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

[Sykkro]

WORLD changing event?...

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)



That is the point. You don't have to learn the commands. You will speak to your phone in normal English and it will be able to accomplish what you want.

How people dont see this as a revolutionary change is beyond me but it will be the talk of most media by tomorrow afternoon.

Of course it is a revolutionary change, but calling it a "World-changing event" is just too much. Do you think every iPhone user speaks the english language natively?

What about those users who don't even understand english at all, where will Apple's "simplicity" be? In particular, what about the recent interest Apple has been showing in China, will they sell only iP4-8Gb there, won't people get angry with that?

I don't know about specific stats, but probably about half the iPhone owners are not from the U.S./U.K. etc; how will Apple deal with them? Sure we'll see that tomorrow, probably something like "well, for the rest of the world, why don't you change your native language?"

...and that's why i'd also prefer a larger screen!


Greetings from a non-native english speaker (but you'd probably have noticed that by now)

 

[voonyx]

People do get turned off if their particular voice doesn't work very well. Did that happen to you?

Android/Google voice recognition works terrific for me. I use it constantly for navigation, and for looking up answers to casual questions like "Who was the actress in so-and-so show?"

--

I'm looking forward to the comedy skits that are bound to appear after Apple makes interaction popular.

You: "Phone, send flowers to my girlfriend."
Phone: "Same as last time?"
You: "Yes"
Phone: "Done. Sent a dozen roses to Jennifer."
You: "Jennifer ??!! Oh no! She was my previous girlfriend !! "

yeah thats most probably why i was turned off, i agree. it just never worked for me. again, this assistant thing is all speculation until tomorrow, and it might just be as crappy as android (for me) but when i look at what apple has done in the past i dont see that happening. apple has ocd when it comes to perfecting their product. they're not going to release or tout a feature that doesn't work 50% of the time. it's not going to be world-changing like the guy said, but its also not going to be some haphazard rudimentary voice recognition protocol and i'm certain it'll be better then the android offering.

although i know come tomorrow, apple haters will be downplaying it, just like they do with everything Apple, only to have all other companies try to imitate it in the coming months

 

[Lone Deranger]

I think you mean HAL?

How about Holly?

 

[fiveainone]

This is the same as the Voice Control feature on the 3GS, in the sense that this is the separator from 3G and 3GS, and 4 and 4S.. which would be another hint that there's no 5.

 

[diamond.g]

apple has ocd when it comes to perfecting their product. they're not going to release or tout a feature that doesn't work 50% of the time.

Do we have stats on the accuracy rate of the existing Voice Control?


Will this Assistant tech require an internet connection to decipher what you ask it?

 

[ender21]

I heard it was going to change the way we design cities...

Classic!

 

[KingCrimson]

Nobody will be able to imitate Siri because the company belongs to Apple. Essentially Apple just nuked Android and WP7. They're now deader then a doornail. Smartphone wars won by Apple Oct 4th 2011.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

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.

If this is running on a local instance of Nuance, as opposed to processing the audio on a remote server, there's a very good chance it won't work on an iPhone 4. Nuance is a resource hog, and to have it responsive at all times requires that it be running at all times. Needing an A5 and 1GB of RAM to have it work while keeping the rest of the iPhone experience up to par would not be surprising at all.

* My credentials: Telephony systems engineer who has implemented Nuance in multiple client environments.

 

[aperry]

Nobody will be able to imitate Siri because the company belongs to Apple. Essentially Apple just nuked Android and WP7. They're now deader then a doornail. Smartphone wars won by Apple Oct 4th 2011.

I can't tell if this is a joke or not.

 

[liavman]

My bet is KingCrimson is being sarcastic.

 

[KingCrimson]

My bet is KingCrimson is being sarcastic.

No I'm not. The media coverage on this feature will be INSANE, beyond anything you've ever seen before. If what people say about Siri's natural language interface is correct - this blows away Google & MSFT's voice interfaces. IT will take those companies 2 years to catch up to where Apple is now and by then Apple will be building the Starship Enterprise.

 

[Invincibilizer]

Sorry, I prefer motorcycles.

LOL!


Touche.

 

[WestonHarvey1]

No I'm not. The media coverage on this feature will be INSANE, beyond anything you've ever seen before. If what people say about Siri's natural language interface is correct - this blows away Google & MSFT's voice interfaces. IT will take those companies 2 years to catch up to where Apple is now and by then Apple will be building the Starship Enterprise.

