You may guess the above conversation is between a boss and his secretary or personal assistant. Well, you have guessed it wrong. This was a conversation between an Apple iPhone 4S user with an inbuilt feature Siri. Yes, Siri, the intelligent personal assistant by Apple. She is the latest and technologically advanced application that provides you more than the traditional voice recognition software. They call her, ‘Siri – Future of Mobile Search’. It won’t come as a surprise when people will rely more on Siri for setting reminders and scheduling their appointments. A human personal assistant will not become obsolete, but will have better work support with the tool called Siri.
According to Apple, Siri is your personal assistant. She not only recognizes voice commands, but also interacts with you ‘real-time’. She was once, just a simple app on the iPhone. This voice recognition feature was not an original concept by Apple. It was actually the brainchild of Siri Inc. and called Siri Personal Assistant. Apple took over Siri Inc. in 2010 and then pulled out the app from Apple Store. They set up a project in their lab and developed Siri into a more user-friendly feature. Today, Siri has a lot to offer and makes the use of iPhone 4S a seamless experience for the user.
Siri helps get things done by just listening to the user. She helps schedule meetings, appointments, place a phone call, send messages, search for your favorite restaurants and carry out many more commands. She requires a dual-core A5 chip processor to function and needs 3G or Wi-Fi networks. These networks help her connect to the Apple data center instantly and give the user quick results.
Is Siri a Benchmark App?Siri has created history in the world of mobile phones. She recognizes voices distinctly and gives the user results without any glitches. She can support apps like:
- Make and receive video calls on the phone
- Music
- Check, receive and send mails
- Send messages
- Calendar
- Reminders
- Notes
- Help check the weather
- Set Alarms/Timer/World Clock
- Use FaceTime for video calls
- Check the stocks, etc.
Siri is so smart, that her almost correct results will give you the spooks. For example, if you ask her, ‘Do I need to wear warm clothes?’, she will reply, ‘The weather forecast for the day is warm and sunny’. She will also display the weather forecast for the entire week in your region on the phone. Ask her anything and you will get an answer. She will become your friend, guide and companion. Siri is a revolutionary innovation that will bring about a drastic change in the way mobile phones are used. The question is, ‘will Siri change the rules of the search game?’. The answer is a definite YES. As you can see, other Operating Systems are already working towards developing a software similar to Siri and mobile phones will evolve with an interactive voice recognition as a default feature.
Is Siri a Distinct Feature of Mobile Phones?After the initial hoopla of the new iPhone 4S launch, users started to uncover the new apps provided in the new phone. Many began to question if Siri will become a distinct feature of mobile phones. Siri, as mentioned in the previous paragraphs, was a part of iPhone apps, before it got pulled out of the Apple Store. Even Android has Google’s Voice Search TTS. They even have Vlingo that help users control and access their device with voice commands. However, within 8 hours of unveiling the iPhone 4S, Dextra got busy and released Iris for Android phones. Iris is Siri spelled backwards and helps the user with online queries, texts and even calls. The app is still under development and may give many amusing but not so accurate responses to the user at times. On a similar note, Amazon has acquired Yap. This is another voice recognition company that will compete with Apple’s Siri. The basic idea of creating alternatives to Siri remains the same in different Operating Systems (OS). This idea is nothing but coming up with an interactive voice search for mobile devices. This means, Siri is here to stay and will definitely change the way we use mobile phones. Soon Siri, Iris and other similar apps will become a distinct feature of smartphones to be released in the future.
As you can see, Siri is called the HELPER. She is similar to the ‘Androids’ or ‘Humanoids’ that are touted to help humans with their daily tasks in our not so distant future. She will make our mobile phones more interactive and interesting. With the press of a button, you can control your phone with voice. No need to waste precious minutes typing messages or notes. Just say what you need to type and Siri will do it for you. If you have a sudden urge to hear your favorite music number, no need to search the entire music library on your phone. All you need to do is say, ‘I want to hear Love the Way You Lie and Siri will play it for you instantly. Siri has definitely changed the facet of mobile phones. We will soon see people ‘talking to’ their phone, instead of just ‘talking on’ their phone. This is one major aspect of Siri and use of phones. Thus, Siri is the future of mobile phones. You may call Iris, Yap and similar apps as imitators of Siri, but they are here to stay. With updates coming in every now and then, Siri will become even better and exciting to use with time. Siri can be called the pioneer app that will change the way one searches or types on cell phones. So say good-bye to QWERTY and touch and type phones. It is time, we welcome our new Personal Assistant Siri. In the end, we humbly bow down to the great Steve Jobs, who has brought about a revolution in the world of mobile phones.
Note: iPhone 4S users in the UK and France will hear a male voice talking to them when they use Siri. In the UK and France, Siri has been given a male voice called Daniel. Whereas, users in the United States, Australia and Germany will be greeted by a female voice called ‘Siri’. If you wish, you can change the voice from male to female or female to male by switching the language settings. Just tap ‘Settings’ —> ‘General’ —> ‘Siri’ —> ‘Change Language’.