My Biggest Problem with Siri - Voice Dialing

Question

Level 1

14 points

My Biggest Problem with Siri - Voice Dialing

My biggest complaint with Siri is that voice dialing requires an Internet connection. If I want to initiate a voice call to someone in my contact list why does Siri waste the time and bandwidth to access my contacts on my iPhone via the Internet? This makes no sense and is much slower than was the case with normal voice control.

My suggestion would be that when you say "call" Joe Smith Siri will first look in your contact list. Why would you have it any other way?

Am I missing something here or was this overlooked?

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.0.1

Posted on Jan 10, 2012 6:26 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 10, 2012 6:30 PM in response to iRicktoo

Siri works with the Apple server all the time. Siri in its theoretical capacity cannot be stored in a 16GB phone. I think it also works that way because records of how you use Siri will help Apple improve it.

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Answer 2

iRicktoo Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 10, 2012 6:36 PM in response to unicohijo86

Then the design is wrong. If the first word of a voice command is "call" the phone should be smart enough to look in the phones contacts.

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Answer 3

Jan 10, 2012 6:40 PM in response to iRicktoo

It's a beta release. I'm sure the design will get better in time. You can't expect Siri to work perfectly at this point. 🙂

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Answer 4

Jan 10, 2012 6:44 PM in response to unicohijo86

Just give it time

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Answer 5

iRicktoo Author

Level 1

14 points

Jan 10, 2012 6:47 PM in response to unicohijo86

I hope you are correct. To me, this is a rather obvious flaw

which should be corrected in the next update. It would save user time and frustration while saving provider bandwidth which I understand siri is notorious for using.

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Answer 6

robin t

Level 1

22 points

Mar 16, 2012 10:19 AM in response to iRicktoo

I absolutely agree with this complaint. I really prefer the old voice dialing. This is the only reason I use Siri. Please Apple, come up with a fix and give us back quicker voice dialing!

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Answer 7

ChrisJ4203

Level 10

230,311 points

Mar 16, 2012 3:52 PM in response to robin t

If calling is the ONLY reason you use Siri, I would turn it off and use the regular voice commands. You do have that option. Siri does not reside on the phone, it is a service that is handled via a server that requires an Internet connection to access. If I was only using Siri to dial the phone, I would turn it off and use the voice dial. I used it numerous times before we got Siri.

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Answer 8

iRicktoo Author

Level 1

14 points

Mar 16, 2012 4:14 PM in response to iRicktoo

I agree with ChrisJ. Of course most of us want the best of both worlds, to voice dial and use Siri. Siri is great but it is rather silly and a waste of bandwidth to require access the Internet to dial contacts residing in your phone.

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Answer 9

Mar 16, 2012 7:54 PM in response to iRicktoo

Siri also can't find contacts with non-typical but still common and phonetically simple spellings - Rebekah or Coffman. The regular voice commands don't have this problem. To Apple apologists who suggest that I go through my 800+ contacts and enter phonetic assistance, hey, get a life. I need stuff that just works, which is supposed to be the the Apple hallmark. My very first Palm Treo smartphone had more accurate voice dialing, and that has been true on all the Palm and Blackberry phones I had before getting a 4s.

There is a solution. Turn Siri off permanently. The non-SIRI voice dialing works better (though still not as good as my old phones). Then go to the app store and install Dragon Dictation and Dragon Go. Both are free as of this writing. Dragon Dictation is faster, easier to use, and more accurate than Siri. Dragon Go is slightly clunkier to use than Siri, but the results are equally good. Neither has the frequent Siri "not available" problem. You will have to live without the smarmy comebacks, though.

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