Overseas Chinese Web Guide

Tag: iphone 4s

  • Siri: Remind Me to Put the Gazpacho on Ice

    While Siri is not perfect, I don’t view it as an embarrassment. I do blame Apple for the times when Siri cannot reach Apple’s servers. However, the voice recognition issues are understandable. When some people talk, all I hear is a jumble of words. So, imagine the task Siri faces when trying to understand everyone.

    On One Foot Tsunami, I saw all the different ways that Siri failed to parse the command to put the gazpacho on ice in an hour. After I finished laughing, I decided to give Siri a try:

    Siri nailed it on the second attempt. During the first attempt, gazpacho became Kasbe Chou, a somewhat Chinese sounding name. Still, if Siri can understand my English, maybe the problem isn’t Siri.

  • Apple Siri Lawsuit

    I am really puzzled by the Siri lawsuit. In my experience, Siri has been an absolutely amazing–and almost magical–product.

    At first, I just asked Siri stupid questions. Not my fault really since I wasn’t entirely sure how Siri worked. The FAQ for Siri is really no help at all. However, as I’ve slowly figured out some useful tasks for Siri, I’ve come to rely on it more and more.

    Reminders. Siri is great for setting reminders. I find it a lot easier to dictate a reminder, place and time, than to type it on the virtual keyboard. If I keep forgetting to do something when I get back home, I can have the iPhone 4S remind me when I arrive at home. Siri is also great for setting up shopping lists. By adding the local Costco warehouse to my address book, I can tell Siri to remind me to buy a specific product when I arrive at Costco.

    Alarms. I use Siri to set most of my alarms now. Much easier to have the iPhone 4S remind me, than to keep close track of time.

    Messages. So much easier to dictate a message to Siri than to type it in on the virtual keyboard. This is especially true when I have one hand holding the iPhone 4S and the other hand clutching a bag of groceries. Simply indispensable.

  • iPhone 4s Impressions

    Last Friday, I stopped by the Palo Alto Apple store during my lunch hour for the iPhone 4s launch. I guess everyone else must have ordered the iPhone online because the line out the door was surprisingly short. It reached just barely past the corner.

    The drink cart and loaner umbrellas kept everyone cool under the mid-day sun:

    Post-it notes with personal messages in memory of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs covering the front window of the store:

    So, I’ve been skipping iPhone generations: iPhone to iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4s. The leap from iPhone to iPhone 3GS was tremendous in that I could browse the internet while away from a Wi-Fi connection, provided that AT&T cooperated. The move from iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4s feels more evolutionary than revolutionary.

    What I Like

    64 GB. I found the 32 GB to be too confining. Glad Apple bumped up the optional storage. Definitely worth paying for.

    Retina Display. I’ve already seen the retina display on other people’s iPhone 4. Something nice to have, but not completely essential.

    Siri. I can see how some people may find Siri to be conceptually useful. For the first few days, Siri was giving me the cold shoulder. I heard so many excuses–one after another–about Siri not being able to reach the network. I guess that Siri was not prepared to talk to a million people all at once.

    Despite the marketing of Siri as an intelligent personal assistant that understands natural language, I haven’t had too much success getting it to do what I want. It takes some effort to get it to follow instructions correctly.

    Too quite a few iterations to get the phrasing just right. Also, had to add Costco to my directory in order for Reminders to recognize the name / location. Siri only understands Costco if I enunciate. When I pronounce it as Cosco instead of Costco (with a strong T sound), Siri gets confused.

    What I Don’t Like

    Network. If your iPhone 3GS has a poor connection to the network, don’t expect the iPhone 4s to perform any miracles. The AT&T dead zones afflict the iPhone 4s just as harshly as the iPhone 3GS.

    Settings. Lost all my This American Life settings when I switched to the iPhone 4s. On the 3GS, I had marked all the radio shows I had listened to. Now, I’m back to step 1 again.