Siri on HomePod Correctly Answered 52.3% of Queries in New AI Test

[BruceEBonus]

What have Apple got to omit, overcharge for and rebadge enough to make people wake up to the fact there is cheaper, more featured and quality competition out there. Badge snobbery is a thing of the past now.

Up to just this week when I was looking for a replacement to my Galaxy S6 I realised I myself was being sucked into the Samsung Phone hype myself and was going for the Note 8. A beautiful phone with stunning looks and performance. Agreed.

But. Do I really NEED to spend nearly £900 for the best phone on the market? No. The competition has caught up. So no longer is Samsung the go to equivalent Android phone. And that’s great news.

The Huawei Honor 9 is £280 now in the UK. It has all the features of flagship models but smaller screen and no Pen. But so what? It’s classy looking. Has all the features and more than my S6 and runs faster than the Galaxy S8. A few years ago it made sense to stump up for premium kit. But those days if not already gone now will be soon.

Apple have to realise this and quickly. The reason the Honor series are selling so fast is because they’ve got all the features people want. iR blasters(!). Headphone jacks. 4gb and 64gb storage (expandable) Dual cameras. Super fast processors. The list goes on as does the superb and stylish quality. And this. For less than a third of a Note 9. There comes a time when you have to step back and ask yourself do you REALLY need a speaker that costs three times the nearest competition and offers what it does?

If so. Great. If you need that badge on the front then fine. I see expensive VW cars that look no more impressive than their South Korean counterparts but it’s that badge. That kudos thing. Times are changing. The margins in reliability, performance and long term value are narrowing. And it takes folks a lot more convincing to part with their cash over one manufacturer over another than it once did.

(“What the heck was all that waffle all about?” -Macrumors Ed.)
(“No idea. Another BruceEBonus drivel/rant again no doubt!” - A MR Forum user)

 

[falainber]

You have no idea what counts as stereo, do you?

I thought I did. I was listening to it since 1970s and HomePod definitely is not it. I have never seen a stereo system where the only woofer would be firing upwards. Not necessarily a stereo thing but I am pretty sure Apple placed it this way not because they thought it was the best way to produce stereo sound but because it was the only option for "filling the room" unidirectionally since you can't put seven 4.5" woofers into a pint-sized speaker. Accept HP for what it is - a moderately priced semi-smart speaker for playing the music in the background. There is a need for that and HP fulfills it well.

 

[itsmilo]

The sad part is that Apple didnt even invent Siri. They bought it and have nothing done with it since.

 

[smoledman]

Apple hasn't invented anything, like ever.

 

[DNichter]

I really wanted to like it.

Doesn’t touch my Sonos 5 soundwise. Hate the closed environment, as I love Sirius, Spotify, amazon, tune in etc.

And Siri just crapped out on nearly every album request in my library. Really disappointed. Packed up to go back.

So wanted to like it, just not quite there sound wise or usefulness wise. Look forward to this in a few years. But my sonos system just superor.

That’s a bummer, most people have said it sounds comparable to the 5. Although that one is more expensive right? Hadn’t heard of any music issues either, but sounds like you didn’t need one anyway.
[doublepost=1518305601][/doublepost]

Nice misinformation there. Google doesn't sell your personal data any more than Apple does.

Look up where Google makes the majority of their money. I think it’s like 95% is from advertising. Your crazy if you don’t think they have the most vested interest in your data. It is what it is, it’s a business, but I certainly know who I trust more with my information.

 

[itsmilo]

That’s a bummer, most people have said it sounds comparable to the 5. Although that one is more expensive right? Hadn’t heard of any music issues either, but sounds like you didn’t need one anyway.
[doublepost=1518305601][/doublepost]

Look up where Google makes the majority of their money. I think it’s like 95% is from advertising. Your crazy if you don’t think they have the most vested interest in your data. It is what it is, it’s a business, but I certainly know who I trust more with my information.

Technically they do not sell „your“ data. You end up as a anonymous number in a pool of data / category and advertisers can buy a spot to the category they r interested in. Its not like Google is walking into a meeting with Wallmart like „here is the latest shopping list of name xy age xy living in apartment building xy. Do you want his email adress to target him?“

 

[DNichter]

Technically they do not sell „your“ data. You end up as a anonymous number in a pool of data / category and advertisers can buy a spot to the category they r interested in. Its not like Google is walking into a meeting with Wallmart like „here is the latest shopping list of name xy age xy living in apartment building xy. Do you want his email adress to target him?“

Whatever they do is fine. If it’s legal, it’s all good. It’s just a personal choice of mine not to support it.

 

[falainber]

Look up where Google makes the majority of their money. I think it’s like 95% is from advertising. Your crazy if you don’t think they have the most vested interest in your data. It is what it is, it’s a business, but I certainly know who I trust more with my information.

It's true that Google makes money on advertising however, when they do it they sell to the advertisers access to your eyeballs and ears not your private information. I have yet to come across a single individual who would claim that his personal information was sold by Google. For some reason, the most (and, perhaps, only) citizens concerned about privacy and Google are Apple fans. Never Google customers.

 

[tubular]

I'll have to admit, the idea that Siri isn't very good at ordering shoes for me had a great deal of importance in my decision to buy the HomePod, as long by "great deal" you mean "absolutely none at all."

 

[62tele]

I think Siri is more than adequate for what most need it for the HomePod. Is it better than Google Home? No. Does it need to be better than the competition? Not necessarily. I use Siri all the time and I really don’t have any general complaints, aside from not understanding some of the things I ask it. None of these voice assistants are perfect.

