“As it has done quietly in past builds, Apple’s latest iOS 8.3 release makes improvements to its Siri voice assistant in the way of more natural sounding speech synthesis,” Jordan Kahn reports for 9to5Mac.
“As noted by our tipsters, the change is particularly noticeable on the words ‘potato’ and ‘America’ in the comparison,” Kahn reports. “You’ll hear iOS 8.1.1 first in the audio comparison followed by the new and improved iOS 8.3.”
Kahn reports, “The improvements come ahead of the Apple Watch launch, which relies heavily on Siri and could always benefit from enhanced speech technology.”
Listen to the new and improved Siri voice in iOS 8.3 here.
That will be very soothing as she diverts me to Radio Shack for a slice of pizza…
I’m a huge Apple fan, but Siri is terrible. I also don’t care what the voice sounds like since she isn’t even close to as useful and speedy as Google. I hope they get it squared away before the AppleWatch is distributed.
But have they fixed “her” pronouncing Broadway? Instead of “ad-wee-i-nay”?
I have 8.1.3 and I noticed a clear improvement in pronunciation of some names in my Contacts.
The second sounds EXACTLY like the pronunciation in iOS 8.3. I listened several times. The issue is the pronunciation of “tuber” and how Siri runs it into America, imho.
I mean the supposedly better sounding Siri in 8.3 sounds exactly like Siri in 8.1.3 to me.
Yes, but it wasn’t immediate, which is why I’m so confused. I had two devices with the same OS. One took another 24 hours before Siri’s inflection and intonation changed on some words. Nonetheless, it sounds better.
Who gives a shit was she sounds like, until she can understand what I sound like?
Until Siri can figure it out, I’d say you sound bitter.
iOS 8.3 “latest release” does not exist. They must mean 8.1.3.
iOS 8.3 was seeded to developers a week or two ago. It features wireless carplay, new emoji layout, Google Two-Factor authorization, and apple pay in china.
source: every apple blog on february 9th
Disable the shield!
Siri pronounces a street in Maps near me as Matchler instead of MacLure (Mac-Lure). My wife and I have begun to call it Matchler also now and get a giggle out of it.
Friends told me that Siri read “Malcolm X Boulevard” as “Malcolm the 10th Boulevard.” Haven’t tested that myself.
Wasn’t there a TV show about Malcolm V?
my favorite has been HanCOCK street rather than HANcock street.
now if they would just improve Siri’s search function. She can’t even find the phone number for my local police department, yet google finds it instantly.
What I’m hearing in the new Siri voice is some sort of artifact that sounds like it could be from compression. It’s adding a sawtooth wave distortion to what would otherwise sound ‘natural’ to me.
I know of MUCH better voices and voice quality. But I know their voice files are relatively massive and I suspect they’d eat a lot more resources that the Siri voices. (There are more than one. I personally prefer the British English voice ‘Daniel’ over the American English voice ‘Samantha’).
She is just as bad as auto correct. And that is a mess.