As an owner of an iPhone 4 and only one year into my two year contract, I was fairly certain I was going to sit out the iPhone 4s upgrade. Yes, the upgraded processor and camera sounded very tempting, but I told myself I would make do with my iPhone 4 and the updates that came with iOS 5.
I had missed the iPhone 4 apple launch presentation, so I went to Apple’s website to watch their demo videos a few days before the iPhone 4s was released. I had heard some things about the voice software, Siri, but I didn’t think this was a feature that would interest me much. To me, Siri sounded like just a novelty add on. I had never been very impressed by the accuracy or usefulness of any voice activated software I had tried in the past. That opinion changed immediately upon viewing the Siri demo video. Suddenly, I realized that, if Siri worked as well in real life use as it did in the demo, this feature could be a real time saver for me during my busy days at work.
I immediately hopped on Verizon’s website the afternoon the iPhone 4s went on sale and pre-ordered the phone. I had heard there was a high pre-order demand, so I was surprised I was still immediately promised shipment for October 14th. I received my iPhone 4s on the afternoon of October 14th and have been playing around with it and testing out the possibilities ever since. I have to say I am pleased with my decision to make the upgrade.
Siri – The Time Saving and Peace of Mind Assistant
It used to be a chore to update my calendar, make short replies to emails and texts, and set reminders for myself. Typing on the iPhone 4’s keyboard has always been my least favorite part of the phone. The process was often slow and frustrating, as I had to navigate multiple menus and often made typing errors using the on screen keyboard. I would sometimes put off doing these things till I was at desk and had my computer. This often led to me forgetting to attend to those things at all. Now, all these tasks are easily done within seconds using my voice through Siri.
So far I am blown away by the accuracy of Siri in recognizing what I want to get done. I have yet to run into a situation where I have had to re-say anything for Siri to understand it. Siri has been flawless in setting up appointments for me, sending out texts, and responding to emails. The only times it has been unable to do things for me correctly are when I ask it to do something it isn’t capable of yet. (For instance, I asked it for the score of my favorite team’s game and got the response that this was not something Siri could do. I hope this feature is added soon!)
Siri allows me to keep my phone on my desk and focus on other tasks while interacting with my phone. For instance, during the writing of this article, my wife texted me a few times. I simply held down my home key, asked Siri to read the texts, and replied to her texts – all without looking at my phone or interacting with the phone with anything but my voice. This allowed me to respond to her quickly and efficiently while staying focused on my work.
I can see Siri potentially saving me a few minutes here and there throughout the workday and helping me to forget important tasks or dates less often. As a principal and school teacher with a busy schedule full of classes, meetings, and a million things to remember, every minute I save and every reminder to do something I get is valuable. Every time something important comes up that I don’t want to forget in the future, a quick request of Siri to remind me about it at a later time is going to go a long way in giving me peace of mind. I don’t have to worry anymore that I am going to forget something important because it is so quick and easy to set up a reminder using Siri. For these reasons alone, Siri has made the upgrade from the iPhone 4 to the 4s worth it for me.
Siri is truly the first extremely useful voice activated software I have ever used. I have heard Android phone owners argue that there have been effective voice activated apps available for a long time on their phones. However, none of these Android apps are all interconnected and embedded within all the key apps of the phone as Siri is on the iPhone 4s. The fact that any changes I make to my calendar, reminders, or notes through Siri are also updated on my computer via iCloud immediately only widens the gap between what Siri offers on the iPhone and what anyone else is currently offering. Siri is the real deal and is a feature that sets the iPhone 4s apart. This is why I believe the iPhone 4s is, hands down, the best phone available for work on the market right now. Apple has, once again, left the competition far behind.
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