Even though I love my new 4S, I've got to agree with Rory there, it's nowhere near as good as I was expecting.

I think it's my northern accent that's letting me down a bit, but I never really struggled with the Voice Recognition in Windows Vista this much…

Hopefully Apple will pull their finger out and get this “fixed” soon, or maybe Siri is designed to “learn” my accent?

“I haven't had a chance to try out Siri yet.”

oh

Siri-ously??

Well I'm pretty impressed with it. I don't really have much of an accent, but with things like “What is the capital of Burkina Faso” it didn't struggle at all.

I asked it: ‘should I have bought a Samsung Galaxy S2 instead?’ It replied: ‘Go f**k yourself.’ Charming.

b0redom
Well I'm pretty impressed with it. I don't really have much of an accent, but with things like “What is the capital of Burkina Faso” it didn't struggle at all.

To a northerner, you've got a southern shandy-drinking cockerney accent. Everyone has an accent…

Smudger
Everyone has an accent…

So true, it's why I certainly needn't bother trying Siri. Don't think Apple will ever do an iPasty version.

Wait, “Apple in over-hyped technology, isn't half as good as they suggest Shocker!”

In other news, the Pope is a Catholic

I tried the “What is the capital of Burkina Faso” on my cheapy HTC Wildfire (£140 Sim Free) using Google Voice and it worked perfectly too :)

Worked fine on my Omnia 7 running Mango (Windows Phone 7.5), so a £200 phone, but then again I do speak RP.

But I mean This.Changes.Everything.Again.

Apple have invented voice technology, google and microsoft have obviously copied them!

Smudger
To a northerner, you've got a southern shandy-drinking cockerney accent. Everyone has an accent…

Unlikely given I'm from Doncaster. I then studied in Brum, and now live in London. The Mrs says I don't have an accent, but I ‘Speak Northern’, presumably that's because I don't stick random ‘r’s in words where it doesn't belong:

Parth
Barth
Grarsss
etc

Siri must have some sort of in built dictionary.

“Search the web - Nebuchadnezzar” works.
“Search the web - Slartibartfarst” gives some pretty strange results.

To be honest, I have no idea how it compares against WinMobile or Android. I simply wanted to point out that IMO Siri doesn't suck. I'll leave the rest of you to slate it and tell me how much better Android/WinMobile are.

Sure it's probably a bit of a gimmick, time will tell if it becomes more than that I guess.

I'm not an Apple fan, but I do think Apple has pushed the benchmark a little further with Siri in that you can interact with it for reminders, meetings etc.

That is something google voice can't do.

It is something that without question will be developed further as who wouldn't like a PA to organise your day to day activities.

The problem I find with google voice is that it all becomes a little dodgy when there is some back ground noise, office, restaurant etc. I suspect Siri is the same.

I really think the PA software needs to be to be able to recognise its masters voice, that way it can filter out the wheat from the chaff.

Maybe Ice Cream Sandwich has some surprises in this area.

Small problem:

Apple kept quiet about none of Siri's Yell-based stuff working in the UK.

When people outside of the US do attempt to use the functions, Siri replies:
“I can only look for businesses, maps and traffic in the United States, and when you're using US English. Sorry about that.”

I don't think siri was the big draw in reality, even if it's touted to be.
Still having fun at it's expense is great ;)
Apple - Introducing GLaDOSiri on iPhone 4S

brasc

Would of thought it'd have configurable voices if it were that advanced, mind you they'll either save it and it be chargable or they'll add it in as some overhyped game changing update down the line..

It seems to be good fun at least ;)

http://****thatsirisays.tumblr.com/ (**** = the sh word)

http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/15/siri-gets-lost-internationally-promises-to-do-better-next-year/

So, you ask Siri what time it is, and it consults something online then? It doesn't just check the phones internal clock? Well, perhaps that's not surprising when you consider how unreliable that has been in the past ;)

The other problem is that anyone can use SIRI on a LOCKED phone.
Yes, that includes MAKING RANDOM CALLS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM0Ee4KW5-I&feature=player_embedded @ 1:05

This was also a fault with ios4's voice control dialling.
Ok, it can be disabled in settings, but who's going to delve that deep -it's on by default.

Actually, even after going through settings, I've found no way to prevent people playing your music on the iphone
- both voice control and double tap of home button accesses your music on a locked iphone.

mikerr
Actually, even after going through settings, I've found no way to prevent people playing your music on the iphone
- both voice control and double tap of home button accesses your music on a locked iphone.

I prefer that to be honest, I hate having to unlock it then load up the ipod app just to skip tracks.

Voice control on the other hand I could do without.

b0redom
Unlikely given I'm from Doncaster. I then studied in Brum, and now live in London. The Mrs says I don't have an accent, but I ‘Speak Northern’, presumably that's because I don't stick random ‘r’s in words where it doesn't belong:

Parth
Barth
Grarsss
etc

Siri must have some sort of in built dictionary.

“Search the web - Nebuchadnezzar” works.
“Search the web - Slartibartfarst” gives some pretty strange results.

To be honest, I have no idea how it compares against WinMobile or Android. I simply wanted to point out that IMO Siri doesn't suck. I'll leave the rest of you to slate it and tell me how much better Android/WinMobile are.

Sure it's probably a bit of a gimmick, time will tell if it becomes more than that I guess.

To a Jock, etc, etc…

Its blah, it cant understand my Scottish accent :(

The free vlingo app gets the most useful parts of siri for free:

You can text people by just saying “text <name>”
then dictate the text message

And also say “google <anything>” to open a web search.

Works fine for me in the car - the text message feature in particular.

Defiant
Its blah, it cant understand my Scottish accent :(

You almost appear surprised ;)

Vlingo was the back end for Siri before Apple brought Siri the company. Siri was actually an app that could be used by all versions of iphone.

Defiant
Its blah, it cant understand my Scottish accent :(

You think you've got problems? My polygot mix of not-quite-Derby+almost-Scots+soupçon-of-American is a non-starter. If it's anything like Dragon Dictate (two versions ago) then I got the best results by either being … very … distinct, or trying to copy the speech on the US-based shows my kids watch.

And I'm assuming of course that Apple was clever enough to “localise” the speech-to-text features - so it's “colour” not “color” for example.

Not slagging off Siri in particular, but I can't really see the point of dictation systems unless they're trained to a particular user. More worryingly, I've also seen some enthusiasts claiming that it's a wonderful feature to be able to text while driving without pressing keys*. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with the idea of some bozo doing this whilst barrelling down the motorway in the rain. :o

(* still, I suppose voice-driven text is preferable to pressing buttons while doing 70+)