Tag: Siri

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.

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.