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First Look: Using iPhone 4S with Siri voice assistant - Page 4

post #121 of 220
10/15/11 at 5:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post

Some overall thoughts on Siri...



I think Siri will be the biggest technology accomplishment under Steve's watch!




Remember FireFly? (was that really its name?) The one that you called up on the phone, and it was supposed to be your digital Personal Assistant? Back in the late 1990's?

That was going to be The Next Big Thing as soon as they got the bugs out of it, way back when voice recognition was all set to be the next big thing. But they never got the bugs out of it. Or something.

It remains to be seen whether this tech works well enough for most people to actually use it.
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post #122 of 220
10/15/11 at 5:24pm
Have you guys seen this site where people upload their Siri pics?
Too funny! - http://siriouslyweird.tumblr.com

I'm glad Apple gave it a sense of humour.
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post #123 of 220
10/15/11 at 6:48pm
My 13-year-old grandson had problems hearing in his formative years. It was a blockage that wasn't detected immediately, but eventually resolved by temporarily inserting tubes in both ears.

Unfortunately he missed learning to speak by listening to others speak.

He can speak fine if he takes his time and thinks about what he is going to say (we all could take this as an example).

But, when he gets excited, he speaks in a rapid monotone -- and it is pretty hard to understand what he is saying. His classmates make fun of him for this.

We've tried speech therapy and we group read, out loud, several times a week -- the iPads are excellent for this use.


When I got the 4S, and started using Siri -- he was all over it. He is excited, playing and having fun!

All the while, he has to slow down, think about what he is going to say, then say it clearly and distinctly -- for Siri to understand what he wants.

And, he does! Because he wants to -- not because we're telling him to.

This makes me think that Siri (because she's fun and sassy) could be an engaging speech therapist.-- a modern day Demosthenes!
"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
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"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
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post #124 of 220
10/15/11 at 7:21pm
The earlier errors in DED's spoken sentences brings light to interesting point... Today's kids, with their own lingo... how does Siri fare when it comes to interpreting it? Is it up-to-date with all the latest and greatest linguistic mayhem that somehow passes for coherent speech?

Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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post #125 of 220
10/15/11 at 7:40pm
is there any way i can have the Siri in my MAC?
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post #126 of 220
10/15/11 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RAMK View Post

is there any way i can have the Siri in my MAC?

No, of course not.
PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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PhilBoogie
That's Google alright. For a stupid company they sure do dumb things.
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post #127 of 220
10/15/11 at 8:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post

Why does being right on an Internet forum matter so much to you? Don't you have any self-esteem?

Yeah I have self low self esteem so I have to drink the Apple Kool a.......oh wait that is what I am trying to point out.
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post #128 of 220
10/15/11 at 8:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by diorfl21 View Post

If Apple was looking for this to make me forget that I got the SAME phone for the 2nd year in a row they have failed. The ONLY reason I upgraded was because I wanted a white iPhone and since I have gotten my phone things have going wrong with it! My partner got one at the same time and when I opened his to get it ready for him I noticed he had bars immediately! My phone said no service out of the package !! Then his phone was ready immediately out of the box and mine didnt work for 2-3 hrs. Now my Siri keeps telling me its having a hard time connecting to the network and hardly ever gets what I am saying!

Sounds frustrating but why not just take it back? One of the things that keeps me coming back to Apple is how well they deal with situations like this.
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post #129 of 220
10/15/11 at 8:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by RAMK View Post

is there any way i can have the Siri in my MAC?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

No, of course not.

I suspect that you'll eventually see Siri [client] running on the Mac, and maybe Siri [server] running in the back room.

But, before that, I think you'll see Siri on an iDevice sending commands and content to/through your Mac.

In this use, think of the Mac as a biig window for Siri on the iDevice -- AirPlaying Siri to the Mac.
"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
Reply
"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
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post #130 of 220
10/15/11 at 8:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

No, but that's why there are two microphones on the iPhone, I thought.

