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> is it a feature focused on search and retrieval, or an assistant that carries out complex tasks? I'd settle for an assistant that carries out simple tasks.

> is it a feature focused on search and retrieval, or an assistant that carries out complex tasks? I'd settle for an assistant that carries out simple tasks. I don't expect much from my robot assistant, but the number of times throughout the day that she gets it blatantly wrong has become a running joke in our household. A few recent examples: Me, holding my Apple Watch near my face: "Hey, Siri, drive to Kroger <there's one I go to all the time that is 10 minutes from my house>" Watch: "Now playing <some band I've never heard of, that isn't in my library>" Simultaneously, iPhone: "Getting directions to Kroger <shows results that are ~700 miles away>" Or: Me, to my iPhone: "Hey, Siri, start a yoga workout." iPhone: <starts playing a Yoga video on Fitness+, instead of starting the plain Yoga tracking workout I do every day> Edit: I just remembered another one. I was mowing the lawn on Sunday and wanted to start an outdoor walk. The mower was off, and I had my AirPods in: Me: "Siri, start an outdoor walk" iPhone: "Ok, I've cancelled your alarm for tomorrow"

amluto 5y ago
I’ll bite. Me to watch: Hey Siri, call so-and-so on Bluetooth Siri: calls so-and-so with Bluetooth selected but nonetheless the audio comes out the watch until I touch the phone. Siri on Apple Watch is generally very weak.
FabHK 5y ago
"Hey Siri, is my phone still charging?" - "The current volume is 43%".
retSava 5y ago
When I'm a cynical, I'm thinking bad search and bad implementations (to me) are really good implementations, the difference is that the goal is not my goal. Examples: * when starting to type, Chrome address bar preferring to go to Google search, instead of the friggin site I've gone to a hundred times already! * Google maps, search seemingly doesn't deterministically remember my searches. If I start typing the same search term I did yesterday, well, odds are I'm looking it up again! Show that. * Windows start menu... oh don't get me started on that. :)
moffkalast 5y ago
Siri can't start an outdoor walk, silly. She doesn't have legs.
LgWoodenBadger 5y ago
I had this experience over the weekend: Uses Siri on Apple Watch to start a timer Uses Siri on Apple Watch to start a timer "Hey Siri, set a timer for 3 minutes" "Sorry, you don't have the Timer app installed"
- jonathankoren 5y ago
  This gets to a problem I’ve had with Siri once it rolled out to multiple devices. Each device has a different set of capabilities. Sometimes this makes sense (eg I don’t expect my TV to be able to place a call. It doesn’t have a microphone, nor a camera.), but many times it’s just bizarre. For instance, I can’t set an alarm on my laptop. It has a clock, yet I can’t do clock things. It seems like some basic feature (eg clock like features) should just be built in, and where that’s not feasible, perhaps some sort of device handoff, which essentially happens on the watch.
Hamuko 5y ago
I'm having trouble getting Siri to even understand me. I have a HomeKit scene called "Apartment lights off" (it turns off all the lights in the apartment surprisingly enough) and I often ask Siri to apply that scene. The amount of times Siri completely misunderstands me for something strange baffles me. "Upon lights off – Sorry, I don't understand." "Obama lights off – Sorry, still don't get it." Sometimes it just picks up the "lights off" part, prompting me "Which room?" And when I say "Apartment lights off" again, Siri will then reply with "Sorry, I can't find that scene in the current home." At that point, I need to close the Siri prompt and do it again. If Siri understand me that time, then I will actually get that scene applied.
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  Try using groups instead of scenes. Also, key by room, or even use blanket universals (rather than say apartment). “Turn on all living room lights” works. Also, “turn off all lights” will flip off everything in our house. Groups are awesome. I have 3 blinds in the north of living room, so I called the, north west, north center, and north east. But they are in the north group, so I usually put them all up at once by saying “open north blinds.”
  - Hamuko 5y ago
    The problem with "turn off all lights" is that if I have some third-party devices in HomeKit that are not actually lights but are registered like lights, they go off as well. Also, it's a studio apartment, so there's not really "rooms" strictly speaking.
    - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
      You can always assign them to rooms even if you just have one room. But I think groups would work for your case. Like say put all your actual lights in the actual group. And then say “turn on actual lights.” Scenes..I can’t really figure them out. They seem way too complex for what I want to do, which is to turn things off and on.
ubermonkey 5y ago
Having multiple things actively listening for "Hey Siri" seems like a problem you've created, honestly. I have my phone set to only engage Siri with the long button press. It saves a lot of trouble.
- robmccoll 5y ago
  Blaming the user for the lack of simple coordination between devices when they buy into your ecosystem across multiple devices and attempt to use the advertised features doesn't seem like a great product strategy.
  - oneplane 5y ago
    Is it really blame if it's simply a technical deficiency? I imagine that if I put 10 iPhones on a desk and say "Hey Siri", that wouldn't work out too well. Doesn't mean we have to start "blaming" people, companies and things.
    - tebruno99 5y ago
      The phone and watch are advertised as intergraded with each other so this does not happen. Just like answering FaceTime on one device is supposed to stop the others from ringing. It is a feature of the watch and iPhone to figure out which should be listening and it is broken. To the article’s point, Amazon’s has no problem Determining which should answer a question if they are all the same account piled on your desk.
      - birdyrooster 5y ago
        And yet there are alarms set on the watch which are separate from alarms set on the paired phone. It’s really madness.
    - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
      We are not talking about ten phones on a desk. We are talking about a phone and a watch, which are explicitly designed to and advertised as working together. Surely you see the distinction between your thought experiment and the actual scenario in question?
adolph 5y ago
How has Doonesbury not put Siri out of her misery? I started using this garbage with the 4S and while there have been under the hood improvements of onboard processing, etc, the core product has never gained the implicit context awareness promised and needed. As far as I can tell, it's a checkbox zombie "feature" that never met the usability threshold to become something for normal people but organizationally aged into slow development maturity. https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/mobile-computing/18/319 https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/mobile-computing/...
vrc 5y ago
Recently I went through the trouble to create lists to use Siri to add shopping items. I say, “add mustard oil”. Siri then adds “mustard” and “oil”. No problem, I’m smart. So I create a custom word in my phone and train it on my pronunciation. Try again, “mustard” and “oil”. Guess I’m going to be shopping for “oil of mustard” then
- nanidin 5y ago
  I have also found Siri’s voice recognition for shopping list items lackluster, especially compared to Alexa. I’m guessing it has to do with Amazon having a better model of actual subjects/products due to having a storefront with said items. It’s really bad when I’m at the store looking at something in my list scratching my head over what “Silicon Matt to sit rock song” is supposed to be without any way to hear what was actually said or give feedback that what Siri did was wrong.
rasz 5y ago
Are you Scottish by any chance? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8
- JadoJodo 5y ago
  I am not :/

