPad and MacBook Airs were a joke, look at them now...best selling devices in the world (and everyone's trying to copy them).
 
nuckinfutz said:
You mean you cannot see/understand the difference here?

Pro Tip: "question and answer" session with your phone aren't impressive. This has been done for a LONG time where you speak into your phone and it searches and finds a canned response. The thing to look for in the next generation AI tools with be conversations that stay in context. I only saw one example of that in the vide you link to where he searched for Bill Clinton and then uttered a command to email and it wasn't interactive at all.

Now contrast that to the Siri video where the runner tries to make an appointment and Siri says there's a conflict for the time he's chosen and he says "reschedule to n time"

Think of this as layers. The 1st layer is the ability to ask and receive an answer. The second being the ability to ask another question in context and receive an answer that is relative and still linked to the conversational flow. As we get deeper and deeper it's going to require more and more smarts for the software to keep things in order.

We take human interaction for granted but what Siri has as an architectural advantage is the infrastruction to go more layers deep. Is it enabled yet? Probably not hence the Beta tag but Apple tends to be conservative at first. By the 3rd major revision of Siri you will likely be able to maintain many conversations with intelligent responses from Siri at a level that we cannot fully grasp now because no one has done it.

Apple hasn't caught up with the current technology they've leapfrogged it.
Click to expand...

No they havent. They still havent caught up. Your talking about one App that Apple didnt invent and even if they did catchup/leapfrog(which is a farfetched statement) for the sake of arguement....it will be for a month or so til the Nexus Prime comes out and then it will be another year til the next phone comes out while Android is putting out upgrades.
Im not knocking it, its just the way it is. Once a year vs several times a year = cant keep up. Case in point the two year headstart Apple had that is now already lagging behind.
 
Last edited:
Vegastouch said:
Just like facetime, its something that wont be used that often. IOt doesnt matter to me, im noit getting an iPhone for many reasons. Im waiting for the Nexus Prime.
Fact is Apple is catching up. Siri good or not is something that has been out for 1.5 years. I had it on my 2G. Steve or whoever did a good thing using it better with the iPhone but there are similar things out there. Apple didnt invent it.

Im not against the iPhone at all, i have Apple products and like them but the fanboys always think what they have is always some sort of groundbreaking thing when they are, for the most part now, catching up to a system that didnt exist til 2 years after the iPhone came out.
Click to expand...

Facts can be proven by taking scientific steps. You've proffered no facts merely opinion.

FaceTime and Siri and two different technologies. One is a technology that must have another human on the other side with a similar hardware/software configure and the other (Siri) is a tool aimed at how a single person utilizes their phone for a multitude of tasks. The comparison between the two on a usage and impact level is tenuous at best and IMO poor argumentation.

No one here said Apple invented the technology but the crux of your rebuttals seem to be based on a foundation of willful ignorance regarding the technological differences between what we have today and what we have coming with Siri.

Have fun with that Android
 
Hankster said:
Not only is Siri a game changer, Steve Jobs described a device just like Siri in an interview back in 1984 - Jobs Predicted Siri in 1984. Yes, he didn't create Siri, but he implemented it in a usable way. It will be ground breaking.

What you say now! :eek:
Click to expand...

I say, it's not hard to "predict" the future in cases like this. IE. Flying cars. Will they be a reality some day? Sure. Am I a prophet for mentioning it 20-30 years before it happens? You tell me.
 
Vegastouch said:
No they havent. They still havent caught up and even if they did for the sake of arguement....it will be for a month or so til the Nexus Prime comes out and then it will be another year til the next phone comes out while Android is putting out upgrades.
Im not knocking it, its just the way it is. Once a year vs several times a year = cant keep up.
Click to expand...

It's clear you don't have an inkling of what you speak of. I've got little time to deal with inarticulate posts devoid of any sort of technical insight. For the life of me I don't understand why people engage in threads that there are not mentally equipped to handle. Enjoy your Android.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back