6 ms·

All of those Siri can do. Anything else?

by spullara 9y ago

ztratar 9y ago
Siri misunderstands me so frequently, I've learned to not use it for most of the above things.
- veesahni 9y ago
  This is what I experienced years ago when I last had an iPhone. Google's voice recognition is exceptional. I can mumble words and it still seems to contextually figure out what I was probably trying to say.
  - swish_bob 9y ago
    Unless you're picking from a list of options, at which point Google becomes utterly useless to me. I've literally spent 10 minutes in a "SMS, WhatsApp or Hangout" "SMS" "SMS, WhatsApp or Hangout" loop before, trying every inflection I could think of.
veesahni 9y ago
How about continuity of communication between Google Home & Phone. In my kitchen, I can ask Google Home "how far is X" .. and it responds with a distance/time and pops up a notification on my phone to initiate Google Maps navigation to the target. Useful if I'm in getting ready to go there. Does Apple's HomePod have any such continuity with an iPhone?
hellofunk 9y ago
This is strictly anecdotal but a friend of mine is an exec at Facebook and we were recently discussing phones. He had an iPhone for a few years and has now had an Android for a couple years. He said that by far the most drastic difference between the two platforms is Siri vs. Assistant (or whatever Google's assistant is called in the phone). He said it is no contest how much more useful and functional Assistant is, compared to Siri. We did not dwell on this discussion and I otherwise find him an objective, un-biased user of the two platforms, so there you have it.
- 1337biz 9y ago
  Obligatory question is why? What usefullness or functionality made that much of a difference to him?
  - hellofunk 9y ago
    I want to like Siri but I spend so much time correcting what it has misunderstood, it's nearly not worth using it. The Google alternative is, from what I understand, something that just works.
    - ddingus 9y ago
      But it's not personified to the degree Siri is. I noted this elsewhere in the thread. Doing that bit of theatre, with some humor, pop culture relevant things, even just good responses, appears to matter more to people than "it can do it", and "it actually did it" hit rates. OK Google needs a name. Google is this big, smart thing. People get that. But, "Ask Siri" has less friction and appears easier to identify with than giving an order to a corporation is, "OK Google." Maybe just, "Hey Google" would make a subtle difference. And, in typical Apple fashion, "Ask Siri" is all you need to know to attempt it. Further, discovery has error. If that can be best guess, combined with some fun, people will play. "OK Google" lacks these human friendly connotations. A name would be a follow, hard for Google, but... If it were me, I would flat out own that, get the name, and run ADS. "We hear you... meet [name not common, familiar sounding, friendly, easy to say.]" There has to be either an old world name with good connotations, or a variant that is catchy, fun, gender fluid. Lol, use goog. Mostly kidding, but a tiny bit serious. Better, much better is out there. Or, let the user name it. Why not? "OK Google, can I call you inigo?" "Sure, I will answer to inigo. And OK Google when I'm not properly introduced, OK?"
      - mercer 9y ago
        I'm not a huge fan of Siri's 'jokey' personality, but I could live with it if it actually worked. As it is, it just feels extra frustrating to have a 'personal assistant' that is extremely dumb and cracks jokes.
nl 9y ago
It's not that it can do it. It's how reliable it is when it does it. I use both iOS and Android, and Google Assistant is so much more reliable that I find I use it. With Siri I find I end up having to intervene so often it isn't worth it. I do have an Australian accent, so maybe that is a factor.
melling 9y ago
Yeah, Siri doesn’t hear as well. It can’t pause music by me asking it. It also has some annoying bugs: http://h4labs.org/siri-next-monday-isnt-christmas/ http://h4labs.org/siri-next-monday-isnt-christmas/ Another one is when Siri tries to update an existing reminder when I say “create reminder” I have Apple Music and I’ll often use my little Echo Dot when I want to play a song just because I can simply talk to Alexa from across the room and it will hear me.
- Mister_Snuggles 9y ago
  I’ve started using Siri to control music when I drive. “Hey Siri” followed by “pause music”, “next track”, “go back”, “play music” all work as expected.
kahnjw 9y ago
All of those Siri can do maybe half the time. In my experience, it's a completely unreliable service. Sort of embarrassing when your voice assistant can't perform the most basic possible task on an iPhone: locking the screen.
dv_dt 9y ago
I keep hoping Siri will work on something like "How long is <Store/Restaurant> in <City> open?". I don't know if Google or Amazon succeed here either.
- killion 9y ago
  I ask Siri for the closing time of different stores all the time. "Hey Siri, when does X close?" works for me. On Siri most things don't work for me but that does.
jacksmith21006 9y ago
Yes Siri can after 5 tries and figure out the wording. Go try the Google assistant and get back to us that Siri is equal.
theDoug 9y ago
Siri can't do two countdown timers at once, such as what I need when cooking. It's bonkers to me that this is still a limitation on a phone that lets me track a dozen-plus world clocks, as though it's a more common use case.
petee 9y ago
can do, not will do. I've yet to meet anyone who got siri to do anything, let alone useful, on the 5th try. I can mumble microcontroller part numbers to google, or other odd non-standard words/phrases and 90% of the time its correct on the first try; half the time i'm astonished that it even was able to figure out what i said

