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Something simple Siri can't do

richardiju78

richardiju78

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2015
18
0
Charleston, SC
I am trying to get Siri to remember how old my mom is. This should be pretty simple. For example, I should be able to tell Siri my mom was born Month, Day, Year and not only should Siri then tell me how old she is but she should remember as well. But nothing. Any tips on how to make this happen?
 
richardiju78 said:
I am trying to get Siri to remember how old my mom is. This should be pretty simple. For example, I should be able to tell Siri my mom was born Month, Day, Year and not only should Siri then tell me how old she is but she should remember as well. But nothing. Any tips on how to make this happen?
Click to expand...

If you're new to iOS and you are used to either Google or Cortana then get used to finding things it can't do. Hopefully it will catch up with iOS 9
 
richardiju78 said:
I am trying to get Siri to remember how old my mom is. This should be pretty simple. For example, I should be able to tell Siri my mom was born Month, Day, Year and not only should Siri then tell me how old she is but she should remember as well. But nothing. Any tips on how to make this happen?
Click to expand...
Siri is not that advanced and never will be. All it does is search google. And it doesn't even do THAT right.
 
nouveau-apple said:
Siri is not that advanced and never will be. All it does is search google. And it doesn't even do THAT right.
Click to expand...
Except Siri does way more than that and certainly improves and will continue improving over time.
 
nouveau-apple said:
Siri is not that advanced and never will be.
Click to expand...

Siri can correctly answer when you ask her "how old am I?"

You think that adding other people to that equation is just so super-complicated that it will never happen?

EDIT: Scratch that. I just asked her how old my sister is and she told me. So apparently Siri can already do what you said she never will.

OP - The catch is that you have to enter the relationships manually in the contact cards. I don't think you can program it using Siri alone.
 
C DM said:
Except Siri does way more than that and certainly improves and will continue improving over time.
Click to expand...

Siri doesn't even have a memory.

It's not a very good assistant if it doesn't have a memory.

Small White Car said:
Siri can correctly answer when you ask her "how old am I?"

You think that adding other people to that equation is just so super-complicated that it will never happen?

EDIT: Scratch that. I just asked her how old my sister is and she told me. So apparently Siri can already do what you said she never will.

OP - The catch is that you have to enter the relationships manually in the contact cards. I don't think you can program it using Siri alone.
Click to expand...

Look at this screenshot. I don't know what Siri YOU are using.

But the Siri made by Apple that's on the iPhone, is very very dumb.

You might as well give up on it. It won't be what people wanted it to eventually be.
 

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I say you just do it the old fashion way and write your moms birthday on a piece of paper and put it in your wallet/purse.

side note- I wonder if people ask Siri what they should eat today?
 
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Siri is really limiting especially if you're used to Cortana. I've had windows phones and you get used to what it can do, then go to siri. I've largely avoid using it because its no better then a search engine.
 
maflynn said:
Siri is really limiting especially if you're used to Cortana. I've had windows phones and you get used to what it can do, then go to siri. I've largely avoid using it because its no better then a search engine.
Click to expand...
Not really having had much experience with Cortana, curious what sort of things are main differentiators when it comes to your typical use?
 
It's not really that cool because it's not really an assistant at all. You're just giving it commands in the form of a question. Siri can't think on its own. It's a directory.

That's why I don't like Siri.
 
nouveau-apple said:
It's not really that cool because it's not really an assistant at all. You're just giving it commands in the form of a question. Siri can't think on its own. It's a directory.

That's why I don't like Siri.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by thinking on its own?
 
In this thread: lots of people that have no idea how to use siri, apparently.

I use siri to set timers (much faster than unlocking, getting to the clock app, selecting the timer tab, and scrolling through to set the timer) every day.

I use her to set calendar appointments. I use her to set reminders (often using relative dates (eg. 'siri, remind me in 3 weeks to give my puppies their flea medication')). Again, much faster than the tapping alternative.

I use siri to play tracks from various artists (I find this convenient when I'm driving. "siri, play panaphobia" -- she almost instantly identifies that it's a track from The Agonist and starts it).

And even though it's not the typical siri interface, the dictation interface uses the same engine and is quite good (it's seen some dramatic improvements over the last year).

I use her for lots of other things as well, but these were some of the things I can think of off the top of my head that I do constantly that don't fit into the realm of "all it does is search google; all it is is a directory; etc".

I'm not making any claims as to it's relative usefulness vis a vis cortana, but saying all it is is a directory/google lookup is flat out wrong.
 
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I do that.

Siri is not interesting anymore.

It doesn't do anything better than I can do myself. I don't really feel like its assisting.
 
Small White Car said:
OP - The catch is that you have to enter the relationships manually in the contact cards. I don't think you can program it using Siri alone.
Click to expand...
Which doesn't make any sense.

Why would I want it to repeat something I already typed in? That's a waste of time.

Earlier they said we could just talk to it and it would do it. It doesn't do.

Siri is beneath me. It doesn't have that wow factor. I thought there might be little toddler toys that do better computations than Siri does.

Like that Barbie doll.

I don't know what's wrong but Siri doesn't do much the way Apple has it set up.

It's not something I would want to talk to.
 
nouveau-apple said:
...
Earlier they said we could just talk to it and it would do it. It doesn't do.
...
I don't know what's wrong but Siri doesn't do much the way Apple has it set up.
It's not something I would want to talk to.
Click to expand...
So, it's a waste of time to retrieve information that is already written down, or recorded?
That should make an information manager, or a programmer, feel good about what they do, don't you think?
Siri knows where your information is, and how to get it.
Much of the task of information retrieval is discovering the right question to ask.
Learn that, and Siri will be your grand emissary - the purveyor of all that is good :D
BTW, the new british female voice for Siri in iOS 9 is the new love of my life!
 
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You want siri to remember how old your mother is. What, you think you are going to forget. You need to
exercise your brain and remember on your own.
 
nouveau-apple said:
I do that.

Siri is not interesting anymore.

It doesn't do anything better than I can do myself. I don't really feel like its assisting.
Click to expand...

Everything I use it for allows me to do those things significantly faster, and more accurately than if I do it on my own. Absolutely an assist.
 
richardiju78 said:
I am trying to get Siri to remember how old my mom is. This should be pretty simple. For example, I should be able to tell Siri my mom was born Month, Day, Year and not only should Siri then tell me how old she is but she should remember as well. But nothing. Any tips on how to make this happen?
Click to expand...

edit:
never mind
 
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