It’s funny how much hate Apple gets for Siri when Google and Microsoft laughed at the whole concept of a digital assistant when it came out, say no one wants to talk to their phone and wouldn’t work. They continue to fail to have the vision to see value in something but then scrambled to copy it. People forget that Apple is a hardware company that makes software because they can’t trust partners to do so without ending up with a knife in the back. (Google & Microsoft) These two companies are software companies they Apple partnered with to do what they do best so they can focus on their strengths. These guys chose to use that partnership to prepare to compete directly with Apple.
I’d like to see more of the questions they asked. HomePod did much better under “Commerce” than I would expect.
The example they give is “Can you order me more paper towels”. Wouldn’t that be a “no” for HomePod? But HomePod’s score for commerce is 56% vs 52% for Echo. What?
This doesn’t make sense to me. Can anything be purchased via HomePod?
Edit: I read further, turns out the questions weren’t necessarily to buy something but to learn about products (where to buy, how much, etc.).
Another Article on theStreet read says: "Loup does note that Siri benefited from the fact that some Siri requests were passed on to a paired iOS device that handled them, rather than directly handled by the HomePod." I wonder what this means. It really sounds like Siri was given an unfair assist as far as the grading is concerned.
It seems to me that if you are going to be testing the AI's the test should all be on a level playing field. The AI should be tested on both the Smart Speaker devices like Amazon Echo, Google Home, HomePod, and the Harmon Kardon Invoke. Then the AI should be tested on the phone hardware i.e. iPhone, Google Pixel, Galaxy S9 for Viv, Alexa App on the Pixel or any similarly priced Android phone.
Unfortunately what I've read is that SIRI on the HomePod has good music knowledge because the HomePod is vehicle for hosting Apple Music, but Siri for general questions there is crippled because it always have to say "Here's a website I found". HomePod is supposed to have great microphones for listening. I've yet to hear that Siri on iPhone is that good, so I just avoid it as it seems like a very frustration filled experience.
The bar for Siri is higher just because the iPhone is the most expensive phone and the HomePod at $350 ($250 on sale) is much more than an Amazon Echo or Google Home.
I’d like to see more of the questions they asked. HomePod did much better under “Commerce” than I would expect.
The example they give is “Can you order me more paper towels”. Wouldn’t that be a “no” for HomePod? But HomePod’s score for commerce is 56% vs 52% for Echo. What?
This doesn’t make sense to me. Can anything be purchased via HomePod?
Edit: I read further, turns out the questions weren’t necessarily to buy something but to learn about products (where to buy, how much, etc.).
Another Article on theStreet read says: "Loup does note that Siri benefited from the fact that some Siri requests were passed on to a paired iOS device that handled them, rather than directly handled by the HomePod." I wonder what this means. It really sounds like Siri was given an unfair assist as far as the grading is concerned.
It seems to me that if you are going to be testing the AI's the test should all be on a level playing field. The AI should be tested on both the Smart Speaker devices like Amazon Echo, Google Home, HomePod, and the Harmon Kardon Invoke. Then the AI should be tested on the phone hardware i.e. iPhone, Google Pixel, Galaxy S9 for Viv, Alexa App on the Pixel or any similarly priced Android phone.
Unfortunately what I've read is that SIRI on the HomePod has good music knowledge because the HomePod is vehicle for hosting Apple Music, but Siri for general questions there is crippled because it always have to say "Here's a website I found". HomePod is supposed to have great microphones for listening. I've yet to hear that Siri on iPhone is that good, so I just avoid it as it seems like a very frustration filled experience.
The bar for Siri is higher just because the iPhone is the most expensive phone and the HomePod at $350 ($250 on sale) is much more than an Amazon Echo or Google Home.
That's the same takeaway I got. If Siri on the Homepod couldn't answer a question but a page/link was sent to the owners iPhone for follow-up it still counted as an "answer"? If so that's a goofy and and kinda dishonest way of grading. Is it really a comparison of "smartness" if one of the four needs help from a parent?
Comments
It seems to me that if you are going to be testing the AI's the test should all be on a level playing field. The AI should be tested on both the Smart Speaker devices like Amazon Echo, Google Home, HomePod, and the Harmon Kardon Invoke. Then the AI should be tested on the phone hardware i.e. iPhone, Google Pixel, Galaxy S9 for Viv, Alexa App on the Pixel or any similarly priced Android phone.
Unfortunately what I've read is that SIRI on the HomePod has good music knowledge because the HomePod is vehicle for hosting Apple Music, but Siri for general questions there is crippled because it always have to say "Here's a website I found". HomePod is supposed to have great microphones for listening. I've yet to hear that Siri on iPhone is that good, so I just avoid it as it seems like a very frustration filled experience.
The bar for Siri is higher just because the iPhone is the most expensive phone and the HomePod at $350 ($250 on sale) is much more than an Amazon Echo or Google Home.