Top 5 things to know: iPhone 4S’s ‘Siri’

Top 5 things to know: iPhone 4S’s ‘Siri’

The exciting new program is generating considerable buzz as the smartphone’s sale begins today.

BY JEFFREY BAUSCH

Between last week’s iPhone 4S announcement and the unfortunate passing of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs (http://tinyurl.com/3prwopf), an exciting new technology launch from Apple is only now getting some attention. “Siri,” as it’s called, is one-part voice-recognition, one-part artificial intelligence. It’s a clever little personal assistant program that has everyone talking about all of the possibilities it has to offer.

Here are the top five things you need to know about it:

#1: Siri wasn’t developed in-house by Apple

It was created at SRI International (hence the name), an independent organization that actually launched the program on the iTunes App Store back in February 2010. Specifically, it came under SRI’s “CALO” Project, the largest artificial intelligence project in U.S. history. Up until the evening prior to Apple announcing that it’ll be available exclusively on the iPhone 4S, anyone could go to the iTunes App Store and download the original program for free and have it work on older iPhones (going back to the 3GS model).

Since purchasing the program, the Apple and Siri teams put their heads together and worked on ways to vastly improve the program. They’ve since removed the ability to download the older version from the Siri Web site and replaced them with links that now redirect to the Apple site.

#2: While it is available on the iPhone 4s, Apple has stated that it’s still in beta.

They’re likely limiting a mass release to work out some of the bugs with the smaller iPhone 4S audience. There’s no indication yet if Siri will require a hardware update or not. If it only requires the iPhone 4S’s A5 processor, it’s likely that this technology will one day also be available on the iPad 2, as it has the same chip.

#3: It does actually work. Really, really well.

Early reports indicate this is a superbly designed program. As to whether or not people actually use it on a regular basis remains to be seen, but for now, its functionality is receiving high marks. Initially, it will be offered in three languages: English, German, and French. There’s no training necessary and it’s very aware of what you’re trying to say (that is, you don’t have to be a trained linguist in order for the program to understand you). You can ask it to do a whole host of things, including:

• Ask for a reminder

• Check the weather

• Send a text/email

• Request information

• Ask for directions

• Set a timer

• Update your Facebook status

• Tweet

• And a whole lot more

Also, you can tell Siri about the important people or places in your life (kids, wife, work, etc.) so you can be casual when you’re talking to it. Example: You’re stuck in traffic and you tell Siri, “Text my wife and tell her that I’m going to be late coming home.” It’s that simple.

#4: It’s integrated throughout the entire phone.

When you press the home button, Siri’s interface comes up, whereupon you can ask it anything. There’s no searching for the app, opening it, waiting for it to load, or any of the other hassles that we typically associate with mobile program technologies.

#5: Even though it’s Apple, it does use Google.

When you ask Siri to search the Web, it’ll use Google. Keep in mind, though, that Apple is now the go-between. This means that the company can now gather data on what searches are being done. What’s particularly valuable is that Siri has its own location data, so when users do a search here, Apple alone is able to get that data.

For those otherwise unfamiliar with mobile data gathering, Google has pretty much had a full-nelson chokehold on the industry in terms of this sort of data reporting for a long, long time. If Siri takes off, Apple will officially be entering unchartered waters.

Certainly exciting, and definitely worth watching. ■