
Ask HN: Does anybody still use Siri? - jacquesm
When Siri came out on the iphone everybody was showing it off to everybody else and it seemed as though voice recognition as an interface to cell phones had finally arrived. The last year or so I&#x27;ve hardly ever seen anybody use Siri (or an Android equivalent) and I&#x27;m wondering if it is even in structural use at all.<p>So, do you still use Siri or some equivalent?<p>If so, what are your main use cases?
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icanhackit
Use it at least a few times a week. Use cases:

    
    
      Set reminders (e.g. "remind me at 10pm to take out the garbage")
      Timers (countdowns for cooking)
      Call my partner/friends while my phone is in my pocket (via headphones)
      Wiki things/trivia (when someone says something or asks something that is esoteric)
      Set once-off alarms
      Find places
    

I've noticed it's getting incredibly good at figuring out what I'm saying -
you can often see it refining its interpretation in real-time. Sometimes it's
nailed requests that I thought it had no chance in hell of getting right.

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Pyrodogg
Default functionality?

"Ok Google, will it rain today?" \- This I use pretty regularly while I'm
getting ready in the morning.

Personally hacked together functionality!

"Ok Google, turn the bedroom light on."

"Ok Google, turn all lights off."

"Ok Google, turn (?:the )?(?<loc>.+) lights? (?<state>.+)" Tasker-flavored
regular expression.

Controls the relevant Hue lights in my apartment using Tasker + AutoVoice +
Hue Pro Tasker.

I occasionally tinker and extend my hacked together Tasker functionality
during my morning commute.

I never use the "Ok Google" functionality in public, only in the privacy of my
own home.

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PhantomGremlin
There's two aspects to Siri. First is speech recognition, second is the actual
AI.

Apple's speech recognition is very good. I use it as speech-to-text all the
time in iMessage. I save a lot of time by speaking rather than by typing. It's
more than 95% accurate for that purpose.

The Siri AI is very hit-or-miss. Sure it's great for finding out the latest
football score. But if it winds up only being 50% responsive in general (and
that's what it was for me), then it's not worth the trouble.

Once a person gives up on Siri, then it could take years before they make the
effort to use it again. That's probably the current situation for a lot of
people. That's where I'm at.

Edit: forgot to mention that i use a staccato voice for the voice recognition.
Short pauses between words. It drives my kids crazy hearing it when they're in
the same room, but it really improves the hit rate.

~~~
l33tbro
Out of curiosity, what would a typical voice command be to write a text
message? I haven't really tried this.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
Activate Siri and say "text (name) the rain in Spain ..." And then Siri asks
if you are ready to send it. Just say "yes".

But most of the time I don't even bother with the Siri AI, I just use speech
recognition in the iMessage app. There is a little microphone symbol on the
keyboard.

The speech recognition works anywhere there is a keyboard. E.g. if you are
using Google Maps, when you call up a keyboard to type something, the mic
symbol is there.

Kids use their thumbs to text quickly, but I find it's _much_ faster for me to
speak something.

Edit: I touch-type pretty quickly on a full size keyboard. It's the tiny
smartphone keyboards that slow me way down. I've never tried Swype, it's
probably much faster than trying to hit keys on the tiny iPhone keyboard.

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creature
I use Siri fairly frequently, but in certain narrowly-defined situations: when
I've got my hands full, or am doing something else.

The two that come to mind are when cooking ("Hey Siri, set a timer for 15
minutes") or when I'm trying to get everything together for leaving the house
("Hey Siri, how cold is it outside?"). I'll also use it if my phone's in my
pocket, I'm wearing headphones, and it's awkward to get my phone out ("Hey
Siri, text Tom." "What do you want to say to Tom?" "I'm running 10 minutes
late but will be there soon. Sorry!")

~~~
robotresearcher
You can also do:

"Tell Tom I'm running ten minutes late."

Saves a whole Siri-round.

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Gustomaximus
I use the google version when driving to attempt to send SMS, make calls, set
reminders and update driving directions. It's hit and miss. Google has some
serious pain points like locking the screen and functionality right after a
last command while driving meanig you need to unlock to do a next item. And
most annoyingly you can set directions but I cant get the thing to actually
start navigating.

I bought a windows phone that was on special recently to test and found
Cortanta surprisingly better to use than the OK Google version. If someone
nails voice it will be a significant decision making variable in my OS choice.
It feel like both MS and Google are close but they need a new 'Steve Jobs'
than has that last level of attention to detail and making it work in a
practical environment. It feels to me it's more this lack of thinking through
the UX is the bigger issue than the technology capability right now. I envy
anyone working on this as it will be super interesting getting this right over
coming years.

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itsaunixsystem
Not really, siri and all the other voice assistants have to be the biggest
marketing success in years that nobody cares about anymore. Why success and
not flop then? because everyone rushed to get one, and several startups all
over the world popped out to offer an alternative.

But nobody uses it, its cumbersome, it barely works most of the time for the
kind of complex tasks its supposed to help you out with and only really works
with really basic stuff like reminders and alarms which you can set up in a
sec without disclosing your schedule to everyone around you.

Also the AI sucks, its ironic that its textbots that are actually doing what
siri and its many "brothers" were supposed to.