amluto 5y ago

I’ll bite. Me to watch: Hey Siri, call so-and-so on Bluetooth Siri: calls so-and-so with Bluetooth selected but nonetheless the audio comes out the watch until I touch the phone. Siri on Apple Watch is generally very weak.

FabHK 5y ago

"Hey Siri, is my phone still charging?" - "The current volume is 43%".

retSava 5y ago

When I'm a cynical, I'm thinking bad search and bad implementations (to me) are really good implementations, the difference is that the goal is not my goal. Examples: * when starting to type, Chrome address bar preferring to go to Google search, instead of the friggin site I've gone to a hundred times already! * Google maps, search seemingly doesn't deterministically remember my searches. If I start typing the same search term I did yesterday, well, odds are I'm looking it up again! Show that. * Windows start menu... oh don't get me started on that. :)

moffkalast 5y ago

Siri can't start an outdoor walk, silly. She doesn't have legs.

LgWoodenBadger 5y ago

I had this experience over the weekend: Uses Siri on Apple Watch to start a timer Uses Siri on Apple Watch to start a timer "Hey Siri, set a timer for 3 minutes" "Sorry, you don't have the Timer app installed"

jonathankoren 5y ago
This gets to a problem I’ve had with Siri once it rolled out to multiple devices. Each device has a different set of capabilities. Sometimes this makes sense (eg I don’t expect my TV to be able to place a call. It doesn’t have a microphone, nor a camera.), but many times it’s just bizarre. For instance, I can’t set an alarm on my laptop. It has a clock, yet I can’t do clock things. It seems like some basic feature (eg clock like features) should just be built in, and where that’s not feasible, perhaps some sort of device handoff, which essentially happens on the watch.

