It's difficult to observe someone talking to Siri. I believe Apple preemptively realised that people wouldn't like to talk aloud to their phones in public (and

It's difficult to observe someone talking to Siri. I believe Apple preemptively realised that people wouldn't like to talk aloud to their phones in public (and in the process revealing their personal requirements/plans to anyone in ear shot). The much better method of using Siri in public is with the handset against the ear. In public it's much easier, more accurate and far less obvious to use this other method of activating Siri: When the screen is on, picking up the phone and putting the handset to ones ear will activate Siri, but far more discretely that the usual full volume activation. Any casual observer won't even realise that the user is engaging Siri, let alone talking to a robot. This is also part of the problem with the "accuracy" studies of Siri in public places. It's just non sensical to be shouting at your phone over street noise, of course the accuracy is decreasing in this environment. Not even the users voice is the same in this environment. However when using the handset to the ear method: the accuracy remains acceptably high, and no one has to look silly publicly announcing their dinner plans.