Siri - new speech computing from Apple

Yesterday, when Apple announced Siri, just like most people I was also amazed. In my opinion its a big step in speech computing and it will definitely change the way we use mobile devices. When apple released iPhone and opened the app store, it completely changed the way phones are being used.

Now with Siri, we can talk to our phone to practically control the iPhone tasks. You don't have to talk in robotic voice or remember the commands to talk to Siri. It lets you talk just like you are talking to another person. The most important feature is Siri recognizes the meaning of the sentence and gives the answer. "What is the weather today in Phoenix" and "Get me Phoenix weather" will read / give the same result and it even pulls the Phoenix weather on the screen. How awesome is that!!!

How to activate Siri:
Hold the home button for few seconds (Just like enabling the voice control in iPhone 4)
In hands free environment, hold the answer button in your blue-tooth for few seconds.
Siri will be activated and you can talk or ask questions - it will find the information.
It is integrated with Wikipedia, WolframAlpha, yelp and other sources for useful information.

What you can use Siri for:
Check weather, check stock prices, find restaurants (results are even sorted based on yelp review stars), read and reply to text messages, create reminders, set alarm, find time in different country / zone, compose email, get directions, search the web and many other things.

Siri comes integrated with iPhone 4S (no luck for iPhone 4 users). It is in beta and might have few rough edges. But, I am sure Apple will resolve these and add more features. If Apple opens Siri API for iOS developers then we are going to see so many creative applications flooding the app store. Lets wait, watch and explore the change...


Photos by Lifehacker & All Things D