All of those Siri can do. Anything else?

ztratar 9y ago

Siri misunderstands me so frequently, I've learned to not use it for most of the above things.

veesahni 9y ago
This is what I experienced years ago when I last had an iPhone. Google's voice recognition is exceptional. I can mumble words and it still seems to contextually figure out what I was probably trying to say.
- swish_bob 9y ago
  Unless you're picking from a list of options, at which point Google becomes utterly useless to me. I've literally spent 10 minutes in a "SMS, WhatsApp or Hangout" "SMS" "SMS, WhatsApp or Hangout" loop before, trying every inflection I could think of.

veesahni 9y ago

How about continuity of communication between Google Home & Phone. In my kitchen, I can ask Google Home "how far is X" .. and it responds with a distance/time and pops up a notification on my phone to initiate Google Maps navigation to the target. Useful if I'm in getting ready to go there. Does Apple's HomePod have any such continuity with an iPhone?

hellofunk 9y ago

This is strictly anecdotal but a friend of mine is an exec at Facebook and we were recently discussing phones. He had an iPhone for a few years and has now had an Android for a couple years. He said that by far the most drastic difference between the two platforms is Siri vs. Assistant (or whatever Google's assistant is called in the phone). He said it is no contest how much more useful and functional Assistant is, compared to Siri. We did not dwell on this discussion and I otherwise find him an objective, un-biased user of the two platforms, so there you have it.

1337biz 9y ago
Obligatory question is why? What usefullness or functionality made that much of a difference to him?
- hellofunk 9y ago
  I want to like Siri but I spend so much time correcting what it has misunderstood, it's nearly not worth using it. The Google alternative is, from what I understand, something that just works.
  - ddingus 9y ago
    But it's not personified to the degree Siri is. I noted this elsewhere in the thread. Doing that bit of theatre, with some humor, pop culture relevant things, even just good responses, appears to matter more to people than "it can do it", and "it actually did it" hit rates. OK Google needs a name. Google is this big, smart thing. People get that. But, "Ask Siri" has less friction and appears easier to identify with than giving an order to a corporation is, "OK Google." Maybe just, "Hey Google" would make a subtle difference. And, in typical Apple fashion, "Ask Siri" is all you need to know to attempt it. Further, discovery has error. If that can be best guess, combined with some fun, people will play. "OK Google" lacks these human friendly connotations. A name would be a follow, hard for Google, but... If it were me, I would flat out own that, get the name, and run ADS. "We hear you... meet [name not common, familiar sounding, friendly, easy to say.]" There has to be either an old world name with good connotations, or a variant that is catchy, fun, gender fluid. Lol, use goog. Mostly kidding, but a tiny bit serious. Better, much better is out there. Or, let the user name it. Why not? "OK Google, can I call you inigo?" "Sure, I will answer to inigo. And OK Google when I'm not properly introduced, OK?"
    - mercer 9y ago
      I'm not a huge fan of Siri's 'jokey' personality, but I could live with it if it actually worked. As it is, it just feels extra frustrating to have a 'personal assistant' that is extremely dumb and cracks jokes.

nl 9y ago

It's not that it can do it. It's how reliable it is when it does it. I use both iOS and Android, and Google Assistant is so much more reliable that I find I use it. With Siri I find I end up having to intervene so often it isn't worth it. I do have an Australian accent, so maybe that is a factor.

melling 9y ago

Yeah, Siri doesn’t hear as well. It can’t pause music by me asking it. It also has some annoying bugs: http://h4labs.org/siri-next-monday-isnt-christmas/ http://h4labs.org/siri-next-monday-isnt-christmas/ Another one is when Siri tries to update an existing reminder when I say “create reminder” I have Apple Music and I’ll often use my little Echo Dot when I want to play a song just because I can simply talk to Alexa from across the room and it will hear me.

Mister_Snuggles 9y ago
I’ve started using Siri to control music when I drive. “Hey Siri” followed by “pause music”, “next track”, “go back”, “play music” all work as expected.

kahnjw 9y ago

All of those Siri can do maybe half the time. In my experience, it's a completely unreliable service. Sort of embarrassing when your voice assistant can't perform the most basic possible task on an iPhone: locking the screen.

dv_dt 9y ago

I keep hoping Siri will work on something like "How long is <Store/Restaurant> in <City> open?". I don't know if Google or Amazon succeed here either.

killion 9y ago
I ask Siri for the closing time of different stores all the time. "Hey Siri, when does X close?" works for me. On Siri most things don't work for me but that does.

jacksmith21006 9y ago

Yes Siri can after 5 tries and figure out the wording. Go try the Google assistant and get back to us that Siri is equal.

theDoug 9y ago

Siri can't do two countdown timers at once, such as what I need when cooking. It's bonkers to me that this is still a limitation on a phone that lets me track a dozen-plus world clocks, as though it's a more common use case.

petee 9y ago

can do, not will do. I've yet to meet anyone who got siri to do anything, let alone useful, on the 5th try. I can mumble microcontroller part numbers to google, or other odd non-standard words/phrases and 90% of the time its correct on the first try; half the time i'm astonished that it even was able to figure out what i said