I got the one about the great-grandfather's wife's daughter's daughter last night while I was driving and trying to dictate a text in hands free/eyes free mode with my BT headset. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Sometimes it's a good idea to make your point by example, but this wasn't one of them. I had to sit through the intentionally long-winded and confusing response while I was driving and trying to get some important things done. Aggravating, and not at all entertaining or amusing. In no way did that help achieve my goal, and it implies their needs trump the user's needs. What was Apple thinking? Why would they build something into their product that essentially mocks the user?!?
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Siri Updated to Respond to Long Questions With Quotes on Brevity
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Lets break this down. What do you mean by interpret? Do you mean accurately understanding your words or using them to find data?
For part 1, it's not necessary to have the entire dictation to start using context to predict what you are saying (for when the language processing fails). If you use Google instant search you'll see that in action. Or even better, use Google Now and see words pop up as you say them. No need to have the whole dataset.
For part 2, plug in a very long query into Google search and see how long it takes to deliver a result. Be sure not to blink. I'll give you an example. Paste this into Google:
And before you say Google Voice Search isn't like Siri, I'd point you to Knowledge Graph which basically does the same thing but integrates it into Google Search. It's better because you get a result no matter what. If it doesn't have an exact result, you have the search results without having to do something else.
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Just read the Strunk quote to it. Sometimes Siri will respond with the same quote and the request to make it shorter.
(That should be a hint that these cute messages are too long, Apple.)
I mean that people really overdo it. Just because a product does more, means that it's "years behind"
<_<
Relax, enjoy some sun and have a great day.
Thanks for rubbing it in, we don't get this "fabled" sun in England. Ive bought a snow lance and some decent snow foam, just waiting for the weather to change so I can clean the bleeding car.
Oh and the cost of £1.39 a litre for fuel
I hope they add my favourite quote for those times when Siri answers a tricky question correctly or negotiates a purposely annoying conversation with poise and then the user says some thing like 'well done Siri'. Siri could respond with a quote from Picasso - If the wise man approves; bad. If the simpleton applauds; worse.
Are you serious, "a little quicker" and "slightly better voice recognition"?? Google Voice is mind-blowing, watching it transcribe in real time as I'm talking, correcting words in real time based on the context of later parts of my speech -- all with crazy accuracy. It's borderline scary.
Siri was groundbreaking and fun for a while, and I still use it to set reminders and such, but it's so far behind it's not even comparable.
Ah, so I'm not the only one to run into this.
I don't have a problem with Siri reminding people to be concise when asking questions, but it is rediculous to apply this when a text is being dictated, especially given the fact that the content of the text was transcribed perfectly and all that had to be done was placing into a text to be sent.
Just the other day while driving, I had to go to a location different from the place I had keyed into my GPS and didn't want to meddle with the GPS while driving. Picked up my iphone, said the shopping mall's name (I didn't know where the mall was located except for its name) like a gazillion times before Siri understood and brought a list of addresses based on the name but none exact, and didn't allow me to select one from that list for some reason. Fed up, I fired up the Google app and pronounced the mall's name the same way I did with Siri and boom, it knew what I was referring to, brought out the address and gave me the directions in an instant and I was on my way.
You are grossly underestimating "slightly better voice recognition". Being a non-native English speaker, this is kind of a big deal for me, more than you think, and Google gets what I am saying 8 out of 10 times, Siri 2 out of 10.
And mostly, Google has far, far more information at its disposal than Apple has now. Data and information processing is their life. If you'd used Google you'd probably know they do a heck of a job with their search results of late(summarizing results on the side, bringing out weather, sports scores and so on..). It won't be long before Now trumps Siri by a huge margin.
You can keep supporting Apple despite its weak show with Siri, or accept Now is going to be a superior alternative sooner than later and realize Apple should raise its game if it needs to compete on this front.
Upset business user
From the start, I have successfully enjoyed using Siri to dictate business texts and emails. I now feel like a child dealing with a passive agressive adult who came up with a new rule, but won't tell me exactly what the new rule is. Thanks apple for taking away a great feature in a completely patronizing way.
From the start, I have successfully enjoyed using Siri to dictate business texts and emails. I now feel like a child dealing with a passive agressive adult who came up with a new rule, but won't tell me exactly what the new rule is. Thanks apple for taking away a great feature in a completely patronizing way.
Thanks for rubbing it in, we don't get this "fabled" sun in England. Ive bought a snow lance and some decent snow foam, just waiting for the weather to change so I can clean the bleeding car.
Oh and the cost of £1.39 a litre for fuel
Your post made me smile! Yeah, I know England is not the sunny country but it's a beautiful place still.
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Have you tried it since the update? I was under the impression that Siri only responds asking you to reduce the amount of words you use if she doesn't understand what you're asking, no?
Really if you have a problem with that, hold down the sentence which it misinterpreted and correct it. Not that hard.
And as to the content Siri gives, I'll stand by my opinion that it has far superior content. And I'm not going to admit that now has better content, because this is my experience.
They need to make her responses much faster. This is the main reason I moved to Google Voice Search over Siri.
So you still say that it goes a "but faster". Or maybe my response should be "holy crap, google now is a whole two seconds faster!" I wouldn't mind waiting an extra couple of seconds for far better content.
swingerofbirch
macrumors 68040
What horrible excess. I imagine this will confuse a fair number of people.
I can seriously imagine that if people like my grandparents were to use an iPhone and received that message, they might think they had received a text message from someone with the quote from Thomas Jefferson.
This is in a way analogous to the skeumorphic design elements in Mac OS and iOS. It's there to be cute, but it distracts from simplicity.
I like Google's search on iOS simply for the fact that it works on my 4th generation iPod touch.
I can seriously imagine that if people like my grandparents were to use an iPhone and received that message, they might think they had received a text message from someone with the quote from Thomas Jefferson.
This is in a way analogous to the skeumorphic design elements in Mac OS and iOS. It's there to be cute, but it distracts from simplicity.
I like Google's search on iOS simply for the fact that it works on my 4th generation iPod touch.
Understandable but the problem with humans is, they talk too much. Many times I completely ignore a post that is laden with endless text. Siri and Google voice are only suppose to assist simple questions, not address soliloquies.
Some people do, but here's a nice long question that it would be nice if Siri could answer:
Attachments
I discovered this last week, right after coming down with some horrible sickness. A few minutes after I finished puking my guts out, I decided I should email my boss before trying to get some sleep. I didn't feel like typing, or even opening my eyes.
Infuriating.
Siri can dictate two sentences in Mail.app, but not in the lockscreen. In the lockscreen, she lectures you about brevity using literally 500% more words than necessary.
Infuriating.
Siri can dictate two sentences in Mail.app, but not in the lockscreen. In the lockscreen, she lectures you about brevity using literally 500% more words than necessary.
This! Exactly this! It's so hypocritical and ridiculous that she won't dictate a simple 2 sentence message but replies with a myriad of useless words
You got that right enough!
Siri effectively has been disabled. BS baffles brains ... and in this case its even baffled its own 'brain'
I went from iPhone 4 to 4S for the much vaunted Siri ... at the time it was the main feature as well as the speed and improved camera resolution (yawn)
But its been pretty poor at best TBH .. and so much for beta improvements. Now its actually been crippled ... not improved in that time.
Sadly I fear ... like the British weather at present .... its not looking good or indeed for New (post Jobs) Apple if this is a sign of their innovative prowess - and I do think it really is on the slide ... I really do ...
And as Private Fraser might say... we're all doomed ... DOOMED!
The attention span is not the point here, its about being efficient, overly long posts normally carries very little value, matching the writers ability of concentrating his expression.