Siri Updated to Respond to Long Questions With Quotes on Brevity

[FirstNTenderbit]

The attention span is not the point here, it’s about being efficient, overly long posts normally carries very little value, matching the writer’s ability of concentrating his expression.

That's weak sauce.

Siri: "He's right."

 

[extradryny]

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.

Who said two seconds? It's the difference between:
- Google: Real time transcription / feedback / auto-correction
- Siri: Talking into my phone, waiting a while, and then (if it doesn't time out) getting a transcription that more often than not contains an error

I honestly don't know how one can love Apple products and not be blown away by Google's voice transcription technology. Like the greatest Apple inventions, it has off-the-charts utility as a product, while at the same time making people shake their heads and say "how the heck did they DO THAT?"

 

[rodriguise]

Instead of updating Siri to understand long senescence, they instead make her more quirky. Nice!

Quirky? Yes I'm certain that's adjective most would choose.

 

[dwhittington]

i already got that response before, but your name makes it even funnier.

:d

 

[dkouts]

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:

I pasted your text and Google came back with a 414 error.

Claimed the search was too large to process.

 

[iGrip]

I see it as a good way to train the Siri user base even as they remind us to use some mental focus.
Apple is not Google. They don't have 100s of 1000s of servers at their disposal. I guess they could but they don't.

Apple has exactly the number of servers that it feels is most profitable. More servers = less profit.

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Typical Apple behavior. If something is broken, blame the user!

"You're asking it wrong!"

 

[kds1]

....and has some nice easter eggs in it.

I don't need cutesy easter eggs! I need it to understand what I am saying, work, and give me the information I need!

 

[Nahaz]

Might as well make Siri say, "Stop with the story telling and just get to the point!"

 

[iMikeT]

I don't mind, Siri's voice is somewhat soothing, in a digital kind of way.

 

[Todd B.]

Exactly.

Google's voice search is years ahead of Siri (isn't it STILL in 'beta' ).

Yeah, Google's voice search is *so* good that I have to say something five times only to have it still get it wrong, give up, uninstall the app, and just type it in.....

And heaven forbid they add something nice to Siri....

 

[randallking]

Apple is pushing me further and further away, and this is just one more example. It's extremely annoying for something that once worked to stop working, and what's worse to be smart aleck about it. I've had it happen multiple times during the past few weeks.

I agree with the person who said Google's Voice Search is ahead of Siri. It's extremely fast and gets what I say right about 95% of the time vs. about 70% for Siri.

 

[BrockC]

Siri really really really really really (really) disappoints me

 

[wizard]

Funny but Siri has worked the charm every time I've used it.

It kills me how much better Google Now is on iOS. Siri is just embarrassing at this point.

Maybe the problem is the user! I've noticed already in this thread that some of the biggest com,quints come from people that can't spell and write very long replies. Maybe that says something because the people here complaining the most about Siri have yet to say anything about why!

At least Apple maps has improved. Siri seems like a bigger debacle than that. Siri has to improve in iOS 7. It's pretty much useless now, just the butt of jokes.

This is also a joke, Apple Maps was fine right out of the box. Maps has worked many times for me with little effort on my part. Look hard enough you will find defects in any app or any database. Just because there is something to point to doesn't mean it is a reflection upon the entire suite.

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Ridiculous. Not everyone has a short attention span.

Don't be dense this isn't about attention span.

I read long posts, books even.

How long does it take you to grasp a book? That is a book of substance that isn't about green eggs and ham.

Siri and Google's voice recognition adapt to humans, not the other way around. Good luck with the future of Siri by requiring people to dumb everything down to 'simple questions'.

The goal isn't to demand simple questions it is to get people to phrase question about the problem and drop the extraneous.

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Dictating a message is just that and is not the same thing as asking nonsensical questions. If Siri did this regularly I'd not be pleased myself.

I use Siri a lot when dictating text messages... The other day when I tried to dictate a long one that was important she gave me some stupid quote telling me to try again in fewer words. I didn't think it was cute or cool, I found it obnoxious and infuriating that Apple cant handle the data so they come up with a stupid way to try and be silly about it. This is stupid, not helpful.

Apple engineers: CHANGE THIS.

 

[adildacoolset]

I don't need cutesy easter eggs! I need it to understand what I am saying, work, and give me the information I need!

That's just a bonus, which is why I made it the last point.

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Who said two seconds? It's the difference between:
- Google: Real time transcription / feedback / auto-correction
- Siri: Talking into my phone, waiting a while, and then (if it doesn't time out) getting a transcription that more often than not contains an error

I honestly don't know how one can love Apple products and not be blown away by Google's voice transcription technology. Like the greatest Apple inventions, it has off-the-charts utility as a product, while at the same time making people shake their heads and say "how the heck did they DO THAT?"

