why does siri only work if i have internet connection?

I understand that Siri is not the same as Voice Control. But the 4s clearly has the processing power to run Voice Control. For instance, I was riding my bike and had no 3G. I wanted to skip to the next song on my playlist without having to stop and take my phone out in the pouring rain. My iPhone 3Gs let me do that, so why can't the 4s? Why can't Siri switch automatically to function as Voice Control if Internet access is unavailable?

The fact that Siri has to dial into a remote server just to voice dial is its most maddening aspect. On my old 3GS, I could use voice control to dial a contact in my contact list -- it was extremely quick and responsive. With Siri however, to voice dial takes forever (even with a full signal), and Siri has to talk to an Apple sever first??? Why? The contact list is already on my phone. In this instance, I hate that Siri struggles to achieve the same result as voice control used to be able to handle flawlessly on my old 3GS. It makes for a really frustrating user experience.

JJstar wrote:

I hate that Siri struggles to achieve the same result as voice control used to be able to handle flawlessly on my old 3GS. It makes for a really frustrating user experience.

If you prefer Voice Control, why don't you go back to using it?

I totally agree. Siri works beautifully... when it works. When it doesn't work for something as simple as voice dialling it completely destroys the seamless user experience Apple are trying to create. It's frustrating.

I think everyone missed the original posts point.

I can't understand why Siri needs Internet to access internal phone commands either.

For example, on my iPhone 4 when it was connected to my car kit, if I needed to say call bob then no prob, it would call straight away. However on my 4s i noticed if I tried to do the same using Siri in a Internet black spot then either the icon just keeps spinning or else she says sorry I can't help u with that. Really annoying! Surly it for internal commands it should switch to offline tech for slow Internet spots

Siri is a voice analysis based software, and like any other voice analysis tool, the most important task is to recognize the language and break up and map it into built-in commands. now, if a product is designed specifically for a particular person, this tool doesn't need to do much in itself, it can work very efficiently within a reasonable limit.

For a global product using any voice analysis based software, the task for recognizing the language itself will be a daunting task. many people say same things in different ways due to geographical change, cultural change etc.

From what I know, Siri would need internet to send the audio sample to some apple server which should analyze the sample against hundreds of samples they already have to recognize each word spoken in the audio and send the result to Siri in a concise manner. After which Siri can use its processing intelligence and interpret it into a particular command.

Xammed wrote:

I think everyone missed the original posts point.

I can't understand why Siri needs Internet to access internal phone commands either.

For example, on my iPhone 4 when it was connected to my car kit, if I needed to say call bob then no prob, it would call straight away. However on my 4s i noticed if I tried to do the same using Siri in a Internet black spot then either the icon just keeps spinning or else she says sorry I can't help u with that. Really annoying! Surly it for internal commands it should switch to offline tech for slow Internet spots

Because that is not what Siri was designed to do. Siri isn't Voice Command. Siri is a speaker-independent natural language processing app. The way Siri is designed, the commands: "Siri play Led Zeppelin", and "Gee, Siri. I'm really in the mood to hear Misty Mountain Hop, right now" require the same level of processing power; i.e. Siri has to process them both as natural language. Voice Command can execute the first one, but would never be able to understand the intent of the second. Processing anything as natural language requires a network connection to Apple's servers, no matter how simple the request. Siri is also not dictation. Siri doesn't just recognize words and regurgitate them onto the screen in text form. Siri recognizes the words, but then Siri also has to figure out the meaning of the words (natural language processing), then figure out what commands will need to be executed to satisfy the request (or if it is even a request, at all, and not just idle conversation).

That said, I like the suggestion that the iPhone should enable Voice Command when there is no internet connection. Maybe there's already an app in the App Store that does just that.

For those that care; Nuance Communications has a patent that would solve this problem. See http://www.google.com/patents/US7610204?hl=en&dq=7610204. This invention proposes to do some local characterizaion of the input speech to see if it is simple enough to process locally, or if it needs to be sent to the remote server for higher-level processing. Maybe Apple hasn't yet figured out how to get around the patent infringement and therefore has to live with network only, for now.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

Interesting that you cite Nuance. It's Nuance that provides the servers that support Siri.

And having a patent doesn't mean that you have a product, or even that it will work.

True on both counts, but having a patent restricts others from using your idea, even if you don't have a product. Seems like a waste. Maybe Nuance should acquire a handset company, like Google (Motorola Mobility). Also, Nuance provided the speech recognition, but the natural language processing and command execution is all Siri (at least the way I understand it).

I too have been frustrated by Siri. It's wonderful when it works but this mroning, even though Internet was availabel, it wouldn't play an album. It's the either Siri or Voice Command that annoys me. I've been in software development for a long time and it seems to me that this is a short-sighted solution. It should not be difficult to have the Voice Command recognition model up front to intercept the basic commands. It doesn't make sense to have to go to the Internet to do things that were done within the phone before. Alternatively, and possibly easier, if Siri can't get to the Internet, auromatically switch on Voice Command or possibly ask if that's a viable alternative.

I will be sending feedback to Apple.

If Siri was so advanced it could carry out simple instructions like send text message or call someone without the need for the Internet. My experience of Siri is that it's just a limp worthless piece of kit that looks great on tv but in reality it's of no use

Siri can control my phone settings now, but if i could say "Turn of 3G", she will turn of all cellular data and turn off herself... i think that's a problem... I want to turn off 3G only, not all cellular data....

Having chatted to a apple adviser regarding Siri issues. I am no farther forward. The issue is when all emails are deleted from my iPhone 4S my ipad and my laptop Siri still has them on Siri screen? Not very secure should anyone happened to pick up on. So remember out there you may have deleted all your emails from all boxes but if you say to Siri OLD EMAILS there they are for anyone to read. Scary. Waiting to here back with a satisfactory answer. I came across this purely by chance. If they can't sort it make sure you have security on your phone or ipad in place. Best of luck.

sertacDiler:

When you turn off 3G, you turn off cellular data also. Data and voice share the 3G connection. It is kind of like turing off your cable connection and wanting to keep your cable modem connected to the outside world.

I don't know about your phone but my phone doesn't have an option for turning of just 3G, only all cellular data. I wouldn't expect Siri to be able to do something thats not an existing option in features.