This is my first post here, and I haven't noticed anything of the sort on this forum so here goes. I realize that Siri is beta software, and still has a long way to come before it is a "must-have" for any phone. I'm loving what Siri can do thus far, from the witty, sassy comments, to the plain-downright quizzical replies. I have been trying to find ways to "break" Siri's brain, and I have managed to do it quite frequently (which saddens me and enlightens me all at the same time) I'll list some of them here, and I was hoping that the community would share their experiences, and maybe Apple will take note of the feedback in order to improve the functionality in a future release.
- Siri has difficulty showing me places that are "near" me sometimes. While to its defense, I asked it something it didn't quite understand. I said "When should I goto bed?" It found me a Bed, Bath and Beyond that was "fairly close" to me...89 miles away. There is a Bed, Bath and Beyond that is 1.8 miles from where I live. Why didn't it find the close one?
- I have found a few times where asking Siri something it does not understand results in a "Something went wrong, please try again." When this happens, it does not re-activate the microphone, like it does when I'm replying to a command that Siri requests of me (like when composing a text or setting up a reminder). I'm curious why that was left out.
- Siri does not work well when using it in your pocket. The microphone works pretty well with noise cancelling, but I've found that it has difficulty picking up what must be muffled conversation. I asked Siri "What is the weather forecast for tomorrow?" while my 4S was in my pocket. It interpreted what I said as "Jean" and pulled up the first contact with the name "Jean" it could find.
- It's curious that Siri works really well with some built-in apps and not so well with others (even though it does work somewhat with most of them). For example, Siri can set up Reminders, but once they are set up, it cannot delete or edit them for you. This is really a surprise as if I need to change my reminder I can't use Siri, but I could use Siri to set up a new reminder with what I wanted my original one changed to.
- Another app with this curious functionality is the Calendar. You are able to create, edit, change, delete appointments using Siri unlike with the Reminders app. I managed to set up an appointment, confirm it. Then I told Siri to move the appointment to an hour later, done. Finally I told Siri to "clear my calendar for today" and it deleted all of my appointments after confirming that I wanted to remove it.
- I have also found the same quirks with the Notes app. I can create notes and add items to existing Notes, but I can't edit or delete notes.
- Siri also can't do anything with contacts which is a little frustrating. It would be really nice if I could say "Store new contact Bill Smith Mobile Number 1234567890", but Siri can't create, edit, or delete any contacts.
- I have noticed too that while Apple was experiencing server issues with Siri, the voice recognition was awful. I was trying to send a message and said "Send" to confirm. Siri replied "I'm sorry, I don't understand 'And'." I eventually had to push the Send button manually after retrying 4 or 5 times. I ran into the same problem saying "Yes" as it interpreted that as "Yet" which it couldn't make heads or tails of.
There have been reports that Siri can still function as voice recognition when it doesn't have a connection to Apple's servers, has anyone verified this is the case (with what apps have you found this to be true)? I was having trouble yesterday, and it seemed to let me call someone in my contacts, but later I ran into difficulties when trying the same thing.
Like I said, I know it's Beta software so the bugs and quirks will be worked out over time. What other quirks have you guys noticed when using Siri, or what do you think of the ones I've mentioned?
- Siri has difficulty showing me places that are "near" me sometimes. While to its defense, I asked it something it didn't quite understand. I said "When should I goto bed?" It found me a Bed, Bath and Beyond that was "fairly close" to me...89 miles away. There is a Bed, Bath and Beyond that is 1.8 miles from where I live. Why didn't it find the close one?
- I have found a few times where asking Siri something it does not understand results in a "Something went wrong, please try again." When this happens, it does not re-activate the microphone, like it does when I'm replying to a command that Siri requests of me (like when composing a text or setting up a reminder). I'm curious why that was left out.
- Siri does not work well when using it in your pocket. The microphone works pretty well with noise cancelling, but I've found that it has difficulty picking up what must be muffled conversation. I asked Siri "What is the weather forecast for tomorrow?" while my 4S was in my pocket. It interpreted what I said as "Jean" and pulled up the first contact with the name "Jean" it could find.
- It's curious that Siri works really well with some built-in apps and not so well with others (even though it does work somewhat with most of them). For example, Siri can set up Reminders, but once they are set up, it cannot delete or edit them for you. This is really a surprise as if I need to change my reminder I can't use Siri, but I could use Siri to set up a new reminder with what I wanted my original one changed to.
- Another app with this curious functionality is the Calendar. You are able to create, edit, change, delete appointments using Siri unlike with the Reminders app. I managed to set up an appointment, confirm it. Then I told Siri to move the appointment to an hour later, done. Finally I told Siri to "clear my calendar for today" and it deleted all of my appointments after confirming that I wanted to remove it.
- I have also found the same quirks with the Notes app. I can create notes and add items to existing Notes, but I can't edit or delete notes.
- Siri also can't do anything with contacts which is a little frustrating. It would be really nice if I could say "Store new contact Bill Smith Mobile Number 1234567890", but Siri can't create, edit, or delete any contacts.
- I have noticed too that while Apple was experiencing server issues with Siri, the voice recognition was awful. I was trying to send a message and said "Send" to confirm. Siri replied "I'm sorry, I don't understand 'And'." I eventually had to push the Send button manually after retrying 4 or 5 times. I ran into the same problem saying "Yes" as it interpreted that as "Yet" which it couldn't make heads or tails of.
There have been reports that Siri can still function as voice recognition when it doesn't have a connection to Apple's servers, has anyone verified this is the case (with what apps have you found this to be true)? I was having trouble yesterday, and it seemed to let me call someone in my contacts, but later I ran into difficulties when trying the same thing.
Like I said, I know it's Beta software so the bugs and quirks will be worked out over time. What other quirks have you guys noticed when using Siri, or what do you think of the ones I've mentioned?