But really, from my experience, it's only around two seconds more than google voice search. I myself don't get the results in real-time with google voice search. Even then, Siri gives far better answers. You're ignoring the main point of voice recognition.

 

[wizard]

McDonalds sucks!

What is your data connection speed? Siri is very dependent on quick data transfer. I'll only use it at home when on WiFi at 30Mb/5Mb. I tried it at McDonalds yesterday, and it took forever. McDs WiFi runs at about 0.6Mb/0.2Mb.

Around here both 3G and LTE are faster than McDonalds.

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Please stay off the road for the safety of the rest of us!!

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?!?

 

[Anonymouse106]

I probably wouldn't have cared about this if it hasn't been for the fact that, while driving, I use Siri to compose a txt message so that I don't have to take my attention off the road. Now with this updated Siri, she won't bother to create a txt message that has more than about 5-10 words in it, rendering Siri completely useless for me now; that's the only way I actually used Siri and now it's busted. Stupid thing for apple to do.

Has happened to me too. Siri is now useless for my main use (composing texts).

 

[cwaddell2002]

Please correct original post to M*A*S*H not MASH

 

[MacinDoc]

Has happened to me too. Siri is now useless for my main use (composing texts).

How are people getting this message when composing texts? Siri is a voice recognition protocol used for queries and task management, not for dictation. These responses shouldn't come up while doing simple dictation, which does not require Siri.

Edit: I guess you could be asking Siri to send a text to a specified person. Surprising that you would get this message when Siri asks you what you want to say, because it should be just doing plain voice recognition at this point, rather than trying to process a query.

Please report the error to Apple to encourage a prompt fix.

 

[etimmy]

Just do what you're told woman!

I saw this over a week ago and Siri was pissing me off! If I want her to mouth off to me then I'll ask stupid questions... but if I am asking a perfectly acceptable question and want her to send it to my friend via text message... then just DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD WOMAN!

 

[Tuckrat]

I'm curious to know who at Apple, if anyone, signed off on this change?

It would also seem that the change was not QA'd very well - if it was properly QA'd, the QA staff should have recognized the impact on sending emails and texts and put up a giant red flag. Not to mention the very condescending nature of the new responses. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Very surprising, frustrating, and disappointing.

 

[extradryny]

some of the biggest com,quints come from people that can't spell

You can't make this stuff up.

 

[maxosx]

Siri?

Really Apple?

A bit too "cutesy" for me.

 

[Arran]

iPhone was lauded for its responsive visual UI. So now they think buttonholing you is fine?

What's wrong with, "Sorry. Don't understand. Use fewer words please."?

 

[jozeppy26]

I'm curious to know who at Apple, if anyone, signed off on this change?

It would also seem that the change was not QA'd very well - if it was properly QA'd, the QA staff should have recognized the impact on sending emails and texts and put up a giant red flag. Not to mention the very condescending nature of the new responses. Seriously, what were they thinking?

Very surprising, frustrating, and disappointing.

I think that's what makes it funny as quirky and unique. Like a very very tame politically correct smart ass. I seriously hope you aren't actually offended.

 

[toaster64]

Who asks Siri a long question? It'll get one word wrong and screw it all up. Stupid.

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It is, literally. Voice recognition thrives on big data and with Google search and Google Voice, they have been gathering the data needed for accurate prediction for years longer than Nuance, and now Apple, has. Read this to understand the impact of years of data gathering from Google:

http://gigaom.com/2012/10/31/google-explains-how-more-data-means-better-speech-recognition/

I tried it and was amazed at how well it detected my voice (PERFECT), but then I found the weak point. You can't ask it anything relatively obscure. It thrives off of Google's search prediction, but you had better be asking something popular or else it will correct it to something else.

Therefore, I think Google's voice control is way ahead of Apple's as a search tool, but who knows if it would actually do better as a Siri-type thing? And, of course, Siri has system integration. Apple just needs to build up Siri's integration and, even better, make it work with 3rd party apps!

Google Now truly has potential ahead of Apple, but I doubt Google will see it.

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Siri sucked when released, still sucks now in beta.

Anyone who claims Google is close to siri is being naive; Google simply smokes Siri in speed it's embarrassing.

I am not even a google fan, but when I ask it a Q, it is nearly instant to reply, and my voice is 100% accurate.

Ask it about V.G. Varun. Google's service does have a real speed advantage, but it can't detect your voice as well as you'd think. Hint: asking it something that sounds vaguely like "Easter day 2014" or "Kim Kardashian" will work. Asking it carefully about "V.G. Varun" will not.

Still, the speed advantage is great. Siri needs to be quicker.