That doesn't make it easy. People have dedicated major portions of their lives to figuring this problem out, and it's not anywhere near solved yet. It's merely good enough for some real world scenarios. Look into the math of it and you'll see.
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post #131 of 220
10/15/11 at 9:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4fx View Post

I found it odd that Siri could find the Washington Monument the first time I asked, but not the Statue of Liberty even after several attempts.

Did you tell it which Statue of Liberty you wanted?
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post #132 of 220
10/15/11 at 9:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post

It is selling like hotcakes. It has a small screen.

Nobody knows what affect the small screen is having on sales.

Precisely, but you are claiming to know that most people would prefer a larger screen. Hence my question.
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post #133 of 220
10/15/11 at 9:06pm
It's a nice idea but needs work. With my 3GS I could press the home button and say " call John Smith". The voice would say either "calling John Smith-mobile, etc", or voice dialing is unavailable when there is no internet connection (something like that). Now, I see full ATT bars and I have often gotten the message that, "Sorry, I cannot connect at this time". Maybe the servers are overloaded which is a major problem if this persists. I will continue to hope this is just initial issues which will be quickly resolved.
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post #134 of 220
10/15/11 at 9:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by nospam2me View Post

All of a sudden this morning Siri is not working on my iphone 4S. WTF? That expensive new datacenter in NC can't handle the 1 million preorders + however many first day sales? This doesn't bode well given RIM had recent outage and people were moving from BlackBerry to iPhone. Hope this isn't true...

At 8:40am EST this morning, Siri would not respond. Constantly received this respone, "Uh oh, there's a problem. Can you try again?"

It's not the phone or Apple's servers. The problem is the carriers are having problems with the load and didn't do adequate IP address or bandwidth planning for this "worst case" scenario. Because everybody is running speedtest and trying out Siri, plus syncing to iCloud, playing with iTunes Match, etc., in addition to all the activations, it's worse than having something like 9/11 happen with everyone trying to place calls at the same time. Carriers don't have enough resources to support everyone simultaneously. They estimate an average load, add a small safety percentage, and hope for the best.

I hate to say it, but my beloved Sprint was the least prepared for this. AT&T was in good shape, but sold more phones than expected.

BTW, less is being done in NC than you think.
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post #135 of 220
10/15/11 at 9:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twelve View Post

It's not the phone or Apple's servers. The problem is the carriers are having problems with the load and didn't do adequate IP address or bandwidth planning for this "worst case" scenario. Because everybody is running speedtest and trying out Siri, plus syncing to iCloud, playing with iTunes Match, etc., in addition to all the activations, it's worse than having something like 9/11 happen with everyone trying to place calls at the same time. Carriers don't have enough resources to support everyone simultaneously. They estimate an average load, add a small safety percentage, and hope for the best.

I hate to say it, but my beloved Sprint was the least prepared for this. AT&T was in good shape, but sold more phones than expected.

BTW, less is being done in NC than you think.

Some of what you say is true!

What do you mean by your last line? Got a link.
"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
Reply
"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
Reply
post #136 of 220
10/15/11 at 9:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post


Originally Posted by The-Steve
"Change 500 mexican pesos into US dollars."

This is not a *question*; why are you surprised that there is no answer?Because your "personal assistant" should respond to commands.

It's neither a question nor a grammatically correct command.

"Convert 500 Mexican pesos into US dollars" works. As time goes by, this "BETA" version of Siri will learn to deal with more cases of improper English.

BTW, I'm not insulting your command of the English language. Siri SHOULD handle what you asked for or at least ask for clarification. Expect it to improve gradually.
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post #137 of 220
10/15/11 at 10:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bettieblue View Post

Yeah I have self low self esteem ...

Trolls generally do.

Sad, but true.
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post #138 of 220
10/15/11 at 10:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NOFEER View Post

how do you get "wife" "husband" "brother" et al into siri
do you have to add these as separate entries to contacts or what
is there some settings or training necessary

You just tell Siri "my father is Charles" and then it asks you if it should remember that Charles is your father (where you have Charles as one of your contacts). Super simple.

