I just got an iPhone 4s today. My old iPhone 3GS started acting up so it was time to upgrade. Of course the first thing I did with it was play with Siri. I put Siri through its paces.
The first thing I tried to do was change the voice. I personally would prefer a sexier male voice over the somewhat grating voice available right now. Siri has no idea what I am talking about when I try to do this, and I cannot find any setting to do this either. Mark in the negative column.
The next thing I try is some fun questions. If you ask it what color is the sky it comes up with sky blue and even gives you other ways to represent the color such as hexadecimal which is how you indicate colors on the web. However, it does not seem to know the colors of anything else.
Next pace is to set up reminders. This works fairly well, but it is kind of annoying how long you have to wait before confirming that Siri got the reminder correct. Then you try setting up a meeting on your calendar. You have to be very explicit when asking Siri to set this up or it will try to set up a reminder instead. The other challenge with the calendar is it seems to only work with one calendar. So if you maintain a work calendar and a personal calendar you cannot tell Siri which one to put the meeting on. Finally, if Siri gets it wrong you have to cancel and start over.
Additionally, it also has problems with math when the math contains decimals. If you say three point eight two over twenty, three dot eight two over twenty, or three point eighty two over twenty it will return the result 2/20. If you say three dot eighty two over twenty it will actually get it right.
Finally in the two hours I played with it today there were at least four Siri outages. I know Apple states that Siri is in beta, but if they are touting Siri as the reason to buy the iPhone 4s then it should be significantly more reliable than this.
Siri is also very limited in what it can do. It cannot go directly to a URL but instead must search for it and you have to click the link in Google. Similarly Siri cannot open applications on your iPhone.
Overall I give Siri a B for effort and a C- for implementation. Very unexpected and disappointing for what is expected from Apple.
After the jump I dictated this post to Siri. See how poorly Siri did in dictation. I also had to dictate this in seven parts as Siri is very limited in how long it can handle.
The following is the above post dictated using Siri.
I just got an iPhone 4S today. My old iPhone 3GS started acting up so was time to upgrade. Of course the first thing I did with it was play with Siri. I put Siri through its paces.
The first thing I tried to do was change the voice. I personally would prefer a sexier mail voice over the somewhat grating voice available right now. Siri has no idea what I am talking about when I try to do this, and I cannot find any setting to do this either. Mark in the negative column.
Annexing I try you some fun questions. If you ask it what color is the sky it comes up with sky blue and even give you other ways to represent the color such as hexadecimal which is how you indicate colors on the web. However, it does not seem to know the colors of anything else.
Next faces to set up reminders. This works fairly well but is kind of annoying how long you have to wait before confirming that Siri got the reminder correct. Can you try setting up a meeting on your calendar. You have to be very explicit when asking Siri to set this up or or try to set up a reminder instead. The other challenge with the calendar is it seems to only work with one calendar. So if you maintainer work calendar in a personal calendar you cannot tell Siri which one to put the meeting on. Finally, if Siri gets it wrong you have to cancel and start over.
Additionally, it also has problems with math when the math contains decimals. If you say 3.8 2/20, 3.8 2/20 or 3.80 2/20 and will return the result for 2/20. If you say 3.82/20 it’ll actually get it right.
Finally in the two hours I played with it today there are at least for Siri outages. I know Apple stasis Siri is in data, but if they are counting Siri as a reason to buy the iPhone 4S that should be significantly more reliable than this.
Siri is also very limited in what it can do. It cannot go directly to her Eurorail but instead my search for it and you have to click the link and Google. Similarly Siri cannot open applications on your iPhone. Overall I give Siri A.B. for effort and a C- for implementation. Very unexpected and disappointing for what is expected from Apple. After the jump I dictated this post to Siri. See how poorly Siri dad and dictation. I also had to dictate this and seven parts as Siri is very limited and how long it can handle.