The BBC’s technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones wanted to find out which smartphone was the best listener, so he conducted a quick test of his own.
He spoke the same text into a Siri-equipped iPhone 4S and a Samsung Galaxy Tab, and compared the transcribed results.
One of the most obvious features Siri lacks on the iPhone 4S is social network integration. Although Twitter is integrated into iOS 5, you still can’t tweet or update your Facebook account from Siri.
There’s actually an easy workaround to update Twitter and Facebook with Siri on your iPhone 4S.
I’ve been using the iPhone 4S for a whole weekend now, and I have to say, this device is a magnificent beast. That dual-core A5 processor makes everything super speedy and incredibly seamless, while the 8-megapixel camera takes terrific photos, and the Siri assistant — although in the U.K. — is just plain awesome.
Externally, however, the iPhone 4S is just as fragile as its predecessor, and nowhere near as robust as its biggest rival, the Samsung Galaxy S II.
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-OnZCywaII
The same developer that originally ported Siri to the iPhone 4 has created another video showing more progress. Developer Steven Troughton-Smith has been working to port Apple’s new Siri technology to older iOS devices.
In the first video, Siri was unresponsive and sluggish on the iPhone 4, mainly due to the fact that the phone’s GPU was disabled. Now the Siri port has been improved to run smoother and more fluidly on the iPhone 4.
Siri is the intelligent assistant that comes with the iPhone 4S. You simply hold the iPhone’s Home button and speak your question or command — Siri does the rest.
While the obvious benefit of Siri is the handsfree aspect of voice technology, you can actually edit your Siri conversations the good old fashioned way with your keyboard.
We have no doubts at Cult of Mac that iPhone 4S sales this week-end are going to be a blow out and the first thing people will probably try to do after obtaining their iPhone 4S is to converse with Siri. Well it looks like this morning with way too many people to talk to Siri has gone offline or maybe its just out on a coffee break.
I had a late day yesterday and I’m only now getting around to playing around with and testing Siri. I think the rest of you might have worn it out since it isn’t as snappy as it was yesterday when I tried a few preliminary requests.
According to a report Steven Troughton-Smith has made progress on porting the Siri voice assistant to the iPhone 4. The resulting ported version of Siri isn’t ready for prime time so I wouldn’t get to excited just yet and return that iPhone 4S you bought yesterday.
One of the most appealing things about Apple’s new iPhone 4S, in addition to that dual-core A5 processor and 8-megapixel camera, is the incredibly impressive Siri assistant. It makes its debut on the new iPhone, and isn’t available on any other device right now. In Apple’s promotional videos, Siri is incredibly impressive and it’s amazed us all, but if you’re outside the United States, Siri may be a disappointment to you.
Here’s something that I won’t know is real or not until I receive my iPhone 4S tomorrow, but never the less it’s funny and entertaining at the same time. So without further adieu its Shit That Siri Says from the website with the same name more after the break.
We’ve seen the first rash of iPhone 4 reviews coming in, and they all agree on one thing: Siri is very impressive.
It works because it does several things all at once. It understands what you’re saying, irrespective of your accent, and without a lot of initial training. And it understands what you mean, because it has the built-in smarts to know that if you say “Tell my wife I’m running late,” you mean “Send a text message to this particular contact with text that says I’m running late.”
But this is just the start for Siri (which Apple’s acknowledged by calling it a beta). The iPhone 4S is the first Apple device that supports it – it certainly won’t be the last. Where might Siri go next?
References in Apple’s iOS 5 software sparked speculation over the weekend that suggested an upcoming refresh to the Apple TV could introduce the company’s latest dual-core processor. While that would allow the device to playback content in 1080p, it could also pave the way for a Siri assistant on our TVs.
We’d have been more interested in this a couple of weeks ago, but the guys over at AppV managed to get their hands on a new iPhone 4S and have done a short video walkthrough of the device, demonstrating the Siri settings interface which allows you to turn voice control on and off, change your Language Settings, adjust Voice Feedback and enable Raise to Speak mode. That’s a new revelation: although Apple’s Siri promo videos hinted at it, this is the first time I recall an accelerometer controlled “Raise to Speak” mode confirmed.
There’s also an early benchmark of Mobile Safari, which proves that the iPhone 4S renders pages about twice as fast as the iPhone 4, which was already pretty much the fastest web browsing experience on the block. The ‘S’ in iPhone 4S does stand for speed, after all.
