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Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,642
13,143
UK
It's curious that the Echo, which is mainly designed for commerce, falls so far short in that area. I would have thought it would be the one thing it did well.
It can only tell you about products it sells on amazon. The Google home will do a web search.
 

joueboy

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2008
1,576
1,545
Siri has indeed gotten much better. Just yesterday I asked the following question and got a richly contextualized answer:

Q: "Hey Siri, is it normal for my new iPad Pro to be bent?"

A: "Yes, it's normal for Apple to bend its customers over"
That's what Timmy said. :D
 

glindon

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2014
578
835
Phoenix
I don’t ever use Siri on my HomePod because it’s so much easier to start with Apple TV or iPhone, pick what I want, and change the output to HomePod. Normally I listen to an artist on shuffle and if you ask Siri it will play from the Apple Music catalog and not my library. It makes the voice command useless to me. Wish there was a toggle to only play what’s in my library.
 

Shanghaichica

macrumors G5
Apr 8, 2013
14,642
13,143
UK
I think Siri handles your basic requests fairly well. Messages, playing music, HomeKit, timers, weather, etc it is perfectly fine. When you start getting into the goofy stuff like ordering food, groceries, etc then it falls short.

How many people are actually trying to use their devices to do something that Siri is unable to accomplish? What are the commands that are not working?
It does although there have been a few times when it’s not been able to answer some basic questions like converting between different time zones. However for the most part it does what I need and I know apple will continue to improve it with updates.
 

ignatius345

macrumors 604
Aug 20, 2015
6,868
11,209
I just don't understand why there aren't third-party apps for HomePod yet. I'd buy an interactive story game thing, or Duolingo... there are tons of possibilities given the quality of the hardware in the device already.
 

TwoBytes

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2008
3,093
2,040
Does Apple even believe this propaganda?
Come on. Siri can’t process a fraction of what the google assistant can do. Sure Siri can play music when you ask but that’s really it. It’s still very basic compared to other virtual assistants.
 

WillO95

macrumors member
Dec 15, 2014
70
18
Honestly I have to admit I have a love-hate relationship with my HomePod. Sometimes it works really well and responds quickly, other times I can't even change the volume, I just get "the volume of this speaker can't be changed right now, please try later" as an answer, and that is utterly useless.....

Also the weather is useless, you can ask it if it will rain, but you can't ask at what times (this is easy information to give, its given in the iPhone app)
 

Jsameds

Suspended
Apr 22, 2008
3,525
7,987
Why do we even talk about any of these percentages like they're even remotely acceptable?

If your keyboard only produced the correct character 80% of the time, or your touchscreen discarded 20% of touches, or your speaker only streamed 80% of a song, not a soul would be okay with that.

Siri on your iPhone or Mac is a funny novelty. The moment it becomes the only way you can interact with a device? Who on earth would find that acceptable? Maybe you'd be willing to buy such a device if it was priced like a whoopie cushion or silly putty (so, you know, ~$5), but for $300?

And this isn't even getting into the fact that this basic test is EASY! We're not expecting the devices to be productive contributors every conversation - these are tailored queries - softballs - meant to be easily within the realm of what the devices are supposed to be capable of doing!

You cannot equate smart assistance with keyboards or music. They're not even remotely comparable. A more appropriate comparison would be using only autocomplete to write a sentence, or getting a piece of software to recognise a tune from you simply humming it.


EDIT: Thinking about it, what was the failure rate of early typewriters, and what percent quality of the original recording was audible on original gramophones? Hmmm. :oops:


The trouble with smart assistants is they have to understand the question, understand the context - and then get it right first time - which is the hard part.

How often do you use search engines, and how often is the result you want the first link? In my case at least, rarely.

The point is it's not perfect, but it is getting there. Give it some time.
[doublepost=1545319574][/doublepost]
I just don't understand why there aren't third-party apps for HomePod yet. I'd buy an interactive story game thing, or Duolingo... there are tons of possibilities given the quality of the hardware in the device already.

Try looking up 'Skyrim Very Special Edition' ;)
 
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Diane B

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2010
140
40
Western NC foothills
I think Siri handles your basic requests fairly well. Messages, playing music, HomeKit, timers, weather, etc it is perfectly fine. When you start getting into the goofy stuff like ordering food, groceries, etc then it falls short.

How many people are actually trying to use their devices to do something that Siri is unable to accomplish? What are the commands that are not working?

