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Apple Updates Siri for iOS7

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Seemingly not content with creating the world’s first widely available voice assistant, Apple has announced iOS 7 will herald a newly updated Siri with additional features designed to make Siri even more useful.

Most notably, the new Siri will have options to use the voice of a female or male and speak in the user’s native language. It’s clear that Apple has made some alterations to the Siri speech pattern so that it sounds a bit more natural than it does today, as well.

Users will have more opportunities to appreciate the change in voice thanks to integration from Wikipedia and Twitter. The updated version will be able to read and write tweets and directly relay information to users found on Wikipedia.

The new Siri included in iOS 7, courtesy of The Verge.

The new Siri included in iOS 7, courtesy of The Verge.

Apple has also moved to integrate Bing into Siri as well, further reducing its dependence on Google Search. Until now Siri had relied on Google and Wolfram Alpha’s search results to deliver answers to users, based on the type of information they were asking for.

Read: iRadio & iOS 7 – Siri Could be apple’s Secret Weapon

Apple has already removed YouTube from its lineup of applications that ship on iOS devices and opted to create its own mapping solution instead of depending on Google. While the removal of YouTube didn’t result in much backlash, the replacement of Google Maps with Apple Maps left many users running for other map solutions due to the relative immaturity of the app.

It remains to be seen how the switch in search engines might effect siri.

Apple will introduce a large number of changes to the visual styling of Siri. Just as it has with the rest of applications on iOS 7, Apple has ditched the synthesizer like user interface of the two previous incarnations of Siri in favor of an interface that’s flatter and has less elements. When activated, Siri will now act as a sort of visual overlay on the user’s screen, blurring out whatever was onscreen previously and overlaying a flat white microphone icon and text overtop a blurred background.

Finally, users will be able to ask Siri to change the settings on their device. For example uttering “Siri, increase brightness” will increase the brightness of the iPad or iPhone.

Many users will find the interface familiar if they’ve had any experience using Android devices.

At its WWDC conference Apple said that it would bring the updated Siri inside iOS 7 to users of the iPhone 4 and above, iPad 2 and above and 5th generation iPod Touch sometime this year.

 

10 Comments

10 Comments

  1. Jain Kallarakal

    06/10/2013 at 2:40 pm

    iOS7 seems wonderful but it will look more wonderful on a 6 inch screen iPhone with S-Pen capability.I am looking forward for such a marvelous creation from Apple this year itself or early next year.

  2. Travis

    06/10/2013 at 3:18 pm

    Are you saying that iPhone 4 and iPad 2 users are getting Siri?

  3. Kenny

    06/10/2013 at 5:07 pm

    Siri is NOT coming to the iPhone 4 or the iPad 2 — only iOS 7. A few websites have confused this.

    • Regedit

      06/22/2013 at 12:21 am

      Like techcrunch

  4. ecesarrivera

    06/10/2013 at 7:25 pm

    According to the Apple iOS7 Features page (https://www.apple.com/ios/ios7/features/), Siri is only available on the 4S and 5, iPad w/ Retina and mini, and 5th gen Touch. It’s at the bottom of the page in the fine light gray print. IDK why because the iPad 2 and Mini use most of the same tech.

  5. marcus walsh

    06/11/2013 at 10:26 am

    Terrible news. I hate bing. It’s apple maps all over again. And it’s finally pushed me over the edge. Reluctantly my next phone/tablet will be a Samsung.

  6. ryan

    06/11/2013 at 1:20 pm

    Yawn. Typical apple stealing from the jailbreak community and calling it innovation. With assistantextensions, siri has been able to do this for over a year, the “control centre” is just sbsettings, and the new icons? well, that’s just a skin It’s not like we haven’t been able to do that in the past!

  7. WardMD

    06/11/2013 at 7:09 pm

    Since Siri DOES function on iPhone 4 (either with poor 3rd party search engines, or by transplanting a legitimate key), clearly this insistence on NOT offering Siri on iPhone 4 (not the 4S) is a “marketing decision”, NOT a technical one!

    Is this REALLY the only way to make money, Apple? To FORCE your customer base to buy new devices every few years? Has it donned on you that you COULD charge a “nominal fee” to upgrade iOS devices, and a bit MORE than a “nominal fee” to upgrade OS/X devices?

    I guess you STILL don’t understand what the courts have said (regarding the legality of jailbreaking): The iDevices are NOT YOUR property.

    WHY you STILL insist on denying features to your users (rather than embracing their innovations) is beyond me…

    Do you REALLY think people AREN’T going to figure out how to jailbreak iOS 7? I’ll bet it’s within the first MONTH of general release.

  8. Nothing secret

    06/20/2013 at 11:28 am

    The ipad 2 and iPhone 4 won’t be getting siri, probably ever, do to a lack of noise canceling hardware available in future models

    • James Perih (@JamesPtheNerd)

      06/24/2013 at 3:26 pm

      Well, thank YOU for this. I’ve not actually read this anywhere else, and I’ve always wondered why. And now I know. Awesome!

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