A quick note on this. It works by adding new fields to your _own_ contact. If you are using Google for your contacts through the Google Exchange server... it has trouble adding these extra fields (it added my father as as my "manager"!). I got around this by using iCloud contacts just for my own contact... then it could add the extra fields just fine.
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post #139 of 220
10/15/11 at 10:52pm
Here's a cool one. I just told Siri: "Every Wednesday morning when I leave the house remind me to take out the trash"... and it worked! She set up a recurring reminder for every Wednesday morning when I leave my home!

This worked on the very first try with no extra prompting or repeating required. I consider it to be a fairly complex request with multiple parts to figure out.

It really does feel like pretty good AI is behind Siri and it's just going to get better over time.
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post #140 of 220
10/15/11 at 11:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post

Just think if the Siri beta hadn't been limited to the 4 million iPhone 4Ses sold this weekend... and 100 million iP4s, Touches and iPads had hit Apple's servers and the Internet.

It's as if the servers were trying to take a drink out of a fire hose.


Someone once tried to come up with a a way to predict what would happen in scenario similar to this sort concentrated activity...


Something like: "What would happen if ten's of millions of concurrent requests were made for the same web site?"

After, consideration, the best answer they could come up with was: "It would be like all the urinals in New York City flushing at the same time!"


The prediction was: "Not to worry -- you'll be up to your ears in piss, first!"


I'm pretty sure that happened when the Giants won the Super Bowl, so there's apparently no need to worry.
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post #141 of 220
10/15/11 at 11:12pm
One thing I've noticed is if you're not sure how to word something, just use the fewest number of words possible. It will figure it out.

Today I wanted to remind myself to pick up an Audio Y cable, to hook my lappy to my stereo so I can pipe sound from next week's Blizzcon Live Stream out to my computer. My last one got eaten by my dog. So I ask Siri "set a reminder to pick up an audio cable" - it asked me when - I said all day. It asked me where - I didn't set up a location to my shopping center yet, so it suggested when I left home. It did so.
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post #142 of 220
10/15/11 at 11:15pm
One other thing, I do wish it would more clearly understand some common pieces of speech - e.g. it's own name, and "Please" - I have what I consider to be a good habit of saying "Please" before or after my requests, yes yes I know I'm talking to a damned computer but it's just polite, you know? I also will sometimes say "Siri". It throws it off sometimes. doing these would make it a little more... human.

/seriously, we are training this thing to take over the world eventually, right?
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post #143 of 220
10/15/11 at 11:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twelve View Post

Siri works best with a headset.

Did Apple say this somewhere? The background noise reduction works best when you hold the phone to your head, not with a headset. It works because there are two microphones on the phone, one on top and one on the bottom. They both hear the same background noise, but the microphone on the bottom hears you voice a lot better. So the signal processing subtracts the top waveform from the bottom waveform--the noise cancels out and your voice is left. Headsets can't do this.
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post #144 of 220
10/15/11 at 11:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by chabig View Post

Did Apple say this somewhere? The background noise reduction works best when you hold the phone to your head, not with a headset. It works because there are two microphones on the phone, one on top and one on the bottom. They both hear the same background noise, but the microphone on the bottom hears you voice a lot better. So the signal processing subtracts the top waveform from the bottom waveform--the noise cancels out and your voice is left. Headsets can't do this.

Try Siri using the "included" ear buds and integrated microphone. Then repeat the same operations "open air." You'll see what I mean. Also, note that, in the Siri demonstration videos from Apple, everyone is either using the ear buds and integrated microphone (the jogger and the guy in the car), or they are in a relatively quiet environment (i.e. nobody speaking in the background, no television playing, no kids screaming, etc.) You can't "triangulate" audio easily since you'll get reflections from many surfaces.

Open air will work in many cases, but Siri will very seldom miss a beat if you're using the ear bud wired headset. Don't take my word for it. Try it!
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post #145 of 220
10/16/11 at 12:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twelve View Post

Try Siri using the "included" ear buds and integrated microphone. Then repeat the same operations "open air." You'll see what I mean. Also, note that, in the Siri demonstration videos from Apple, everyone is either using the ear buds and integrated microphone (the jogger and the guy in the car), or they are in a relatively quiet environment (i.e. nobody speaking in the background, no television playing, no kids screaming, etc.) You can't "triangulate" audio easily since you'll get reflections from many surfaces.