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mrmondo
Every day, but for simple things otherwise it doesn't understand my New
Zealand / Australian accent at all well. When I wake up I ask for a whether
report, when I'm at work I often set alarms or reminders quickly using it
while working. The list goes on but it's all pretty simple stuff that I find
useful. I have found it randomly replies / starts talking / listening to input
without me saying anything remotely like 'hey Siri' though which does get
annoying - I haven't logged a bug for this because I've never had apple
respond to a single of my many hundreds of bug reports over the years.

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seivan
Yup. Use it figure out kcal on stuff, route directions home, set timers,
delete/set alarms, dictate text messages as I run, set calendar events for
stuff like laundry.

I use it on both my watch and phone.

Directions also work better if you put in addresses under work, home and
friends so you don't need to spell out non-English addresses.

My personal favorite is setting reminders.

"Hey Siri... Remind me to call Chris when I leave home tomorrow morning".

It'll geofence the reminder to be in the morning when I get on the train.
Amazing.

Don't forget currency conversion. "Convert 20 000 US dollars to Swedish Krona"

Sometimes I do quick math: "Two point one seven six percent of two point one
two million"

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jen729w
Almost always to call people, yes. "Call [name of person]" works really well.

I look up my team's score, occasionally. Unfortunately that team is Sunderland
so it's rarely a happy outcome.

"Remind me to do x when I get home" is another good one.

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thecupisblue
> or an Android equivalent

I use Google Now and Now On Tap a lot! Daily weather checks, commute check,
setting reminders, when we're discussing something and need something googled.
Drinking beer with friends and wanna show em a pic? Just say "OK google show
me pics from my last trip to london" without reaching at the table, unlocking,
scrolling and all that.

Now on tap is super useful when discussing something via txt, just hold home
button and get all the info you need.

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csixty4
Kitchen & laundry timers. The weather. Creating reminders. Sending texts to my
wife while I'm running or driving. Directions while I'm driving.

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skylark
Setting alarms and timers is fantastic with Siri.

Nap alarm: "Wake me up in X minutes/hours"

Normal alarm: "Wake me up at X AM/PM"

Timer: "Set a 45 minute timer"

Other than that, I don't use Siri. I find that if Siri gets my query wrong
even once, it would have been faster for me to look the thing up manually.

Oh, also as a party gag you can ask Siri what 0/0 is. Stone cold.

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1123581321
A lot of people use Siri and Google Now. They just don't use it in public like
they used to. It took a few years for the etiquette around voice command to
develop. Also, the newness is worn off so it's not interesting to demo
anymore, just like nobody shows you how they can send and receive text
messages.

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joshschreuder
I don't use Siri very often, but I have one use case that I really like with a
jailbroken phone.

I walk around a bit, eg. walking to work, and I don't have a fancy Apple
Watch, so instead I have setup an Activator action to ask Siri the time when I
hold in the Apple earbud pause/play button.

Pretty simple but it saves me from taking the phone out of my pocket to look
at the time

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MattBearman
Once the novelty wore off, I only ever used Siri to set timers - saying '10
minute timer' was easer than doing it through the app interface.

Since iOS introduced the shortcuts to apps on the lock screen, which included
timers, I never use Siri.

Although I did recently discover Siri can be useful for DnD - "Roll a d20" :)

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danbolt
If I'm about to call someone in another time zone, I might use Siri to check
their time. Especially if I'm not sure about daylight savings here/there. It's
a plus if your partner is on the other side of the globe and you want to think
of them.

Sending a text message while driving is great, too.

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MalcolmDiggs
I'll use the "Ok Google" version if I'm completely alone. But if I'm in a room
with someone else (or in public) it just feels weird and awkward to make
someone listen to me set an alarm or ask for directions... feels like I'm
over-sharing.

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halotrope
Yes, I wish it would do a lot more but I use it to:

\- Set timers \- Set alarms \- Call people \- Create calendar events

now mostly on the watch where it kind of is the only sensible interface for
input. Although very slow.

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ericzawo
The only thing I've ever found it useful for is saying "Raptors Score" and
checking how my Raptors are doing in the ball game. That's literally all I've
ever used it for, and it works great. :)

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sigjuice
I use Siri all the time.

    
    
      Call my wife.
      Where is my wife?
      Call my brother on Facetime audio.
      What is the weather today?
      Wake me up at 7.
      Remind me about bills when I get home.
      Get directions to <place>

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benjismith
I use Siri a few times a week for setting timers and alarms, looking up
various trivia while in conversation with friends, and identifying background
music in restaurants/bars.

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joezydeco
My new Mazda doesn't have CarPlay (yet) but activating Siri makes it come over
the Bluetooth audio on the system like a phone call. I use it primarily to
send texts home while driving.

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thecourier
I enjoy having conversations with Siri in the loneliness of the tundra

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richerlariviere
I use Siri each time I want to set my alarm clock. Other functionalities are
faster using the standard way.

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Spooky23
Music: "play song/album/artist"

PIctures: "show me pictures from May 3, 2007"

Phone: "call <person> mobile"

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muddi900
I use Google Now for calling, setting alarms and reminders. I cannot use Siri
because it does not recognize my accent.

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ts4z
Weather, directions, sports scores and betting lines. I use it multiple times
a day.

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chrisBob
While driving: "call my wife's cell on speaker phone"

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hackerboos
Setting timers.

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eande
My children play with it.

