It’s hard to deny the advancement of society’s technology when it comes to cell phones. It’s even harder to deny this with the features that are offered on them. Siri, iPhone 4S’s virtual assistant, certainly falls into that class. Since this feature may be the future for all phones to come, it’s important to assess all the pros and cons of it.
iPhone 4S Siri – Pros and Cons
Siri combines both linguistic analysis with artificial intelligence. Thanks to this revolutionizing feature, the consumer can ask the phone questions, such as “Where can I find a good cheeseburger?” or “Do I need to dress warm today?”. Siri then uses several different applications to not only come up with the answer, but speak it back.
One big drawback to this feature however is that Siri doesn’t follow the silent mode option. Even with lowering the voice with volume buttons, the application cannot be made silent. Another problem with Siri is an obvious one that probably has come to most consumer’s mind first: voice command recognition. Such as has been the case with many voice recognition programs in the past, the virtual assistant can have a problem recognizing the commands, giving a message saying “Sorry, I’m having trouble connecting to the network.”
The Siri though can do lots of other things other than just answering questions. It can set alarms clocks, manage the consumer’s calendar, and make phone calls just by asking it too. The virtual assistant can remind the user of upcoming appointments, text or call whomever the consumer asks for, and even play the role of navigator on road trips.
Siri doesn’t only speak English either. The virtual assistant is fluent in both German and French as well, and can answer questions such as “What’s the current Euro rate?”. However, when it comes to traveling with Siri, the program limits it’s navigating strictly to the United States. Another fluke with the voice recognition feature is that even though it understands and speaks in three different languages it can only navigate when the consumer commands it in English. When it comes to any other task or communication though, Siri can complete and understand them in the other languages that were listed above.
The Pros and Cons of iPhone 4S's Siri,Emily is a blogger and a contributing writer for Invesp, a company that helps clients with their conversion optimization efforts by improving landing page design.
Ramesh Chodhary
Dec 26. 2011
iPhone 4S features as compared to the older iPhone 4 are really not much of an upgrade. I mean what is the point of launching a new phone, which practically looks the same, feels the same and features wise is more or less the same. The only difference being the iPhone 4S is significantly much more expensive than the iPhone 4. They’ve just created a fake buzz around their new device and are fleecing their customers in making them believe that they are buying a new iPhone when in fact it is nothing but the old iPhone with just a few added features.
Tracyann0312
Dec 27. 2011
I will say that I don’t have enough experience about Iphones today! But I think the phone is lovely however, it’s up to the user to judge it’s advantage and disadvantages!
Peter Lee
Dec 27. 2011
A phone is supposed to be used as a tool to let people talk to another people on the other side. With Siri, we now going to see more on people talking to their phones.
Matt Kinsella
Dec 28. 2011
In theory it sounds great but in practice I have not really used it.
Denver Real Estate
Dec 28. 2011
It is said that Siri is pretty good at opening mails for the user provided the user do not have a strong regional accent. It’ll be a new experience to use a voice activated virtual assistant.
George
Dec 28. 2011
I understand that some people are disappointed with iPhone 4S because the design is similar to iPhone 4 and it doesn’t meet the expectations of most users. However, with iPhone 4S it’s obvious that it puts voice recognition to the next level wherein companies would be challenge to create same technology which would then be incorporated in most of mobile phones.
Bizz
Jan 31. 2012
Having a multi-lingual phone can be a crucial asset…
mike
Mar 13. 2012
siri still needs improvements, I only get about 50% of my questions answered most of the time.
Andrei
Apr 26. 2012
I think Siri is just Beta so they are still making updates everyday.
@Ramesh, that is why it is called 4S and not iPhone5 because it is still iPhone4 with additional features. It’s like iPhone3 and iPhone3GS.
Rowena
Aug 13. 2014
I was able to find good info from your blog articles for iPhone here, Thank you for help
Rusty Ortiz
Apr 11. 2016
Great post. Thanks guys! 🙂