“If you were disappointed by the fact that Apple has made Siri an exclusive iPhone 4S feature, there is still some hope for you,” Alexander Vaughn reports for AppAdvice. “We’re being told that there is still a chance that Apple will be bringing the feature to older iDevices such as the iPhone 4.”
“Indeed, as revealed by the folks at Jailbreaknation, Apple is still considering releasing Siri on the iPhone 4 and went as far as installing a special built of iOS 5 that includes Siri on a number of Apple employee’s iPhone 4 recently to test it out for a few days,” Vaughn reports. “The news, comes from a source of Jailbreaknation close to Apple, which they were kind enough to let us verify, and it does appear to be legitimate.”
Vaughn reports, “A second source also confirmed to us that the test went really well as far as performance is concerned. Unfortunately, the microphone of the iPhone 4 is not as good as the 4S one, and this might be holding Siri back if they can’t overcome this with software.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Don” for the heads up.]
I’ll be buying a 4s soon… But please let my iPad 2 have one!
iPhone 4 would be nice anyway.
Not sure how well it is going to be. Siri has simultaneous voice recognition held on the device locally and on Apple’s servers remotely. So iPhone 4 at times might lag comparing to iPhone 4S.
iPad version is not really probable for the nearest future since this devices is less personal, it is not supposed to be always with you.
However, eventually Siri might become omnipresent on iDevices and elsewhere, but for that it has to be the one and same personal assistant across all of these devices. So any actions that Siri does would be known to all Siri versions.
Where do you get that Siri keeps VR on the device locally too? Without a network connection, Siri doesn’t do any VR at all. It doesn’t even fall back to the old Voice Control, you have to manually disable Siri for that.
There was an article about that recently. Simpler version of voice recognition is done locally on the device. If the function that needs to be done is purely local and if Siri is quite sure that it understood you, then it sends cancel signal to Apple’s servers so they would not bother with processing there and not send results back.
Well, you are wrong, I always have my iPad2 with me. I think Siri should be available for iPad, since most of people bring it with them in the backpacks or purses, so it would be very convinent to have voice commander to do all the stuff.
iPhone 4 and 4S have a dual-microphone system to filter out background noise. iPads don’t. Because of that, I seriously doubt Siri will be coming to the iPad or iPad 2.
The other thing to consider is that many iPads only have wifi and Siri does not work at all without a data connection.
Siri works fine on a wifi connection, it doesn’t need a cell data connection. Verified when I had my boss’ new 4S on airplane mode all last weekend.
A microphone? O rly? What about people using Siri WITH the standard headset in Apple’s ads?
You make an excellent point! And you just invalidated Vaughn’s point.
Why can’t they make an adapter that fits in the headphone jack that sits almost flush that has a mic that allows them to do whatever tricks necessary for Siri to discern your voice from the ambient?
Do the iPads have a built in microphone ?
Yes.
Having just spent £699 on a 4s I’d prefer Siri on my iPad 2 pllleeeeease 😉
I had the siri app on my iPhone 4 for a year and used it everyday with no problem. I know the new interface is more complex but I would love to have my simpler version turned back on. Seems silly they dumped the app and left we 4 owners hanging.
Siri, and her many iterations will soon become a maternally-attentive maiden making your life richer and better, than if you had a personal assistant, and she’ll soon be residing in every device Apple makes, including the Macintosh.
She may point the way to newer devices and products, but there’s a point at which all tracks merge, while others will stop, but, the world will come to know Siri as an ally.
Well, there goes the one feature that really made the iPhone 4S stand out.
Hope you iPhone 4 owners get it soon 🙂
The iPhone 4S is a warmed over version of the 4. A redux of the 4, if you will. There’s no earthly reason why Siri can’t be ported to the 4, and the iPad, unless Apple wants to goose sales of the 4S, which let’s face it, without the distinguishing features of Siri, has very little to recommend it, possessing an underwhelming 3.5″ screen.
Seems to really be hurting sales. Dumbfuck.
That’s why it’s called a 4S and not a 5. That still doesn’t validate your point. The 4S has a dual core A5 processor, the the 4 does not. Perhaps it runs like crap on the A4.
If Apple called the 4S a 5 then perhaps you’d have a valid reason to complain about the upgrade. Quit your bitching already. You’ve done it time and time again over the past few weeks. Your bitching isn’t going to make the screen grow. Seriously it’s getting as annoying as the “gloss = no sale” comments. Your point has been made.
If bigger screens are better, then why not 5″, or 6″, no wait make that 7″, etc…
Complete NONSENSE.
The 4s is a complete different phone. In fact, the only similarity between the 4 and 4s is the case. EVERYTHING else is different.
New Antenna, new double core processor, new camera, new microphone, New OS, and Siri. The case is the same – Thats it.
There is no reason for the 4 to get this feature. It is expected that as new phones come out, there are going to be features that only the new phone has. This was true with the 3gs over the 3g and first gen, and certainly was true with the 4 over the 3gs. It only makes sense that the 4s would have a feature or features that the 4 doesn’t…
Joe – couldn’t agree with you more. The lack of a dual core A5 processor and the mic system would more than likely hinder it’s use with a plain old 4. Not only that, it would eliminate the main reason that people are buying the 4s… The speed and camera improvements are nice but not that attractive. And Dragon Go! and Dragon Dictation go a long way with a 4. Just no verbal app interoperability like Siri has with the Reminder and Calendar.
I am still hoping, though, that Apple will sort out whatever is holding it back to make Siri available on the 4, and yes, the 3GS.
What about a (nearly full-featured) Siri Lite (or Siri + required $5 Siri enhancer) for the 4 [and 3GS]?
I disagree, there are plenty of reasons for them to do this, allow me to list some:
1. Google is freaking over SIRI, put it in the $99 phone and they are really in trouble.
2. Plenty of people locked into their contracts with a 4, what better way to extend the value and brand name than this. It shows a big differentiation with android, most droids cannot even run the latest droid OS, let allow roll out groundbreaking new features.
3. Charge for it like and app, there are lot of iPhone 4 handsets in the market. I’d pay $5 bucks for it rather than have to wait a year or two. Thats a lot of revenue.
4. It is groundbreaking, I already know people who exclaim how they could not live without it, people are going nuts for it. What better way to ensure iPhone 4 customers become 4S/5 customers in the future. Who’s gonna want to go back to something else after integrating Siri in their daily use?
I believe Siri is destined for ALL apple products eventually, I see no reason to abandon iPhone 4 customers when you can further delight them with something they were not expecting, but would certainly welcome. It will only serve to elevate the Apple brand.
I think they probably wanted to see how the 4s was going to sell before deciding on putting it in the 4. Just playing it safe.
And it could be, considering Siri is a BETA product after all, is that Apple is also testing the server performance under load. If it performs well then maybe they’ll open it up to more i-devices. Or maybe they’ll have to add more servers to the Siri function before they decide to do so. There could be a lot of reasons why Siri isn’t yet (or maybe never will be) open to the 4 and the iPads. My bet is that Apple just isn’t going to release it until it meets their standards. I really don’t think they’re doing it just to sell more 4Ss.
If Apple wants some additional CONCENTRATED feedback on the product, put it on the iPad2. iPad2 is a much better platform for grinding on Siri on topics usually NOT used on a true mobile device because, you typically have other things to focus on in that environment… like not running off the bridge… Just saying…