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How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

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Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno, Apple’s has some pretty terrible CEOs. Jobs might have been a dreadful micromanager and possibly a bit of an arse, but he did disrupt at least four major industries and lay the foundation for the most valuable public company ever. Whereas Sculley, Spindler and Amelio were a parade of failure from start to finish.

"but of an arse" is pretty generous for behavior that would cost him his job today.

What behavior are you talking about that would cost him that position today? Jobs wasn't physically assaulting employees. It isn't illegal to be mean or rude to people. At worst it might cost Apple a few workplace lawsuits/settlements.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's voice recognition is excellent. I trust Assistant to help me throughout my day with a number of things now: - Cooking & laundry timers - Reminders (remind me to do X when I get home) - Directions (Take me to the nearest X, take me home, etc) - Checking hours of business (what time does X close today) - Initiating phone calls (Call X) - Checking weather (is it going to snow today? How cold is it right now?) -…

All of those Siri can do. Anything else?

Yes Siri can after 5 tries and figure out the wording.

Go try the Google assistant and get back to us that Siri is equal.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's voice recognition is excellent. I trust Assistant to help me throughout my day with a number of things now: - Cooking & laundry timers - Reminders (remind me to do X when I get home) - Directions (Take me to the nearest X, take me home, etc) - Checking hours of business (what time does X close today) - Initiating phone calls (Call X) - Checking weather (is it going to snow today? How cold is it right now?) -…

> - Reminders (remind me to do X when I get home) One thing it can't do is 'remind me to do X when I leave work'. Can siri?

Yes. "Hey Siri, remind me to bring a change of clothes when I leave home." just now created an appropriate item in Reminders.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#94
Siri is very dumb. I use for for reminders and alarms.

I speak fr-ca as opposed to fr-fr, and some conversations go like this:

  Siri, call X on cell
  Sorry, can’t call X
  Siri, call X on mobile
  Calling X on cell
In fr-ca, we talk about cell phones. In the contact app, the mobile phone is registered as cell phone, but in fr-fr, they use mobile.

I also sometimes have this conversation:

  Siri, rappelle-moi de mettre des mouchoirs sur la liste de matériel du camp
    (Siri, remind-me to put tissues on the unit’s list of material)
  Do you want me to create a list?
I only have one list, on purpose. I have no way to tell Siri that I never want to create new lists.

It appears to me as if some words have more importance than others, such as the word « list ».

Those are my biggest annoyances with Siri. I will continue to speak and use my iPhone in fr-ca, to promote my language and improve the software by providing data points about which languages are used.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#95
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of those Siri can do. Anything else?

I keep hoping Siri will work on something like "How long is in open?". I don't know if Google or Amazon succeed here either.

I ask Siri for the closing time of different stores all the time. "Hey Siri, when does X close?" works for me. On Siri most things don't work for me but that does.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's voice recognition is excellent. I trust Assistant to help me throughout my day with a number of things now: - Cooking & laundry timers - Reminders (remind me to do X when I get home) - Directions (Take me to the nearest X, take me home, etc) - Checking hours of business (what time does X close today) - Initiating phone calls (Call X) - Checking weather (is it going to snow today? How cold is it right now?) -…

All of those Siri can do. Anything else?

Siri can't do two countdown timers at once, such as what I need when cooking.

It's bonkers to me that this is still a limitation on a phone that lets me track a dozen-plus world clocks, as though it's a more common use case.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#97
post #28

Something always make me scratch my head. Is there any proof that actual people use and value Google and Amazon assistant more than Siri? Or is the leadership only designed by autoproclaimed experts and funky ad-hoc metrics? I totally confess that I use Siri for only 3 things: -Desactivating all wake up alarm during my morning poo -Setting timers while baking -Sending a « I’m coming » text to my loved one before ridi…

I've had similar confusion based on the anecdata: none of the android users i know (including myself) ever use the Google Assistant. Or if they do, they don't do it in public. most iPhone users i know use siri at least a little bit. So is Siri actually better? Or is there something else going on that makes it more usable even if it's technically not as "good" And the quantity of articles complaining about siri would…

Would say your friend is unusual. People that have GA I know use it all the time including myself. I also carry an iPhone and never use Siri like never.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#98
Not being able to flag requests that Siri failed to parse tells me that the Siri team isn't serious about making Siri better.

Just adding a small "That isn't what I asked" button or letting me say something like "Hey Siri, you got my last request wrong" would give Apple a mountain of usable data.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#99

Siri is very dumb. I use for for reminders and alarms. I speak fr-ca as opposed to fr-fr, and some conversations go like this: Siri, call X on cell Sorry, can’t call X Siri, call X on mobile Calling X on cell In fr-ca, we talk about cell phones. In the contact app, the mobile phone is registered as cell phone, but in fr-fr, they use mobile. I also sometimes have this conversation: Siri, rappelle-moi de mettre des mou…

This is my same experience. The only things I can get Siri to do reliably is to route me home, or to do simple math problems. Also very simple short term reminders.

Re: How Apple let Siri fall behind the Google Assistant and Alexa

#100

Is a voice assistant the killer app for anyone? I haven't ever used them, and I've only ever seen someone use it as an ironic 'look at me' at a party.

In our house they are used a lot for music, TV, answer all kinds of questions to look at photos.
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