“Why would Apple leave Siri out of the new iPad?”John Brownlee asks for Cult of Mac. “It all comes down to two things.”
“The first is that Siri requires an Internet connection to work, and with the iPad [unlike iPhone], Apple can’t count on an Internet connection being present at all times,” Brownlee reports. “Even with the 4G models, though, Apple can’t count on an internet connection at all times because the device isn’t linked to a wireless carrier contract: it’s pay-as-you-go. In fact, many people only pay for wireless internet on their iPads when they truly need it, like when they’re away from home and traveling.”
Brownlee reports, “There’s another reason why Apple didn’t put Siri in the new iPad. Siri’s broken. That’s going to be a contentious statement, but it’s true. Siri — a beta by Apple’s own admission — is quantifiably dumber, less intelligent and less useful than it was just five months ago when it first launched… The fact that Siri is so much dumber now than it was at launch points to Apple having problems ramping it up to the extreme demand of the iPhone 4S. I don’t know for certain, but my guess is that so many people are hammering on Siri right now that Apple has to devote far less time and processing power to calculating Siri’s answers, returning measurably less intelligent answers than just a few months ago.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What do you think, has Siri beta gotten less intelligent and less useful than she was at launch? Answer below and/or in our poll on our main site on the left.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Lava_Head_UK” and “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
I believe more now, that Siri was introduced for historical reasons. Another first from Apple while the great Steve Jobs was alive – one last claim of great UIs – a landmark and tribute to him. It’s great technology and has wonderful implementations but Apple needs to move on it NOW !!!!
SIRI is an important step to further differentiate Apple. Siri was said to have a about 1 year lead on the competition – however – has matched Siri and their are half-a-dozen alternatives by now.
So, I hope Apple has patents and protected this technology and will improve it very soon.
Personally I do not have an iPhone4s – but I have “Speakofit Assistant” which if SIRI is beta this is as good on my iPAD (gen1). Yeah, it is helpful but no, I do not use it always. ONCE SIRI becomes more integrated into the iOS – perhaps to switch apps – or copy text – or help in other ways – I think SIRI will shine a 1000 times greater and really become a UI. Let’s hope so.
If you want Siri on your iPad please sign my petition to apple. Also post on your twitter and Facebook. Let apple know!!
http://www.change.org/petitions/i-want-siri-on-my-new-ipad
I actually notice Siri significantly better. I was so disappointed with Siri the first month that I got out of the habit of using it. But lately responses and dictation seem much faster and more accurate. But I’m struggling to remember to use it frequently.
For example, near launch asking “who was the 23rd president of the united states?” (which Siri correctly understood) returned the response, “Do you want me to call President Keller or President Hariguchi?” from my address book. Now, “Benjamin Harrison”.
People already talk into a phone, it is held to your head regularly and doesn’t look stupid.
Holding an iPad up to your mouth looks kind of dumb in public.
My main issue with Siri is that it drops out prematurely unless I talk really loud, I feel like I’m shouting.
While I appreciate the article, the idea that Siri is on theiPhone but isn’t on the iPad because the iPad doesn’t have a constant Internet connection, just doesn’t ring true. The iPhone 4S has the same 4G & WiFi connection that the new iPad (4G) does.
No, it makes much more sense that Apple is concerned about stretching Siri too thin at this time. Just not yet ready for Prime Time.
I have been amazed at the accuracy of Siri.
But after getting a replacement 4s after battery issue the new phone was terrible at voice dictation (not Siri commands) in any app. It just hangs like it is trying to work out what I said. Mostly if I say a one word answer it will ‘reset’ her and the following dictations work, though with common mistakes.
If I used Siri to trigger the app it would be fine (ie a text message) but if I use the voice dictation button I get the bug
Lately with Siri I get a lot of ‘just a second’ responses in the middle of commands which does take a little longer but still useable.
No excuses! Apple should have found a way! Essential feature, huge miss by Apple! But then again Apple is started to be known for X.1 updates to products rather than fully upgrading them! Why? Because people will buy them no matter what! It sucks, but it is what it is!
Siri’s pretty much worthless in LA… The network is so jammed here, over half the time she comes with “I’m sorry, can’t help you now”. Dumber? I’m not sure about that… She doesn’t seem as sharp and interesting as she did when we first met, but that’s typically what happens when the honeymoon is over, no?
Siri is imperfect. She has always screwed up, but she texts while I drive, calls when I walk the dog or drive the car, reads me my texts, plays with me when I’m bored. I don’t know if she is getting dumber, but she eventually gets it right. I’m looking forward to her/our evolution.
My Siri has worked perfectly from the moment I got my phone at launch when I had to bribe an unnamed person for it up untill now. I hear alot of this talk. My $.02 is that the people are getting dumber, people try to ramble off trying to ask impossible things of an early stage beta and forget that its a computer and that you need to treat it like one. Siri takes many things quite literally! I’m a jailbreaker and there have been tons of Siri tweaks already that make it SOOO much more useful as well. One for instance is speaking into Siri and asking her to translate into one of 40-50 other languages. Or “speak events” is a tweak that will automatically read out notifications and the message bodies when you get them,( may not be for everyone who gets alot of personal or embarrassing emails and texted but I wear a Bluetooth and the moment I get a notification whether it’s text,email, or words with friends I get detailed info without having to push a single button or even looking at my phone
She no longer knows how to respond to, “Close the pod bay doors.”
I tried it a few days ago, to show a friend, and the fickle bitch too me she didn’t understand!
Not sure if “dumb”/”dumber” is the right wording for Siri. From my part of the world (CalIfornia), Siri works 50-70% of the time. I have full confidence that Apple is hard at work. I can only image an iTV with Siri; but I’ll state that it won’t be out for another 1-3 years.
Siri used to understand what I asked. Now I have to say the same thing slowly and try several times before she gets it right. Linda like a real girlfriend. Haha
Siri Oragin Is DARPA Apple Purchased It from them back when iAd was released, But Never Used It I Still Have The Siri App, Back Then It was Just a Location based App Now It’s Part of iOS 5 and to dial a number on my Verizon iPhone 4Gs, My AT&T 4G Works Much Better With out Her In The Way much faster dialing, But She Has Been Around for the last few years, Her Potential Is unlimited If They Focus On Her Development she was developed to be artificial intelligence. Do A back round search on her, And I think You will get a better picture of Siri