[via MacRumors]
httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTg00wIijNY
Fans of the popular Portal and Half-Life games from Valve will be familiar with GLaDOS, the malicious AI computer system.
As highlighted by The Loop, Filmmaker Jeff Heimbuch has created a parody mashup of Apple’s Siri intro video. GLaDOSiri will help you set reminders and complete tasks, but don’t expect a her to be nice about it.
It’s a downer of a day, but here’s something we can all get a little chuck at: in Japan, Apple might need to change the name of iOS 5’s incredible new Siri voice control assistant. Why? Because in Japanese, Siri sounds an awful lot like a bottom.
Apple unveiled “Siri” yesterday. The revolutionary technology is integrated into the iPhone 4S to bring you dictation and voice recognition capabilities that will knock your socks off.
We gave you a breakdown of how Siri compares to Google’s similar “Voice Actions” technology for Android, and Apple’s approach is leagues ahead of the competition.
If you’d like to know exactly what Siri can do for you on the iPhone 4S, an extensive list of compatible voice commands has surfaced that lets you know what Siri is capable of. Check inside for the details.
Itching to get your hands on Apple’s latest iPhone? According to Apple representatives, you’ll be able to pre-order the iPhone 4S from 12:01 AM Pacific on Friday, October 14.
Back in 1987 during the era of John Sculley, Apple released a “what if” video describing a device called the Knowledge Navigator. This prescient work anticipated a personal digital assistant a la Siri, a touch screen tablet computer like the iPad, videoconferencing (FaceTime) and more.
This is it, folks, we’re here: the future. Remember Dave talking to HAL back in Kubrick’s lethargic masterpiece? It’s real.
Editor’s Note: We first posted this yesterday, but for readers who didn’t see it, we’re bumping it to the top of the page so people know what’s coming in just about three hours.
Hey, we know: after sixteen months of rumors, figuring out exactly what to expect from Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event tomorrow can be confusing. Well, let us break it all down for you. Here’s everything we know (or think we know) about what Apple’s going to announce tomorrow. It’s going to be a hell of a show.
We’re all dying to know what we can expect from Apple’s fifth-generation iPhone. For months we’ve been speculating on what it will look like, what kind of features it will boast, and when it will be available. However, a new report could tell you all almost everything you ever wanted to know about Apple’s new iPhone — including its new internals, and an iOS feature that will debut on the fifth-generation device.
Since Apple’s acquisition of Siri many moons ago, there have been rumors that the technology would one day worm its way into the iOS software. Speculation, fueled by evidence in the latest iOS SDK, would lead us to believe that Siri “Assistant” feature will finally come to fruition in iOS 5. And according to one report, it will integrate with your contacts, calendars, emails and more.
Amongst other rumors about iOS 5 that somehow just disappeared into the ether come yesterday’s WWDC 2011 keynote was the advanced Nuance-powered voice control features that has been reported extensively over the past few months. The only mention of voice recognition was a throwaway line on a slide: “Option to speak text selection.”
Is that it? What happened to the voice control that we were all promised? Don’t worry just yet: according to a couple of prominent sources, Nuance-powered voice control is still coming to iOS 5.
Apple’s giant datacenter in North Carolina may bring advanced voice controls to the iPhone and iPad, reports Techcrunch.
The function of Apple’s massive datacenter — one of the biggest in the world — has been kept firmly under wraps. The North Carolina facility is like Area 51: everyone knows it exists, but few know its true purpose. Observers believe it is primarily for iTunes in the cloud, but Techcrunch suggests it is already set up to bring voice recognition to iOS 5.
According to Techcrunch reporter MG Siegler, Apple is already running advanced voice-recognition software from Nuance Communications – the company behind the Dragon Dictation applications for the iPhone and iPad — at the massive datacenter. The two companies will announce a deal at WWDC in early June.
And that likely means that iOS 5 will feature a plethora of advanced voice controls when it also is unveiled at the programmers’ conference.
As WWDC and the unveiling of iOS 5 approaches, we’re all wondering what Apple may or may not bring to its devices with the next major iOS release. One thing that could be introduced is speech recognition, courtesy of Nuance Communications – the company behind the Dragon Dictation applications for the iPhone and iPad.
According to a TechCrunch report that cites “multiple sources,” Apple has been negotiating a deal with Nuance which could see them integrate the company’s speech recognition technology into the iOS platform. While negotiations could have potentially been about an Apple takeover of Nuance, TechCrunch believes that at this point that’s unlikely.