That’s my thinking. I have 2 Homepods that do everything I want/need—but sound terrific as stereo. I bought one Echo because of price and that it now streams Apple Music and use it only in the BR for music for bedtime reading with a sleep timer. I purposely did not give it access to my contacts or phone number and won’t use it for ordering anything-or any of the stranger requests/skills.
 

69Mustang

macrumors 604
Jan 7, 2014
7,895
15,043
In between a rock and a hard place
I really don't mind if the one I'm using is slightly behind if that means looking after my privacy in a respectable manner.
Afaik, these were general information questions in different general categories. What does Apple's privacy stance have to do with any of that? Privacy can't be used as a crutch for every Siri shortcoming. Apple is working to improve Siri's accuracy. That's a good thing. The irony is Siri did the best in the category that actually required some private information. Privacy isn't hindrance in this instance.
 
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yaxomoxay

macrumors 604
Mar 3, 2010
7,410
34,211
Texas
Asked siri to turn on Podcasts while I was driving. "You have to unlock your phone first" was Siri's answer, and when I unlocked it (while driving) it didn't open the app. So freaking stupid.
 

Diane B

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2010
140
40
Western NC foothills
I don’t ever use Siri on my HomePod because it’s so much easier to start with Apple TV or iPhone, pick what I want, and change the output to HomePod. Normally I listen to an artist on shuffle and if you ask Siri it will play from the Apple Music catalog and not my library. It makes the voice command useless to me. Wish there was a toggle to only play what’s in my library.
May not be helpful to you but I found by putting music I wanted played together in named playlists that I can remember means it plays that precise music—from my library. But LOL—at times I need to refresh my memory by looking at my library on phone or Ipad—because the name has to be correct for Siri to find it.
 

Jsameds

Suspended
Apr 22, 2008
3,525
7,987
Afaik, these were general information questions in different general categories. What does Apple's privacy stance have to do with any of that? Privacy can't be used as a crutch for every Siri shortcoming. Apple is working to improve Siri's accuracy. That's a good thing. The irony is Siri did the best in the category that actually required some private information. Privacy isn't hindrance in this instance.

Just skimmed over the article and a lot of them are hindered by privacy, such as access to their messages, phone book, phone records, location data of you and family members, and also access to order anything from Amazon.
 

Diane B

macrumors regular
Jun 20, 2010
140
40
Western NC foothills
Asked siri to turn on Podcasts while I was driving. "You have to unlock your phone first" was Siri's answer, and when I unlocked it (while driving) it didn't open the app. So freaking stupid.
Wonder if you are using Car Play because then mine appears to be open once I connect by cable. I can’t remember if I’ve asked for a certain podcast to be played but I often send and receive messages, play music, listen to TuneIn. I know in my husband’s Subaru without Car Play I actually do have to open my phone first though (as a passenger)-don’t remember when I am driving but then I don’t use Siri in that car because its more an interaction between me and phone and that seems awkward-never seems to work correctly.
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,562
6,059
I feel like the issue with these devices is we're taking a completely incorrect approach to designing the UX.

The current approach seems to be to make a ridiculously gimped command line that has no "help", "man", "find", "grep", pipes, or variables.

I think a way better approach would be to take an apps approach, like a smartphone.

Me: "What were we talking about?"
Device: "We weren't talking about anything. What app would you like to launch?"
Me: "Oh, right. What apps do I have installed?"
Device: "Currently installed are weather, stocks, messages, phone..."
Me *cutting off*: "Open messages. Who texted me last?"
... so on...
Me: "Close apps" or "Goodnight" or "Goodbye" or something along those lines.

These AIs suck for general purpose. They need context and we need context. They need to be able to contextually tell us what our options are. They need to prompt us about what they can do. Apps can provide that context.
 

yaxomoxay

macrumors 604
Mar 3, 2010
7,410
34,211
Texas
Wonder if you are using Car Play because then mine appears to be open once I connect by cable. I can’t remember if I’ve asked for a certain podcast to be played but I often send and receive messages, play music, listen to TuneIn. I know in my husband’s Subaru without Car Play I actually do have to open my phone first though (as a passenger)-don’t remember when I am driving but then I don’t use Siri in that car because its more an interaction between me and phone and that seems awkward-never seems to work correctly.

No carplay. Just a regular Bluetooth radio.
 
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