Open air will work in many cases, but Siri will very seldom miss a beat if you're using the ear bud wired headset. Don't take my word for it. Try it!

If by "open air" you mean holding the phone in front of you, then I agree a headset is better. Rather than holding the phone in front of your mouth, though, it's much much better to hold it to your head just like you are making a phone call. It'll handle the most noisy environments when you use it this way.
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post #146 of 220
10/16/11 at 12:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by diorfl21 View Post

I could care less if there were billions of new devices immediately accessing the Siri server my point is Apple should have planned for this.

My god, man, you are a whiner.
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post #147 of 220
10/16/11 at 3:28am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacRR View Post

...it seems that another end game is that it should always be aware- and literally button free.. just announce Siri - and it activates.. but then again- it'd be nice to nam fit shithead too. or fartsmoker. or peen or. you know.. even uncle buck. or mr belvedere. or hank.


and of course- a wide variety of voices!

How about Jarvis?
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post #148 of 220
10/16/11 at 4:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sol77 View Post

How about Jarvis?

Someone pointed that out to me, tonight. And I laughed out loud.
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post #149 of 220
10/16/11 at 7:16am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Twelve View Post

It's not the phone or Apple's servers. The problem is the carriers are having problems with the load and didn't do adequate IP address or bandwidth planning for this "worst case" scenario. Because everybody is running speedtest and trying out Siri, plus syncing to iCloud, playing with iTunes Match, etc., in addition to all the activations, it's worse than having something like 9/11 happen with everyone trying to place calls at the same time. Carriers don't have enough resources to support everyone simultaneously. They estimate an average load, add a small safety percentage, and hope for the best.

I hate to say it, but my beloved Sprint was the least prepared for this. AT&T was in good shape, but sold more phones than expected.

BTW, less is being done in NC than you think.

To be honest, with it's shares under $3, Sprint has a lot LESS customers than ATT. Not really a fair comparison. That's like saying traffic so much better in North Dakota than NYC...therefore the engineers are better at designing roads. \
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post #150 of 220
10/16/11 at 7:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by RAMK View Post

is there any way i can have the Siri in my MAC?

She's hiding in Mac? I knew she was a dirty girl....
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post #151 of 220
10/16/11 at 7:35am
Quote:
Originally Posted by friedmud View Post

Here's a cool one. I just told Siri: "Every Wednesday morning when I leave the house remind me to take out the trash"... and it worked! She set up a recurring reminder for every Wednesday morning when I leave my home!

This worked on the very first try with no extra prompting or repeating required. I consider it to be a fairly complex request with multiple parts to figure out.

It really does feel like pretty good AI is behind Siri and it's just going to get better over time.

Wait until Wednesday comes... and Siri tells you to take out the trash... and you realize that you are now in your car 3 blocks from your home when it does in fact correctly remind you. Or worse, in the bus with no way to get back.
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post #152 of 220
10/16/11 at 7:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post

If it were just a little bit wider and maybe a tiny bit thinner, you'd buy it.

I already did. Ive gone with each iteration, and honestly - the cost is well worth it. the real cost in the use is the plan.

what i meant was i would prefer if the screen viewable area was greater, but the size of the phone changed only in that the drive was thinner, i would prefer it more.

One thing apple can do, but are unlikely, is to significantly increase the size of the phone (like some of the 4 inch droid types - and this would prevent a lot of people buying it.
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post #153 of 220
10/16/11 at 7:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by diorfl21 View Post

I could care less if there were billions of new devices immediately accessing the Siri server my point is Apple should have planned for this. This is the 5th iPhone launch now and they STILL cant get it right ?! I have had each model and EVERY time its a nightmare ! I feel that Apple had MORE than enough time ( considering the phone didn't launch till Oct. ) to prepare for what they should have assumed would be a very successful launch! In this article I was trying to say that my partners works just fine, he was able to make routes, alarms and all no problems. We activated our phones at the same time and my experience was different than his! His Siri works very well, mine can't seem to connect to the network STILL! Kinks should have been expected and compensated for before the launch of this new phone and integrated app!

