4 ms·

Since when has Siri been "an embarrassment for Apple?"

esolyt 14y ago
Always. But especially after Google Now.
weaksauce 14y ago
That's what I was wondering. It's not perfect, but what it does it does well for me. Setting timers, alarms, etc... all work pretty well.
timdorr 14y ago
It's had a similar number of issues, as compared to Maps. The difference is, it didn't replace or introduce a must-have feature in iOS. As a result, it's failures were something users are able to overlook because Siri is still, essentially, a toy feature. It's not key to the phone's operation; heck it's non-obvious that it's even a feature because no where on the interface indicates that it exists (it's a hidden long-press action on the home button). Maps, however, is crucial to most people that use an iPhone. After telephony and web functions, it's probably the next most used feature. So, any failure by it, even if it's slight, is amplified. Yes, you can use Google Maps on the web or another app (MapQuest should really be capitalizing on this opportunity to reclaim some relevance), but it's one of the default icons on the home screen and where most people are going to head first. It would be like the dialer not being able to call certain phone numbers or the text message not working with certain recipients. It's a vital function and has to work. I would say Siri is probably more of a failure than Maps, but because of it's non-essential nature, that feature is able to get away with what Maps can't.
- TheGateKeeper 14y ago
  > Maps, however, is crucial to most people that use an iPhone Citation please. Nobody I know uses google maps, even when we travel (which is a lot).
  - TruthElixirX 14y ago
    I used it three times yesterday.
  - nohat 14y ago
    Citation might be difficult, but since we are doing anecdotal evidence anyway my experience is that most people use maps apps extensively.
  - philh 14y ago
    How do you know that nobody you know uses Google maps? I'm assuming you know at least a few people who own smartphones and who you do not often travel with; have you asked them whether they use Google maps?
    - TheGateKeeper 14y ago
      What an insulting question. Of course I asked them - I'm not going to fire off that statement without checking with them.
  - markshepard 14y ago
    Interesting. I was thinking the same thing. Everytime I decide to depend on ios4 maps (pre-debacle) for active usage (while driving), I end up getting lost because it was horribly offcourse. Other than offline direction search, I learnt not to depend on it. So technically, other than the Schadenfreude, I dont really have a lot of problem with ios6 maps since I can fireup maps.google.com for maps/directions
  - sambeau 14y ago
    Citation! <anecdote>
  - glenra 14y ago
    FWIW, the first thing I did when I first bought an iPhone was move Maps onto the taskbar - replacing Mail - since I used Maps more than any other phone feature.
  - mikeash 14y ago
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
paul9290 14y ago
Since it doesn't work 100 percent perfectly and I assume many users dont have the patience to get the most out it. Personally I use it daily but I do at times need to rephrase or restate my question or request.
joejohnson 14y ago
Since lame tech bloggers decided Apple is ruined sans Jobs.
OSButler 14y ago
The biggest issue with Siri was the same as with the current Maps blunder, where it works well for US users, but causes issues for everyone else. There are some videos of non-native English speakers trying to use Siri on their new 4s (before additional languages were added), which are quite funny actually. The same goes for the new Maps, which seems to have most of its issues related to countries outside the US. But especially with iOS6, it's actually the first time for me personally where I feel like I'm downgrading my device instead of upgrading it: youtube app - gone, maps - replaced with inferior alternative, ...
tlogan 14y ago
Does it work for you? I stil have to meet a single person which actually can ask Siri something and Siri understands it and gives reasonable answer... I was under impression that it did not work because I'm ESL speaker: but it also does not work for people who speak english very well. Aha and there is class action lawsuit: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/06/12/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-apples-siri-technology/ http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/06/12/class-action-lawsuit-file... Here is the quote: Ryan asked Siri, “What is a class action?” Siri told her, “I found this meeting.”
- arrrg 14y ago
  Works for me. If it doesn’t, it’s because I asked something Siri inherently does not understand. I think it’s pretty useful and use it sometimes.
- mikeryan 14y ago
  Siri works fabulously for me. Here's how I use it, these use cases work consistently. 1. Call my wife at her office. 2. Text My Wife - I'll be home in 15 minutes. 3. Set a timer for 15 minutes. 4. Where's the closest Mc Donalds. Obviously I'm not looking for a magic speaking encyclopedia of knowledge, that being said my primary use case for Siri is in the car, and for 90% of what I need to do it works fine. BTW I just asked Siri "What is a class action" and it asked me if I wanted to search the web for "What is a class action" and it found the definition. I'll give it this though, whether automated or manually Siri's been pretty consistently tuned to get better and better as its gone along which was likely to happen as it got a larger and larger dataset to work with.
  - rscale 14y ago
    Siri gets even more interesting if you use Siriproxy, which allows you to write your own code to extend Siri's vocabulary and define custom actions. It's not friendly for non-technical folks, but it's great for hackers.
  - mikeash 14y ago
    Yep, works nicely for me too. Definitely a net positive in functionality on the phone, even if it's limited and not entirely reliable. Text messaging can be MUCH faster with it, especially if my hands are busy. It's no AI and you'll have trouble if you treat it as such, but if you think of it as list of occasionally useful things that it can do, then it's pretty handy.
zmmmmm 14y ago
Might not be so much about functionality as that it was down an awful lot when it was launched. To the point where several people I know gave up relying on it - a feature that works less than 95% of the time quickly becomes 0% useful because the small fraction of failures is so frustrating and annoying that you avoid the whole thing (until recently this problem applied to speech recognition in general, but it's just finally getting over that hump, I think).

