bluetooth and siri

I now have tested the 4S with Siri with 4 bluetoothdevices: a 2009 Prius, a Jabra Cruiser, a Dual XHD7714 in dash Bluetooth compatible car radio, and blue-link BTM-318 radio/Bluetooth headset. Contraryto my first experience all of the devices worked OK . Except for the BTM-318, with which Siri does not recognize when the spoken input is complete (ie, silence). I have to take the phone out of my pocket and press the mike button, which kind of defeats the purpose.

But in all cases Voice control was faster and significantly more reliable than Siri at recognizing contacts in my address book. Most of my original problems were due to testing in my garage which is in a no-man’s zonebetween the house wifi and the 3G network. I have noticed that web access was unreliable in this zone with my old 3GS and it’s the same with the 4S. Even with one or two bars on the wifi, the phone keeps trying to use the wifi, rather than switching to the more reliable 3G signal. The result is usually a failure to connect. So the bluetooth had nothing to do with my original problems (except for the BTM-318).

I have to agree with the other commenters that Siri should switch to Voice Control when the web is unavailable or too slow. Handsfree dialing is the essential voice function in my opinion and Voice control did a better job than Siri with the contact list. Kind of a quandry for me since the other functions of Siri are so cool and useful.

I am having a similar problem on my Toyota Prius. The phone works fine for BT calls, but when I use Siri to make a call via BT, she starts dialing the correct number, and then I get a message that the call has been disconnected. I also cannot use my IPhone to play music via Bluetooth with the Nav system. It works when connected via USB, but the Bluetooth selection is grayed out on the Nav display for music even though it IS connected via Bluetooth for the phone.

yes, yes, yes! need toggle button

Yep, this is a joke. The only time I want to use Siri for anything serious is in my car and the stupid thing wants to connect to BlueTooth all the time. I tried calling someone tonight and it kept calling the wrong person. As soon as I disabled bluetooth it worked perfectly but then I lost the point of having hands free bluetooth in my car.

Apple, fix this in the next update!

yeah, siri ***** in the car. what really stinks is that the iphone voice commands worked flawlessly in my volvo before i got a 4s and activated siri. The voice commands understood me 100% of the time. Siri hasn't gotten one thing right in over 2 weeks of trying.

What's up with that?

I came across this in a forum on Parrot's site. I can't test it as I don't have the system but hopefully it helps.

"i figured out that if you activate the siri from the phone then it works like a champ, you can talk to siri for as long as needed, but you can "end" siri conversation with the parrot's end"red" button. i hope that they come out with a parrot update that makes the siri work with the "green button" this would make the combination awesome for people who work out of there car and need to take notes and things"

http://forum.parrot.com/usa/viewtopic.php?id=14954

I have the same problem. Every time I try to use Siri hands-free in the car to make a call, she asks if I want to call a totally different person in my contact list. Several times I've found myself actually getting into a yelling match with her because she keeps saying a name, and I say No! and then she tries to call someone totally different that I really don't want to talk to and I have to manually disconnect the call. Not safe at all while driving! So I just disconnect Siri in the car.

Then this evening I tried to use Siri to make a call at home using Bluetooth, where it was totally quiet. I kept getting the response "I don't understand you" when I asked to have the person called, so I gave up. Without using it hands-free there's very little use for Siri, as I can manually look up what I want on Yelp or Google and can certainly dial my own phone or at least use Voice Control. The biggest draw of the 4s is a waste to me. However, the camera is amazing, much better than my 3Gs so I'm happy. I just feel like when I hear all the raves about Siri that I want to go out and get that phone till I remember, oh, yeah, I have it, it just doesn't work.. 😟

I'm also having Siri issues over my in-car Bluetooth. In my 2012 Subaru Impreza the Bluetooth works great for music and calls, but Siri struggles to understand me with commands that it picks up perfectly using the iPhone's microphone.

An option to turn off Bluetooth just for Siri would be a simple and effective solution!

Does Apple not read these???! I get so angry every time I'm driving, try to use Speak to Text or Siri...to be safer. But, by making it go through Bluetooth it just DOESN'T WORK!!! It's a joke the kind of things Siri repeats back to me, or Speak to Text comes up with! Other issue, i cant properly use an ipod or music feature on my phone in my 2011 GMC Terrain that has the latest sound system. Once plugged in, i have to unplug to change my music selection. That's crazy! I shouldn't have to treat this like an older model vehicle and spend money having an adaptor installed. iPod and my iPhone 4s SHOULD work with the new fully equipped sound systems!!! Apple is so far behind technology!!! My husband and I are so disgusted with our first iPhone, when our next upgrade comes, we are going back to an Android!

