I know it's not an original or unknown topic but in a few days I had a couple of situations that reminded me (as if I could forget!) The painful limitations of Apple's so-called voice "assistant".
When Siri can't create an event in the past.
This is the situation: I live outside the city and eat in Madrid. When I come back from my appointment, with all the hype about the new speed limits, I think "I write on the calendar that today I ate in Madrid with José, in case a fine arrives in a few months and - as usual in mine - I don't have the more remote idea of what I could do on the road to offense ».
It must be said that the year and peak isolation of the pandemic has added a growing veil in the things I do, which quickly fade into the past, so it seemed like a smart move on my part - I admit, I was surprised by my ingenuity idea. .
But he didn't have Siri. When I tried to force him to write down the meal at the time indicated on the calendar, his poor response left me - of course - frustrated and without a reminder. As the section title says " Siri cannot create events in the past «.
I can think of no reasons to justify this limitation, because in no case is a date in the future different from a date in the past, except for Apple's laziness in devoting all its attention to making a coherent assistant that really (really! !) useful
When Siri doesn't understand what you are saying
A day or two after the incident in the past, making grilled tuna fillets (forgive the boring details, today I feel like a traditionalist) I wanted Siri to notify me after two minutes, to turn the piece.
I was not able. " Siri, count a minute and a half A natural expression, perhaps too colloquial? But that - at the very least - should have caused Siri to diligently count from one to ninety, at the rate of the number per second. Naive of me. All I could have Siri repeat after each attempt is "How much?"
I know, I should have said "Set the timer for a minute and a half", very natural and spontaneous, right?
I don't know what Siri was replying to, and the funny thing is, I'm so used to her not understanding, that I don't mind making fun of myself in front of the whole family, repeating the question over and over. again to see if his understanding is clear. But that wasn't the case. Eventually I had to take the iPhone out of my pocket, open the Clock app, select the stopwatch and activate it. Since I only had a minute left, I was careful and managed to flip the steak. For the second half, however, when I looked at the clock, the three minutes had already arrived.
Yes, the tuna was good (I know that's the only thing you care about in the story). It was a little dry but I liked it.
When Siri doesn't know the iPhone is a cellphone
This is another good, really good one. I don't know if this has happened to you but sometimes, when someone gives me the phone and I know they have an iPhone, for some absurd need to specify it, instead of leaving it in the generic "Mobile", I select the iPhone option.
Every day, I want to call that person. "Hey Siri, call Perenganito on his cell phone" ……… ———- ………… "You don't have any Perenganito cell phone, do you want to call him on his iPhone?"
Come on Siri, don't ... screw me. After so many years, you don't know which cell phone and iPhone are equivalent? Now I can't swear to it, but I also think otherwise (that is, it doesn't work either). That is, if you tell him to call Menganito on the iPhone, he will reply that he is sorry but that he does not have an iPhone and that he wants you to call him on his cell phone.
Note: it's also "funny" when you tell him to call a contact from whom you have two phones and he asks you "Which one do you want to call on 000 012 456 or 345 892 999" and you can't say "first" or "second", you have to dictate the complete and perfect mobile number, at the speed necessary so that you do not cancel the listening and repeat the message "which one do you want to call ..."
When Siri doesn't work if you don't have a data connection
The last anecdote I want to include here (for now) is from yesterday afternoon. It was in the closet in my house, located on the -2 floor (ie buried under tons of concrete and bricks) and, of course, there is no data coverage. I'm taking things in and out, arms busy, and suddenly the timer light in the hall goes out.
I am away from the switch, and I have flooded the entrance with garbage (I remind you that it is the closet). So I don't want to walk around in the dark because chances are I'll end up with something broken, tripping and knocking more stuff (including my brain) on the floor.
Then I lift my Apple Watch slightly and say "Hey Siri, turn on the flashlight"… —— …… —–… .. —— "Sorry, something went wrong, try again later."
I do not think it is appropriate to put the string of outbursts that I unleashed before the new journey that Siri had made me, that friend who should always be there to support you.
That if you say a message to send to someone, they must use the cloud to check spelling or consistency, otherwise the punctuation could figure it out. But that you tell him to activate a function of the device itself (he didn't even want the iPhone flashlight, only the Apple Watch one) and can't get it to work without a data connection, not only seems to me an absurd limitation but it seems to me that goes against the very essence of the voice assistant.
Siri should be able to do things on the device without a data connection, precisely because you may need the device in situations where you have no data… and all you want is some light in the dark.
But of course, if you want light in the dark, then you don't use Siri.
What frustrations did you leave trying to use Siri? Am I the only one (use it)? Am I the only one (get frustrated)?
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Of interest: By changing Siri's voice, I find Siri's male voice much less irritating than the female's. Although this reminds me that I wrote about the concept of Siri not identifiable with a certain genre a long time ago. Although Apple has taken some steps in that direction (now they are Voice 1, Voice 2…) we are still a long way from that neutrality.