Always. But especially after Google Now.

That's what I was wondering. It's not perfect, but what it does it does well for me. Setting timers, alarms, etc... all work pretty well.

timdorr 14y ago

It's had a similar number of issues, as compared to Maps. The difference is, it didn't replace or introduce a must-have feature in iOS. As a result, it's failures were something users are able to overlook because Siri is still, essentially, a toy feature. It's not key to the phone's operation; heck it's non-obvious that it's even a feature because no where on the interface indicates that it exists (it's a hidden long-press action on the home button). Maps, however, is crucial to most people that use an iPhone. After telephony and web functions, it's probably the next most used feature. So, any failure by it, even if it's slight, is amplified. Yes, you can use Google Maps on the web or another app (MapQuest should really be capitalizing on this opportunity to reclaim some relevance), but it's one of the default icons on the home screen and where most people are going to head first. It would be like the dialer not being able to call certain phone numbers or the text message not working with certain recipients. It's a vital function and has to work. I would say Siri is probably more of a failure than Maps, but because of it's non-essential nature, that feature is able to get away with what Maps can't.

TheGateKeeper 14y ago
> Maps, however, is crucial to most people that use an iPhone Citation please. Nobody I know uses google maps, even when we travel (which is a lot).
- TruthElixirX 14y ago
  I used it three times yesterday.
- nohat 14y ago
  Citation might be difficult, but since we are doing anecdotal evidence anyway my experience is that most people use maps apps extensively.
- philh 14y ago
  How do you know that nobody you know uses Google maps? I'm assuming you know at least a few people who own smartphones and who you do not often travel with; have you asked them whether they use Google maps?
  - TheGateKeeper 14y ago
    What an insulting question. Of course I asked them - I'm not going to fire off that statement without checking with them.
- markshepard 14y ago
  Interesting. I was thinking the same thing. Everytime I decide to depend on ios4 maps (pre-debacle) for active usage (while driving), I end up getting lost because it was horribly offcourse. Other than offline direction search, I learnt not to depend on it. So technically, other than the Schadenfreude, I dont really have a lot of problem with ios6 maps since I can fireup maps.google.com for maps/directions
- sambeau 14y ago
  Citation! <anecdote>
- glenra 14y ago
  FWIW, the first thing I did when I first bought an iPhone was move Maps onto the taskbar - replacing Mail - since I used Maps more than any other phone feature.
- mikeash 14y ago

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

paul9290 14y ago

Since it doesn't work 100 percent perfectly and I assume many users dont have the patience to get the most out it. Personally I use it daily but I do at times need to rephrase or restate my question or request.

joejohnson 14y ago

Since lame tech bloggers decided Apple is ruined sans Jobs.

OSButler 14y ago

The biggest issue with Siri was the same as with the current Maps blunder, where it works well for US users, but causes issues for everyone else. There are some videos of non-native English speakers trying to use Siri on their new 4s (before additional languages were added), which are quite funny actually. The same goes for the new Maps, which seems to have most of its issues related to countries outside the US. But especially with iOS6, it's actually the first time for me personally where I feel like I'm downgrading my device instead of upgrading it: youtube app - gone, maps - replaced with inferior alternative, ...

tlogan 14y ago

Does it work for you? I stil have to meet a single person which actually can ask Siri something and Siri understands it and gives reasonable answer... I was under impression that it did not work because I'm ESL speaker: but it also does not work for people who speak english very well. Aha and there is class action lawsuit: http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/06/12/class-action-lawsuit-filed-against-apples-siri-technology/ http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/06/12/class-action-lawsuit-file... Here is the quote: Ryan asked Siri, “What is a class action?” Siri told her, “I found this meeting.”

arrrg 14y ago
Works for me. If it doesn’t, it’s because I asked something Siri inherently does not understand. I think it’s pretty useful and use it sometimes.
mikeryan 14y ago
Siri works fabulously for me. Here's how I use it, these use cases work consistently. 1. Call my wife at her office. 2. Text My Wife - I'll be home in 15 minutes. 3. Set a timer for 15 minutes. 4. Where's the closest Mc Donalds. Obviously I'm not looking for a magic speaking encyclopedia of knowledge, that being said my primary use case for Siri is in the car, and for 90% of what I need to do it works fine. BTW I just asked Siri "What is a class action" and it asked me if I wanted to search the web for "What is a class action" and it found the definition. I'll give it this though, whether automated or manually Siri's been pretty consistently tuned to get better and better as its gone along which was likely to happen as it got a larger and larger dataset to work with.
- rscale 14y ago
  Siri gets even more interesting if you use Siriproxy, which allows you to write your own code to extend Siri's vocabulary and define custom actions. It's not friendly for non-technical folks, but it's great for hackers.
- mikeash 14y ago
  Yep, works nicely for me too. Definitely a net positive in functionality on the phone, even if it's limited and not entirely reliable. Text messaging can be MUCH faster with it, especially if my hands are busy. It's no AI and you'll have trouble if you treat it as such, but if you think of it as list of occasionally useful things that it can do, then it's pretty handy.

zmmmmm 14y ago

Might not be so much about functionality as that it was down an awful lot when it was launched. To the point where several people I know gave up relying on it - a feature that works less than 95% of the time quickly becomes 0% useful because the small fraction of failures is so frustrating and annoying that you avoid the whole thing (until recently this problem applied to speech recognition in general, but it's just finally getting over that hump, I think).