

Siri’s first real competition hits Android phones today [video] - gadgetgurudude
http://www.bgr.com/2011/11/29/siris-first-real-competition-hits-android-phones-today-video/

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phreeza
It looks to me like this is a front end for "personal assistants" sitting in a
call center somewhere, perhaps with some real algorithmic stuff mixed in. I
might be wrong, but if I am right, this is not really the type of product as
Siri, though they are obviously trying to ride Siris hype.

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eavc
I'll be interested in seeing what people think about this. Some of what Siri
does is trivially easy, but the completeness and polish of it is what makes it
special.

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cryptoz
Siri's intentionally crippled in most countries, so there should be lots of
room to move in the "trivially easy" department too.

"I'm sorry, I can't provide directions in Canada"

Despite having Google Maps and able to provide directions by typing, iPhone 4S
is incapable of providing directions if speech-to-text is used.

~~~
eavc
Is that a constraint of local laws aimed at safe driving?

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cryptoz
I doubt it. My Android phone can handle getting direction by voice just fine.
Also, wouldn't it be "safer" to ban directions by keyboard rather than ban
them by voice? It's a very odd situation, really.

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shadowfiend
Yes, but your Android phone does turn by turn spoken directions right?

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martingordon
One of the nice things about Siri is that you can ask the same question
multiple ways. A single person might not switch up the way they ask something,
but you can use your preferred way with Siri rather than being forced to learn
Siri's way.

From looking at Cluzee's (broken under load) page, it looks like you need to
learn the correct syntax in order for it to work.

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saturdaysaint
I'd go a little bit further: the ability to "understand" a command stated many
different natural ways is _exactly_ what makes Siri special. This app is not
much different than the numerous voice command apps that existed long before
Siri. The author completely misapprehends what makes Siri state of the art.

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tocomment
I was somewhat dissapointed with Siri a few days ago. I asked it what 350/16
was. I was expecting it to read back the answer to me and I could get on with
my day. Instead it displayed a giant page of equations showing every possible
answer to 350/16.

I really don't think that's the answer people want to quick calculation
questions.

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waterlesscloud
Impossible to tell what it really does from a sales/concept video. Will need
to see it actually in action.

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vacri
'Siri' sounds like someone's name. 'Cluzee' sounds like the result of a failed
marketing meeting.

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Samuel_Michon
Useless factoid of the day: Siri is a spin-out from SRI (Stanford Research
Institute), which can be pronounced as "Sirree".

Also, "Siri" is Hindi for "head" and comes from the Sanskrit root meaning
"radiant". It's a common Hindu female first name.

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Nrndr
No its not a common hindu female first name. Its not even a name. The word you
are looking for is "Shri"/"Shree"/"Sri" which is used as a prefix for the male
name, like Mr., Mrs. etc.

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Samuel_Michon
If not, then it should be taken off Wikipedia.

 _"Siri, a common Hindu female name, meaning "Goddess Lakshmi, Wealth, God's
gift of love."_

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siri>

Besides that, I know several Sikh women whose first name is Siri.

I do agree that Siri and Sri are the same, it's just a different way of
spelling it.

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bishnu
Well...they're not Hindu, they're Sikh. Never heard of Siri referred to has a
Hindu name, but India is a big country...

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vetler
I was pretty excited to test this, but unfortunately it's not available in my
country (Norway). Siri _is_ available for iPhone users here.

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thomasfl
When they do, I'll be buying it for iPhone 4.

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evilduck
Siri is technically a beta product. There's still a small glimmer of hope that
they might backport the final version to older devices once 4S sales have
plateaued, and/or once they've ironed out all potential problems with current
4S users.

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zarify
So it's a free app... Can I assume they're angling for money from businesses
the app recommends then? Or just looking to get bought?

(or is there some subscription which isn't immediately apparent from the
Android Market page?)

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gospelwut
Not sure what it says about me that I don't trust this whatsoever.

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mrkmcknz
I advise everyone to play on this and see how not to implement a Siri
competitor.

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metachris
Android Market link:
<https://market.android.com/details?id=com.tronton.cluzee.ui>

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interlagos
Seriously question for the iPhone toters among HNers -- do you _actually_ use
Siri? Anecdotally I've found that many of my 4S equipped peers have already
abandoned it. After that brief excitement over Easter eggs, it just doesn't
excite them.

I use my Android's voice control daily. It follows a different philosophical
model (as the Google guy said, it's the Star Trek versus the Star Wars model,
which is a comparison that is apt), however the result is a device that does
the majority of what I want _perfectly_. I am never guessing at the limits of
its lingo (all current natural language systems have limits, which is why they
are so uncommon) because I know the specific commands that do the things I
want.

The real competition to Siri is that people don't want to treat their phone as
a human. That the slow imprecision of spoken language is only a worst-case
substitute for alternative options.

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portman
My wife uses Siri several times per day to add events to our shared family
calendar.

And I have to say, even as an Android zealot: I'm jealous. It's a far superior
interface for entering calendar events. She can say things like:

"Harper has ballet at 4:30 on Thursdays and a Dentist appoint on December 7th
at 1pm."

or even

"There's no ballet on December 22nd or 29th"

~~~
interlagos
A part of the reason my peers might not use it often is perhaps simply because
they don't need to schedule very much. My wife I could imagine enjoying such
functionality.

The thing about some of the more complex scenarios, however, is that for me it
would have to be 100% reliable and trusthworthy. If it were only 99% reliable
and trustworthy, or even 99.5%, the lack of faith and the need to double check
would remove its utility.

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incremental
It confirms with you, no trust required.

~~~
interlagos
I would love to see the confirmation for a command like

"Harper has ballet at 4:30 on Thursdays and a Dentist appoint on December 7th
at 1pm."

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methodin
This, of course, is the main benefit of an non-restrictive development
environment.