It may not need to better than but it's needs to be in the ballpark. I use Siri a lot for simple things "what will the high temperature today", etc adding things to reminders or my shopping list but I would like it to do more. I really dislike it when you ask it something and Siri replies "here's what I found. check it out" and then provides a list of things from the web. That's not bad but it's only half a loaf. How about Siri voicing the top result and the source and asking if you want it read to you?

What good is "superior" listeng skills if it can't answer many of the questions?

Exactly. While I'm happy that it understands and can be heard from across the room, it still needs to deliver results. Also I am glad that the voice recognition is great but not allowing it to call is a major omission.

 

[DNichter]

It's true that Google makes money on advertising however, when they do it they sell to the advertisers access to your eyeballs and ears not your private information. I have yet to come across a single individual who would claim that his personal information was sold by Google. For some reason, the most (and, perhaps, only) citizens concerned about privacy and Google are Apple fans. Never Google customers.

That’s fine. My only point was that they have the most data for AI and they are the most invented to mine and sell that data. It’s a good business for them and lots of people use their products and services and don’t mind that. I do.

 

[panther quest]

Siri is long standing embarrassment to Apple. Amazed they have let it lag this badly for this long. I keep foolishly waiting for the big Siri 2.0 announcement that leaps them ahead.

Starting to think that day will never come.

 

[IG88]

This test is bogus. The “correct answer” rate of 52% for HomePod includes questions that HomePod doesn’t yet support. This is wildly deceptive. The test should measure how accurate HomePod is at handling the queries it supports.

HomePod is a version 1.0 product. Of course it has fewer capabilities - for now!

Categorizing HomePod’s non-answers to questions it doesn’t yet support as wrong answers is crap.

This was addressed in the article:

Some domains like navigation, calendar, email, and calling are simply not supported. These questions were met with, "I can't ___ on HomePod." Also, in any case that iPhone-based Siri would bring up Google search results, HomePod would reply, "I can't get the answer to that on HomePod," which forces you to use your phone or give up on the question altogether. Removing navigation, calling, email, and calendar-related queries from our question set yields a 67% correct response, a jump from overall of 52.3% correct.

This means added support for these domains would bring HomePod performance above that of Alexa (64%) and Cortana (57%), though still shy of Google Home (81%).

 

[EM2013]

So it should be worth half the cost then.

 

[EvilEvil]

Siri is dumb as bricks.

 

[HallStevenson]

I can only imagine the amount of gloating on these forums if Siri was #1 on the list instead of Google.

It's funny reading all of the responses (excuses for Apple) !

 

[Rogifan]

I do think if Siri can answer a question on the phone is should be able to answer that same question on HomePod. I asked Siri who has the most gold medals at the Olympics. On the phone it told me. On HomePod Siri said “I can’t answer that question on HomePod”. Makes no sense. Siri should do the same thing it does in a car when it thinks you’re not looking at a screen.

 

[Vasilioskn]

Siri is horrible and I’ve had her disabled for years now. Apple needs to get off their lazy asses and improve her.

 

[HallStevenson]

AI assistant then HomePod isn’t for you. Then again Apple isn’t marketing HomePod as that.

Sure they are !

It’s also an intelligent home assistant, capable of handling everyday tasks

[doublepost=1518307100][/doublepost]

Wallmart like „here is the latest shopping list of name xy age xy living in apartment building xy.

No worries, if you use the 'shopping card' system that most groceries or retailers have, they've got this. I can go to the Kroger website, log-in, and it offers their "clicklist" service (you "shop" from your computer by picking items and pay for it, a store associate goes through the store collecting your items, and when you arrive they bring it out to your car. The first 1-2 pages of "recommended" items are ones we buy just about every time we go there !!

 

[tubular]

But look at how far you have to scroll down the page to get there, and how many acres of "This is about the music."

 

[joonyaboy]

A smart home is a nice idea in theory, but it's really just adding complexity to your life to replace tried and true things like keyed door locks and light switches that have worked for decades without even needing to be thought about. The simpler my life is, the better, and I don't think this thing makes my life any simpler.

I agree, however all technology needs a jump off point. This is just the beginning.

 

[rog]

Try living in Hawaii. Siri and maps are totally useless on every device. Doesn't understand or properly pronounce Hawaiian words, which are basically every street, business, park, etc. Though I've also found Siri and maps useless outside of Hawaii. It's amazing they still tout Siri as a functional feature, lol.

 

[scrapesleon]

If you’re buying a HomePod to use Siri you have serious mental issues it was made for that

 

[caranddriver]

This is a zero surprise for me. Overall, Siri is almost useless at anything more than basic commands to control functions. When I have more complex questions, I have Siri open the Google app on my iPhone X and use the Google assistant on my iPhone. No surprise Siri is bad on the Homepod. Siri was first to the AI market and let its lead slip away. It wasn't like the maps market where they started late. Where tech is headed, losing AI leadership is very large deficit.

 

[falainber]

I'll have to admit, the idea that Siri isn't very good at ordering shoes for me had a great deal of importance in my decision to buy the HomePod, as long by "great deal" you mean "absolutely none at all."

I think you are missing one important point. Ordering shoes is not that different from ordering a song and Siri apparently is not very good at the latter (as reported by some people here)
[doublepost=1518307746][/doublepost]

If you’re buying a HomePod to use Siri you have serious mental issues it was made for that

Siri is HomePod's primary interface.
[doublepost=1518307982][/doublepost]

That’s fine. My only point was that they have the most data for AI and they are the most invented to mine and sell that data. It’s a good business for them and lots of people use their products and services and don’t mind that. I do.

I think of it this way. Google's primary source of income is ad money. They should be way more concerned about your privacy than, say, Apple because if they lose the trust of the customers their revenues will be gone in no time. So I expect that they are much more careful about your privacy than any other company.