Also, don't forget that Apple will eventually add access to this to the SDK, and developers will be able to easily add natural language processing capabilities to their apps. Then things will get totally crazy.

 

[AidenShaw]

How about Holly?

It's cold outside,
There's no kind of atmosphere,
I'm all alone,
More or less.​

 

[KingCrimson]

Also, don't forget that Apple will eventually add access to this to the SDK, and developers will be able to easily add natural language processing capabilities to their apps. Then things will get totally crazy.

Yup suddenly the iOS version of an App becomes so much more valuable then the Android/WP7 if the developer hooks into the assistant SDK. Like I said, Apple just detonated a thermonuclear weapon on Google & MSFT. Game over.

 

[pjhamill]

you say it needs A5.. does that mean it should work on ipad 2 ?????????????

No, it requires 1GB of ram, which the iPad 2 doesn't have.

 

[aperry]

I don't understand why so many people claim that FaceTime is never used. I travel 3 out of every 4 weeks and I use FaceTime daily when on the road to communicate with my wife and 7 year old son. I even helped him with a science project while I was in India and he was home in Phoenix. He held his iPod Touch close to the directions so I could read them to him and then showed me his progress as he went along.

My family loves FaceTime.

I think you answered your own question. "So many people" claim that Facetime is never used, because "so many people" don't ever use it.

In other words, aside from a small minority of people like you who need video chat and can deal with Facetime's limitations, it's generally just not that popular. Especially now that Skype is so broadly supported across platforms.

 

[KingCrimson]

I wonder what sputterings will come from Larry Page & Steve Ballmer tomorrow after the world learns that Apple revolutionized smartphones again?

 

[voonyx]

Do we have stats on the accuracy rate of the existing Voice Control?


Will this Assistant tech require an internet connection to decipher what you ask it?

I don't know, nor do I claim to know. I can only present my opinion and what I've seen based on experience. I own an Android phone. I've never had an iPhone. But I've seen people with an iPhone and maybe I'm OCD too, but to my eyes, its smoother, faster, more stable and better quality regardless of its "outdated" hardware specs.

Like I said, come tomorrow, I might be eating crow and we'll find out that this "Assistant" is nothing more then a glorified Google Voice Control. I just don't see that happening.

 

[aperry]

I wonder what sputterings will come from Larry Page & Steve Ballmer tomorrow after the world learns that Apple revolutionized smartphones again?

If Apple gives us this feature on an "iPhone 4S" instead of delivering an iPhone 5, then I would imagine the competition will be quite happy.

People like me who are becoming kind of bored with the iPhone 4 might start looking more seriously at Android alternatives.

 

[marksman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I asked the Siri iPhone app "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood" and it told me it depends if it is European or African wood.

 

[AidenShaw]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

I asked the Siri iPhone app "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood" and it told me it depends if it is European or African wood.

Do you expect us to swallow that?

 

[Luis Ortega]

But how will this technology assist people in their consumption of Internet porn?

Given the right sounding voice and the right running commentary, such an "assistant" could inject a whole new level of excitement to the experience.

 

[BaldiMac]

If Apple gives us this feature on an "iPhone 4S" instead of delivering an iPhone 5, then I would imagine the competition will be quite happy.

People like me who are becoming kind of bored with the iPhone 4 might start looking more seriously at Android alternatives.

Comments like this one seem to take a name way to seriously. Faster processor, faster GPU, better camera, tons of software improvements, and voice assistant are just a minor upgrade because it has been dubbed as "iPhone 4S".

What are you expecting? A new shape to the case, a slightly bigger screen, and the name "iPhone 5" would keep you from being "kind of bored"???

 

[aperry]

Comments like this one seem to take a name way to seriously. Faster processor, faster GPU, better camera, tons of software improvements, and voice assistant are just a minor upgrade because it has been dubbed as "iPhone 4S".

What are you expecting? A new shape to the case, a slightly bigger screen, and the name "iPhone 5" would keep you from being "kind of bored"???

I know you're trying to trivialize it, but yeah, that sounds about right.

Larger screen, thinner, sexier, faster processor, more RAM, better camera? I'd buy one.

Same old look and feel, but a little faster with higher resolution photos? Just not sure I'd buy it. And I think the competition loves that fact.