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Why Assistant Needs an A5 and How it Was 'Many Iterations' Ahead of its Competitors

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assistantinterface.jpg



Mockup of Apple's expected Assistant interface​
Siri co-founder Norman Winarsky provides some details and impressions of their original Siri Assistant technology in an interview with 9to5Mac. Siri was a virtual assistant application that was released for the iPhone back in February, 2010. While the app still remains in the App Store, the company was acquired by Apple back in April, 2010.

Apple is expected to finally launch their own version of this intelligent assistant interface alongside the new iPhone at tomorrow's media event. The new feature is expected to be exclusive to the new iPhone which carries a faster A5 processor.

Winarsky provides some details about why the software would require so much processing power. While the original version of the software does run on the iPhone 3GS, he says that "all kinds of optimizations and shortcuts" were done to get it to work on the device. Winarsky reports that it will likely run "much better" on a faster phone.

Winarsky is also not bashful about what the significance of Apple's adaptation of Siri technology would mean, calling it a "World-Changing" event:
Make no mistake: Apple's 'mainstreaming' Artificial Intelligence in the form of a Virtual Personal Assistant is a groundbreaking event. I'd go so far as to say it is a World-Changing event. Right now a few people dabble in partial AI enabled apps like Google Voice Actions, Vlingo or Nuance Go. Siri was many iterations ahead of these technologies, or at least it was two years ago. This is REAL AI with REAL market use. If the rumors are true, Apple will enable millions upon millions of people to interact with machines with natural language. The PAL will get things done and this is only the tip of the iceberg. We're talking another technology revolution. A new computing paradigm shift.
Click to expand...
Many have compared the technology to Google's Voice Actions for Android, but Winarsky believes their technology was much more advanced.

This video provides a mockup of what is expected to be the workflow for Apple's Assistant technology:

Apple will be launching the new iPhone tomorrow, October 4th, and is believed to be launching this Assistant software as well.

Article Link: Why Assistant Needs an A5 and How it Was 'Many Iterations' Ahead of its Competitors
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/10/03/why-assistant-needs-an-a5-and-how-it-was-many-iterations-ahead-of-its-competitors/
I wont use Assistant anywhere but home, IMO, I'd find it disturbing and awkward to use in public.
 
Call me skeptical but I don't think a software featured is going to drive gazillions of sales to a phone that looks identical to existing models. The average consumer likes Apple because their products are sexy and it's easy to tell them apart, an iPhone 4S with some new software is too geeky to differentiate for the average Joe.
 
arn said:
car?

arn
Click to expand...

Yeah. The car is the ideal place to use it. Hopefully this works right out of the gate. Wow. Thought I was going to wait for iPhone 6 but if this is true and it works, my iPhone 4 is headed for Gazelle.
 
BTW, jailbreak will enable this on the iphone 4 (just like voice commands for iphone 3g). It's bull that the iphone 4 cpu can't do this functionality, just apple's way to generate upgrade sales.
 
troop231 said:
I wont use Assistant anywhere but home, IMO, I'd find it disturbing and awkward to use in public.
Click to expand...

I feel this will provide a huge benefit to the blind community or people with special needs. I feel like Apple is going to play a video tomorrow that will make us all cry.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I would only use assistant while I drive. It seems slower than just doing it regularly.

Get rid of the home button so that we can say "iPhone awake" then you could get a 5 inch screen.
 
Many iterations ahead...

Well, I do hope so.
But it's not like this guy is an unbiased observer. What would we expect him to say: "Oh, that stuff we were working on? Yeah, pretty much run-of-the-mill."
 
Are they going to be pushing this speech stuff so much that:

iphone 4 = base model
iphone 4s = s for Speech, not speed this time.
 
I hope it activates quicker than Voice Control does. Holding down the home button and then waiting for the beep is nearly 5 seconds.
 
A co-founder bragging about his own findings? Not discounting everything he says, but it's expected the guy will praise Apple for adopting HIS findings, that he feels is so great (without scientific evidence to back it up).

It is sort of a ballsy thing to say that it'll be a "paradigm" shift in technology though. Or at least how we use it.
 
The smarter and better it works, the more it will scare me if any part of is called PAL 9000. Or even just PAL.

Macopotamus said:
Call me skeptical but I don't think a software featured is going to drive gazillions of sales to a phone that looks identical to existing models. The average consumer likes Apple because their products are sexy and it's easy to tell them apart, an iPhone 4S with some new software is too geeky to differentiate for the average Joe.
Click to expand...

Currently the best-selling smartphone in the US is the iPhone 4, even AFTER people know it’s an outgoing model about to be replaced. And the second-best selling is the iPhone 3GS which was already long ago replaced! The 3GS looks exactly like the second iPhone design Apple ever made (the iPhone 3G, years ago). Still a great phone and outsells every competing model. If it looked any older, it would be the original 2007 iPhone!

Most people don’t buy a phone because it “looks different,” as evidenced by all the needless copycatting of Apple by some (not all) Android makers. (In fact, it seems most people buy a phone because it’s “what the phone store guy handed me.” Those who know more than that lean towards the iPhone heavily it seems.)

Meanwhile the iPhone 4 is already an awesome, untouchable hardware/software marriage. Updating performance specs and keeping the current design is definitely no bad thing.

coasterswim said:
I hope it activates quicker than Voice Control does. Holding down the home button and then waiting for the beep is nearly 5 seconds.
Click to expand...

Yes, please! Maybe even offer a choice of delays.
 
Theres nothing "natural" about seeing people get in arguments with their iPhones.

Especially if the phone adopts the arrogant personality of the company who produces it :p
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

If this is as revolutionary as he says, I hope Apple adds it to OS X soon.
 
Meh - gimmicky for me. I know it has a lot of valuable uses for various people and scenarios. But I have little interest.
 
Macopotamus said:
Call me skeptical but I don't think a software featured is going to drive gazillions of sales to a phone that looks identical to existing models. The average consumer likes Apple because their products are sexy and it's easy to tell them apart, an iPhone 4S with some new software is too geeky to differentiate for the average Joe.
Click to expand...

Ever hear of the iPhone 3GS? I remember it looking a whole lot like the 3G model, and it's the most successful smartphone ever made...

...so...

I'm glad you won't be buying a 4S. Shorter lines for the rest of us.
 
WannaGoMac said:
BTW, jailbreak will enable this on the iphone 4 (just like voice commands for iphone 3g). It's bull that the iphone 4 cpu can't do this functionality, just apple's way to generate upgrade sales.
Click to expand...

Yep and we will have proof yet again that the limitation Apple puts on those features is complete bull.

Let's see here some of the high lights over the years
MMS not ever working on first iPhone
Voice commands on the first 2 iPhones.

I know there was some bogus crap with ios 4 on the 3GS and 3G.
 
1. Hold Home Button.

2. "Deliver a redesigned 4" iPhone 5 to me within 1 working day"

3. ...wait patiently by front door....


:D I Kid, I kid, looking forward to seeing this in action at tomorrows conference!
 
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