The real problem here is that the 4S has excellent noise reduction technology at work on its microphone, which is how Siri can understand you so well even in louder places. The iPhone 4 does not have that technology, which is why Siri isn't compatible with that phone nor any before it.

My car's bluetooth microphone, by comparison, is terrible. That's why Siri can't understand me very well. I did a test, and with bluetooth off and the phone in my cupholder a good distance away, Siri could understand me better than she did when bluetooth was on and I was speaking directly into the bluetooth microphone.

Unfortunately that puts us in a bad place. I have 3 options as it stands: (1) use the phone on Bluetooth and have Siri be half-useless, (2) use the phone without Siri at all, (3) plug the phone into my audio system via headphone jack and take calls on speaker, which makes it hard to hear the other party (though they can hear me fine because again the 4S has a great microphone). Taking calls NOT on speaker with this last setup results in the other party being able to hear themselves as though in an echo chamber.

What's the fix? Add a Siri Settings toggle: "Use iPhone Microphone for Siri" that I can turn on or off. That way calls go through bluetooth, and when Siri speaks I hear it through my stereo, and Siri still mutes my stereo when I want to talk to her... but Siri only listens through the iPhone's superior microhone.

That makes sense about the noise reduction technology. I find that Siri understands my commands better when I am not in my car compared to when I am in my car. Although, I find that she works about 75% of the time in my car so I am not disappointed. I have a 2012 Subaru Impreza and I love how the iPhone 4S works over bluetooth with my car, I am just looking for advice to make it totally hands free. The only problem I have activating Siri is that I have to reach down and press the home button to activate Siri. I wish one of the buttons on my steering wheel could activate Siri. I think Siri works fine for commands like "Call Theresa" or "Play music by Metallica", but I noticed she doesn't understand some pronunciation like "Gotye". She usually understands if I spell it out for her "Play music by G O T Y E".

This isn't about Siri, but I'm glad to hear that the iPhone 4S works well with the 2012 Subaru Impreza, as I'm about to purchase one. I haven't been able to find a dealer though, that can give me information about the iPhone and how it works with the audio system. Which radio are you using? I read that the Impreza Limited has the HD radio, and (I think) a different radio if you want Navigation, and the Premium Impreza doesn't offer the HDRadio. How is the sound? Did you get the upgraded speakers or Tweeter?

I'm also wondering if the radio allows Internet Streaming, which it would have to do in order to use iTunes Match. I've driven a couple of rental cars that only allowed you to attach an iPhone via USB and then only played what was on the phone, and could not see the library which has many songs in the Cloud. The radio in my current vehicle allows you to detach the iPhone from the system while still listening to audio through the speakers. So I can use iTunes Match, as well as Spotify or Pandora and still have the iPhone plugged in through the USB port and charging. I asked the dealer that gave me a test drive about it, and he said his idea of a phone was "something that sits on s little table in the foyer".. Not much help there!

Any thoughts on how it works and advice on audio selection would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I have issues using Siri with bluetooth as well (Toyota Tacoma). She ususally doesn't understand what I'm saying and response is very slow. In addition, the voice guidance in the Mapquest app does not work when Bluetooth is turned on, turn off bluetooth and it works fine. So for now, I have bluetooth turned off. It's very dissapointing as I liked that music would play through it as well. The ability to seperate Siri from bluetooth is needed.

Update to my previous post. So I unpair the phone and pair the audio player only. Siri works fine and I think I'm all set. I try to get directions to somewhre and maps can't connect to the internet. I shut off bluetooth in the phone and maps works fine. It's inconcievable to me that this stuff doesn't work properly as bluetooth has been avaialable in cars and phones for several years now. Apple please fix!!

I have a 2012 Toyota 4runner and it's driving me crazy that I can't use Siri in the car over Bluetooth.

All the regular Bluetooth features work fine, music, calls, etc work fine.

Hit the Siri button and I get a 3 second delay, then I say "call so and so"

Siri replies "it looks like its going to rain tonight"

I know it's a car mic issue, if I am at a complete stop, with the ac off then she does a lot better. Other than that it's unusable unfortunately.

I think a Siri "doesn't use Bluetooth" button would solve this issue for me.

Really hope it's in the works.