One of the major features of the iPhone 4S is the voice-controlled Siri assistant and the promotional video below from Apple shows you some of the use cases for this. It looks to be a powerful service but there’s also a bit of creepiness involved.
As you can see from the video, the iPhone 4S will use the Siri voice-assistant to allow you to schedule appointments, look up the weather, send and receive e-mails and texts and even ask general knowledge questions all by speaking. A robotic-sounding woman will then answer your query.
For example, the video shows a lady asking if it “Will be chilly in San Francisco this weekend” and SkyNetSiri says it might be, then spouts the temperature. The lady then asks “What about Napa Valley,” and Siri says it’s going to be warm and shows the weather widget.
I can definitely see a lot of uses for this, particularly in the car or if you’re on the move. It can also read your messages and notifications for you and you can respond in kind. That’s where it kind of gets dicey for me though. Yes, this is awesome if you’re in your car alone but what happens when Siri blurts out a cheating text while your wife is around or discloses information that you don’t want to be shared with others because it won’t shut its yap?
I’m sure it can be easily toggled on and off but I’m not sure I really want my iPhone to be talking so much, particularly in that lifeless robot voice. Still, I’ll reserve judgement until I get a chance to play around with it. Additionally, this will keep up Apple’s amazing record with making these devices more accessible to people.