Lets be honest iOS users...Siri sucks

[deputc26]

Siri has been disappointing on my iPad 3, the cheapest gimmick ive seen from apple. Ive never used google now though so can't pass judgement on el goog yet.

 

[jpeyton]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwwJ8kgmcdc&feature=player_detailpage#t=676s

Watch until the 12 minute mark. Google Now smokes Siri.

Actually watch the whole thing and see why Jelly Bean is a much more polished mobile OS.

BTW, the top comment for the video:

Honestly, I first recognized that it was an iPhone 5 at 7.38...

 

[shortylickens]

 

[shortylickens]

 

[shortylickens]

 

[shortylickens]

Oh, and apparently theres a big titted porn star named Siri. So have fun searching for more images.

 

[Oyeve]

Oh, and apparently theres a big titted porn star named Siri. So have fun searching for more images.

Nice!

 

[obidamnkenobi]

I disagree. I use voice commands constantly while driving and cycling. In fact, I think several times per day I'll hit the bluetooth button in my car and tell it to "play playlist my top rated" or "call my wife". I have a complex corporate-required passcode on my phone and I'd rather talk to it than unlock it... particularly while driving. Punching in some 8 digit alphanumeric code to unlock the phone, followed by then hitting the phone icon, and then scrolling down to whomever I want to call is much harder than just saying out loud "call steve". I know a lot of my co-workers do the same thing. I think it's a matter of personal preference and how you have things set up... bluetooth in a car is pretty cool.

Is that siri or android voice commands? You can do those without unlocking the phone? (on android I mean). Is that only with a headset connected? I need to look into this. I'm a traffic hazard typing in my PIN on my phone to change songs or call someone while on the road.

 

[pm]

Is that siri or android voice commands? You can do those without unlocking the phone? (on android I mean). Is that only with a headset connected? I need to look into this. I'm a traffic hazard typing in my PIN on my phone to change songs or call someone while on the road.

It's not really Siri or Android's Voice Commands - it's the pre-Siri system on an iPhone 4 (and iPhone 3GS).

I never did find a really great way to do it on Android on my SGS2 - the best that I could find was Google Voice Actions, but it didn't do everything that I wanted. Samsung's updated voice command system on the SGS3 is pretty good too - arguably better than Google's default one. Beyond that, there's a lot of Android voice apps available (Jeannie, Voice Actions Plus, etc), but they are mostly trying to emulate Siri and look things up on the web, or giving back amusing comments, but weren't so good on the more basic functionality of doing tasks on the phone and thus weren't of much interest to me.


Back on the original topic, I have to admit that I haven't used Siri all that much because I don't own an iPhone 4S, but back around the time the iPhone 4S was released I bought one and then returned it within the return/exchange window. My primary complaint with the iPhone 4S was that Siri required an internet connection to do even basic tasks that an iPhone 4 could do without a connection. So when I'd be cycling in an area without internet (not uncommon in the foothills west of town) and I'd ask it to play a certain playlist, it wouldn't because it had no internet. Since this is a feature that I use a lot, I found this pretty frustrating because pulling over, unclipping, taking off my gloves, reaching back into my jersey for the phone, unlocking it, navigating to the music player, and selecting a new playlist and undoing all of this to keep riding was so much more work than just slowing down slightly, cupping the microphone on the ear buds and saying "play playlist whatever" and then speeding back up.

But for all that I hated the internet requirement of Siri, I didn't think Siri was totally useless. I thought more than anything what Siri did for the industry and consumers was highlight a different form of user interface. In classic Apple style it was an immensely overhyped feature and, yes, Android had it first, but what I thought Siri did was convince manufacturers and consumers that this is an important feature for some (but clearly not all) users. I really liked the geofencing reminders in Siri and I would occasionally have it (her?) compose a text for me while driving. Siri wasn't useless but it was less than I had hoped. I really wanted the computer on the Starship Enterprise and what I got was a mostly braindead app full of canned, somewhat amusing answers that had an incredible advertising campaign but limited functionality and required an internet connection to do anything useful.

What I really want is Project Majel - or whatever Google is calling it. I want to be driving down the road and be able to hit the bluetooth button in my car and ask my phone to find me any information that I want, answer my questions, check and add appointments to my calendar, tell me the weather tomorrow in Moscow, tell me the square root of 75, tell me the first three lines of chapter 4 of War and Peace, and anything else that I want to know. And I'd like it to be able to do this offline or online and if it's offline to do the best it case with the information that it has locally on the phone. I don't really care if this system can answer questions with silly responses - although my children might be amused - but I really want everything done with voice... at least while I'm driving.

 

[basslover1]

Google Now or whatever they call it on my Nexus phone sucks. I never use it. It's hard to dial numbers with it while driving. You have look at the screen to click on the title little bitsy speaker phone.

There are plenty of things that Siri does that Google Now can't. Google Now needs to have way more commands than it does right now. It needs to actually tell you information instead of just searching your query on Google. If I wanted to search for something, I'd go to the search engine. I want answers.

No you don't. Swipe up from lock screen/swipe up after long pressing "home" and say "Google," and it'll initial voice commands.

I guess you never read where the search bar says "Search, or say Google."

 

[trmiv]

No you don't. Swipe up from lock screen/swipe up after long pressing "home" and say "Google," and it'll initial voice commands.

I guess you never read where the search bar says "Search, or say Google."

It's actually even easier than that, you don't even have to long-press home. Just swipe straight up from home and it should go into Google Now. Or if locked, just swipe straight up.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

 

[openwheel]

Google Now is so much more polished and useful than Siri.