While iPhone 4S owners in the U.S. enjoy a host of location-based Siri functions, folks outside the country are out of luck. Try going to the UK and asking Siri where the nearest McDonalds is, and you're sure to get shot down.
But as usual, the jailbreak community has figured out a way to make up for Apple's shortcomings. A new AssistantExtensions plugin, International Locations for Siri, allows you to perform location-based searches abroad...
Digital secretary Siri was, and still is, the headline feature of the iPhone 4S. It owes some of its allure to the vast processing power of Apple's servers that run a remarkably sophisticated voice recognition software licensed from Nuance, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based provider of arguably the best voice technology money can buy.
According to Nuance’s marketing honcho, you can bet on Siri to improve over time. Upcoming developments in personal assistants will enable new stuff, such as more accurate voice recognition and personalization. So yeah, eventually you'll be able to ask Siri “Is my favourite movie on tonight?”
A few months ago, a New York man by the name of Frank M. Fazio filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple over its voice assistant, claiming that the company's Siri TV ads were misleading of its capabilities. A similar suit popped up a few weeks later.
Apple, obviously, doesn't agree. And it feels that if a customer isn't happy with Siri — which is still labeled as Beta, mind you — or the iPhone 4S itself, then he or she is more than welcome to return the handset within 30 days for a refund...
You've probably seen reports on how Siri was telling the world that Nokia's Lumia 900 was the best smartphone ever.
She was simply relaying a response provided by the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine which averaged customer reviews across the web.
But Apple has taught Siri better so she now replies with "You're kidding, right?" or "The one you're holding in your hand" or somesuch response.
Needles to say, Nokia wasn't too happy and was quick to accuse Apple of recalibrating Siri, tarnishing her credibility in the process. As if Nokia didn't have other worries on its mind, mind you...
It was a silly story to begin with, but it appears that Apple has changed the answer that Siri responds with when you inquire about the "best smartphone ever".
Previously, Siri referred you to a Wolfram Alpha result where none other than the Nokia Lumia 900 — a direct iPhone 4S competitor — claimed the top spot.
Needless to say, Apple has now put an end to those shenanigans...
Now here's something a little different: GhostSiri — a tweak that will allow you to invoke Siri without being subjected to the Siri UI.
It's currently a concept tweak in the very early stages of development, but I see the potential for something good here.
Take a look at our video walkthrough inside...
Note that this video is not viewable in Mobile Safari.
SiriStatus is a recently released jailbreak tweak that reveals a hidden Siri status bar. This bar is located at the top of your screen, and is used for checking the current query status and manually entering in queries via the keyboard.
If you tend to find yourself experiencing problems with Siri, then SiriStatus can help you decipher what the problem may be.
Check out our video walkthrough straight ahead...
In the world of iPhone rumors, things tend to get a tad ridiculous at times. In fact, if we were to believe some of the reports we've heard, Apple's next smartphone will have a 5-inch screen and be machined from liquid metal.
Well the folks over at AatmaStudio, known for their powerful Apple product concepts, have taken ridiculous to the next level. Check out their vision for the next iPhone, and its cool self-destructing remote-wipe feature...
Last week, two new iPhone 4S commercials surfaced starring Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel. And given the fact that Apple hasn't used celebrities in its TV spots in quite some time, there was some questions on who was behind the ads.
Well as it turns out, Apple was. And apparently it was a smart move. According to Ace Metrix, an advertising tracking firm, the celebrity iPhone 4S ads are generating higher scores with consumers than any other 4S ads aired this year...
If you don't have an iPhone 4S, but still want to experience Siri, chances are you've already done so through one of a variety of existing methods.
Since the iPhone 4S was released, numerous methods for providing Siri, or at least some form of her, have appeared for older devices.
AssistantServer Installer is yet the latest way to do so, and the cool thing about it is that it requires minimal configuration to get it up and running at a very basic level...
When word started to spread that Samuel L. Jackson was starring in a new iPhone 4S commercial, our imaginations ran wild. We figured that combining the outspoken actor with Siri could make for a humorous TV spot.
Obviously, Apple went the much more tame route. And the commercial that aired didn't feature any of Mr. Jackson's popular foul-mouthed catch phrases. That's ok. We found one that does (warning: explicit language)...