Hamuko 5y ago

I'm having trouble getting Siri to even understand me. I have a HomeKit scene called "Apartment lights off" (it turns off all the lights in the apartment surprisingly enough) and I often ask Siri to apply that scene. The amount of times Siri completely misunderstands me for something strange baffles me. "Upon lights off – Sorry, I don't understand." "Obama lights off – Sorry, still don't get it." Sometimes it just picks up the "lights off" part, prompting me "Which room?" And when I say "Apartment lights off" again, Siri will then reply with "Sorry, I can't find that scene in the current home." At that point, I need to close the Siri prompt and do it again. If Siri understand me that time, then I will actually get that scene applied.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Try using groups instead of scenes. Also, key by room, or even use blanket universals (rather than say apartment). “Turn on all living room lights” works. Also, “turn off all lights” will flip off everything in our house. Groups are awesome. I have 3 blinds in the north of living room, so I called the, north west, north center, and north east. But they are in the north group, so I usually put them all up at once by saying “open north blinds.”
- Hamuko 5y ago
  The problem with "turn off all lights" is that if I have some third-party devices in HomeKit that are not actually lights but are registered like lights, they go off as well. Also, it's a studio apartment, so there's not really "rooms" strictly speaking.
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    You can always assign them to rooms even if you just have one room. But I think groups would work for your case. Like say put all your actual lights in the actual group. And then say “turn on actual lights.” Scenes..I can’t really figure them out. They seem way too complex for what I want to do, which is to turn things off and on.

ubermonkey 5y ago

Having multiple things actively listening for "Hey Siri" seems like a problem you've created, honestly. I have my phone set to only engage Siri with the long button press. It saves a lot of trouble.

robmccoll 5y ago
Blaming the user for the lack of simple coordination between devices when they buy into your ecosystem across multiple devices and attempt to use the advertised features doesn't seem like a great product strategy.
- oneplane 5y ago
  Is it really blame if it's simply a technical deficiency? I imagine that if I put 10 iPhones on a desk and say "Hey Siri", that wouldn't work out too well. Doesn't mean we have to start "blaming" people, companies and things.
  - tebruno99 5y ago
    The phone and watch are advertised as intergraded with each other so this does not happen. Just like answering FaceTime on one device is supposed to stop the others from ringing. It is a feature of the watch and iPhone to figure out which should be listening and it is broken. To the article’s point, Amazon’s has no problem Determining which should answer a question if they are all the same account piled on your desk.
    - birdyrooster 5y ago
      And yet there are alarms set on the watch which are separate from alarms set on the paired phone. It’s really madness.
  - asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
    We are not talking about ten phones on a desk. We are talking about a phone and a watch, which are explicitly designed to and advertised as working together. Surely you see the distinction between your thought experiment and the actual scenario in question?

adolph 5y ago

How has Doonesbury not put Siri out of her misery? I started using this garbage with the 4S and while there have been under the hood improvements of onboard processing, etc, the core product has never gained the implicit context awareness promised and needed. As far as I can tell, it's a checkbox zombie "feature" that never met the usability threshold to become something for normal people but organizationally aged into slow development maturity. https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/mobile-computing/18/319 https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/mobile-computing/...

vrc 5y ago

Recently I went through the trouble to create lists to use Siri to add shopping items. I say, “add mustard oil”. Siri then adds “mustard” and “oil”. No problem, I’m smart. So I create a custom word in my phone and train it on my pronunciation. Try again, “mustard” and “oil”. Guess I’m going to be shopping for “oil of mustard” then

nanidin 5y ago
I have also found Siri’s voice recognition for shopping list items lackluster, especially compared to Alexa. I’m guessing it has to do with Amazon having a better model of actual subjects/products due to having a storefront with said items. It’s really bad when I’m at the store looking at something in my list scratching my head over what “Silicon Matt to sit rock song” is supposed to be without any way to hear what was actually said or give feedback that what Siri did was wrong.

rasz 5y ago

Are you Scottish by any chance? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8

JadoJodo 5y ago
I am not :/