This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Siri Listens
As Siri listens to you speaking, look at the bottom of the screen (see Figure 1.11, left). A moving “wave” provides you with volume feedback as you speak and lets you know that Siri is in listening mode. If you do not respond after a few seconds, Siri stops listening and plays the end-of-listening chime.
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Figure 1-11 Left: Siri’s feedback wave rises and falls with your speech. Right: A circle rotates as Siri contacts its servers to interpret your speech and respond to you.
To finish speaking, either pause and wait for Siri or tap the wave. Siri listens and then enters thinking mode. During this time, a rotating circle appears, letting you know that Siri is contacting Apple’s data centers for speech interpretation and processing (see Figure 1.11, right).
Siri works with both 3G and Wi-Fi Internet connections, so you can use it wherever you are. The data demands are fairly minimal, so you probably do not need to worry about depleting your monthly allocation if you use Siri a lot.
If Siri is able to process your statement, it tries to interpret it and provide some kind of response for you. If Siri cannot call home to its Apple data processing center, it informs you about the situation, saying something like, “I’m sorry, I’m having difficulty accessing the network.” Try moving to a location with a better Internet signal or try again later.
Listening on OS X
On OS X, Siri provides feedback in the shape of a microphone. As Figure 1.12 shows, the microphone acts as a level meter, and an animated dot presentation shows that the computer is actively contacting servers for speech interpretation. OS X does not use pause detection, so you must either click Done or press Return to finish your dictation.
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Figure 1-12 The microphone on OS X works as a level meter. The height of the purple bar in the microphone reflects the current volume of your speech.
Siri Responds
Siri responds to both direct commands and random statements. If Siri can’t interpret what you’ve said as a request, it searches the Web for your statement. For example, Figure 1.13 shows how Siri responds to you when you say “platypuses.” Siri uses your word or phrase for a web search using its built-in set of helper sites: Bing, Wikipedia, and Wolfram Alpha.
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Figure 1-13 Siri displays web searches for any words or phrases it doesn’t immediately recognize.
NOTE
Siri learns your accent and voice characteristics over time. As long as you keep Siri enabled in your iPhone settings, your Siri account remains on Apple’s servers, and your recognition rates improve over time. Siri uses voice-recognition algorithms to categorize your voice into its database of regional dialects and accents. This database continues to evolve and will keep improving as Siri collects more data and evaluates its interpretation successes. Siri also uses information from your iPhone. Data from your contacts, music library, calendar, and reminders helps fuel its recognition vocabulary.
To reset your Siri information, switch Siri off and then back on in Settings, General, Siri. When you do this, you dispose of all personalized settings Siri has collected from you over time (not including any general metrics it studies and adds to its primary database) and returns Siri to a fresh install, ready to learn your quirks again.