Just take your phone back and quit gripping. Problem solved.
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post #154 of 220
10/16/11 at 9:18am
For all those disappointed in the iPhone display size, lack of new form factor...

Have a look at this concept video:

iphone 5

Several (maybe 5-6) years ago, Japan's KDDI had a concept video titled:

Knock! Knock! Ubiquitous.

(Sorry I can't find a link)

It showed a transparent phone/PDA similar in size to the iPhone shown above.

Interestingly, AIR, the KDDI device had:
-- GPS
-- Siri-like voice interaction and control
-- Notifications, reminders, etc.
-- Online one-step shopping/payment like Amazon or iTunes
-- Hi-resolution cameras
-- Worked with a Kinect-like device for sensing/evaluation of body movement, like a golf swing
-- AirPlay-like capability to stream video/content to a large TV Display
-- NFC Bump Payment for purchases, boarding passes, etc.
-- iCloud-like concept of your content is anywhere, everywhere you are
-- Home camera monitoring
-- Remote control of home lighting, HVAC, etc.

Anyway, what seemed amazing, 5-6 years ago, is largely being delivered in today's mobile devices.

That concept iPhone 5 certainly looks good to me!
"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
Reply
"So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and you’ll rule the world."
– Alan Kay –
Reply
post #155 of 220
10/16/11 at 9:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post

It is selling like hotcakes. It has a small screen.

Nobody knows what affect the small screen is having on sales.

Is it selling like hotcakes or is it selling like hot cakes?!
We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
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We know where you are. We know where youve been. We can more or less know what youre thinking about. - Eric Schmidt
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post #156 of 220
10/16/11 at 9:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ConradJoe View Post

If it were just a little bit wider and maybe a tiny bit thinner, you'd buy it.

YES - i would not mind a small increase in width, 3-4mm, if we could take 30% of thickness. The girth would be similar or smaller.

i don't use a case, even on my iPad2, because the thinness is very appealing. I was one of the few that liked the mtorola Q. Wasn't that bad in its day, and one of my kids still uses it. Before that I had the Treos - OMG I have one in my desk draw, its truly a brick - more useful as a personal defense weapon than my 4S
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post #157 of 220
10/16/11 at 10:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacksons View Post

Wait until Wednesday comes... and Siri tells you to take out the trash... and you realize that you are now in your car 3 blocks from your home when it does in fact correctly remind you. Or worse, in the bus with no way to get back.

If I really did forget to take out the trash... I will be grateful that she reminds me.... even if I am 3 blocks away! (just turn around and get it done!).

Nothing worse than having to deal with a full trash can for another week....
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post #158 of 220
10/16/11 at 10:15am
My main annoyance with Siri is not the artificial limitation Apple has imposed on the hardware...that is just business. The problem I have is Siri cannot accept simple commands like "Open Music", "Open Calendar", "Open ??? App". Siri states she cannot do this. Windows Phone 7 Mango can do this with no problem. I can also hold entire text conversations on Mango where the phone reads the text and lets me speak my new text. Now, Siri is MUCH better at voice recognition, I am just confused why it cannot do simple commands such as Open Apps, Close Apps, Shutdown Phone, etc etc. Maybe Apple will add these features in later...
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post #159 of 220
10/16/11 at 10:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dangcookie View Post

My god, man, you are a whiner.

He has a valid point. If you offer a service, you should be able to support the service. How would you like to buy a car with a new nav system only to find the highly touted voice-activated nav system didn't work half the time?

Apple (or any other company) needs to understand this.
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post #160 of 220
10/16/11 at 11:07am
Quote:
Originally Posted by friedmud View Post

If I really did forget to take out the trash... I will be grateful that she reminds me.... even if I am 3 blocks away! (just turn around and get it done!).

Nothing worse than having to deal with a full trash can for another week....

This, fellow readers, is an example of "justifying with logic".
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