Siri is not working AT ALL on new iphone 4s. Anyone else having trouble?

Greg -- I completely agree. All these "fixes" are misleading, and I can't believe a publication like Business Insider is now getting into them. It's maddening, though not surprising, that Apple has stayed so silent on the issues with Siri.

Hey think every one has to step back and remember this is BETA, there will be problems, yes I have had problrems with my 32GB, but my wifes 16GB has not had one single issue.

http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/siri.html

Please stop with the "this is a beta test so relax" bit. This is now a very public beta test, not to mention a prime selling point of the 4S. It should work far better and be much further along the beta trail. It's one thing to drop off a couple times, but for hours and sometime days? I don't think so.

thedra - exactly. The new 4S commercial shows nothing but the Siri feature, and there is no "This is a Beta" disclaimer in it.

The commercials don't say beta, but they did announce it at the conference. I know not everyone watched that, but Apples history and reputation speaks for itself. There will be a fix coming. If that's not acceptable, return your phone and get the cheap plasticy, uninventive and boring Andriod phones available. Otherwise, sit tight and let it all unfold.

jcmbruce -- so our options should be either shut up or return the phone? Ok, then.

Exactly - commercials don't say beta. Even if they did say beta, it is standard practice in the industry for beta products to go through a full test loop (usually almost the same process used for the final product), and it is reasonable to hold the product to similar standards. Furthermore, if this is an operational issue (of the servers being under capacity) and not a software defect (which may take longer to react to), then there is absolutely no excuse for connectivity issues sticking around this long.

Jcmbruce, are simply making an apologist excuse for an issue that has been around since launch and should be fixed ASAP, since Siri is probably THE defining feature of this product. Even if there are issues, Apple needs to be transparent and publicly speak to these problems. What's even more frustrating than Apple's silence are their CS reps, who are just as lacking in knowledge as any other company's CS reps, but are FAR more dismissive.

Don't be an apologist for Apple's failures - those "cheap plasticy, uninventive and boring Android phones" you are mocking have had voice-recognition features for a LONG time now, and unlike Siri, they worked 100% of the time - which to be honest is preferable to having a better voice-recognition feature that works 50% of the time.

Please understand about the topics you post about.

Beta

Beta (named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet) is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.

The users of a beta version are called beta testers. They are usually customers or prospective customers of the organization that develops the software, willing to test the software without charge, often receiving the final software free of charge or for a reduced price.

Beta version software is often useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization and to prospective customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, prototype, technical preview (TP), or early access.

Some software is kept in perpetual beta — where new features and functionality is continually added to the software without establishing a firm "final" release.

[edit]

Release candidate

The term release candidate (RC) refers to a version with potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless fatal bugs emerge. In this stage of product stabilization, all product features have been designed, coded and tested through one or more beta cycles with no known showstopper-class bug.

Apple Inc. uses the term "golden master" for its release candidates, and the final golden master is used as the general availability release. Other Greek letters, such as gamma and delta, are sometimes used to indicate versions that are substantially complete, but still undergoing testing, withomega or zenith used to indicate final testing versions that are believed to be relatively bug-free, ready for production.

A release is called code complete when the development team agrees that no entirely new source code will be added to this release. There may still be source code changes to fix defects. There may still be changes to documentation and data files, and to the code for test cases or utilities. New code may be added in a future release.

(From wikipedia)

I'm only suggesting to remember why most of us buy Apple. They stand behind their products and the 4s is no exception. Periodically, both of our phones experience delays with Siri, but there's nothing we can do until they release the "fix"..which I'm confident they will do just as they've done in the past. I want perfection too but im happy they finally released the new phone even with the beta status of Siri. (I'm guessing) The true test was when millions of customers using Siri showed the types of strains or weaknesses in the program then they would know what areas needed to be improved.

One reason I bought this 4S is because one thing rung true with Apple. Their claim to fame is it's easy to use and it works! I was actually holding out for a new Windows Phone but there still isn't enough variety. So Apple - live up to your reputation get Siri consistently working. She really is cute!

FelixGarcia - no part of what I said conflicts with standard definitions of software release stages.

FYI, Beta products DO go through a stringent test process before they are ever released to the public. Major flaws are NOT acceptable even at a Beta stage - no one just writes up code for a bunch of new features and tosses them out the door. Could you imagine if Microsoft's developer preview of Windows 8 had a serious data loss issue? Of course not - that wouldn't be acceptable. Similarly, it wouldn't be acceptable if Adobe's Lightroom 4 beta deleted your photos. Or if the GMail Beta from way back deleted your inbox's contents.

My point is that when the main selling point of a product or any other major facet of said product is non-functional, it is not ready for a release even as a Beta. If Siri didn't work in some edge case, sure - that's an acceptable flaw in a Beta. But voice-recognition simply being completely 100% non-functional for entire days, across the entire phone (since transcribing text messages doesn't work when Siri doesn't either), even when you have full bars or Wifi? Not acceptable.

And as others have pointed out, the marketing certainly doesn't label Siri as a beta - only a fraction of Apple's customer base actually followed the keynote where they mentioned it.

But leaving aside the semantics around labeling of the product, I would expect a company like Apple to at least release a simple statement mentioning that they are aware of this issue in particular and that they are looking into it or actively addressing it. I don't think that's much to ask for, especially when pretty much every other tech company maintains very responsive communication channels, whether over forums, twitter, or their public blogs.

But the facts are this is in BETA and their will be kinks, it was stated this is a BETA release. Those are the facts.

It's unrealistic to expect products to be without fault. Cars get periodical repair bulletins; game systems, computers and even DVD/Blu ray players ect. ect. get updates. With antennagate, Apple held a seperate conference to announce their fix. Sure, Id like them to acknowledge the issue, but I'd also like an explanation/fix and that takes time. They may already have the answer but want to test that before they even let the public know about it.

So, how are we supposed to provide Apple with feedback on certain features not working, etc. For example, Siri works fine for what I do except in the 2010 Chevrolet when I give it a command of "call Joe" and Joe has more than one number, Siri must ask which number but the Bluetooth times out and disconnects. So, how do I tell Siri developers about that or GM's developers (or whoever does their bluetooth) about these kinds of issues? Also, since I can't turn off 3G and force to Edge on my ATT, it sometimes doesn't have a good enough connection for Siri to connect and work...

Pretty pedantic reply; and cut and pasted, no less. My Siri Doesnt work, ever. So I'm supposed wait for a "fix"? Be satisfied to have an apple product (or maybe a lemon?) that doesn't work? Or possibly wasn't ready for mass release? I don't care what beta means.