Apple Unleashes Voice Control: Well hello, Siri!

By Adriana Lee on October 4, 2011 in Apple

And bam — just like the rumors indicated, Apple has unveiled its new Siri voice control feature. (And yep — it’s actually called Siri, just like the company that Cupertino bought.) The concept mock-up pretty much nailed the UI.

Siri understands natural language speech patterns, so you can ask stuff like: “What time is it in Paris?” and Siri will respond: “The time in Paris, France is 8:16pm.” She can also brings up a live clock. (I don’t know — I imagine her as a female. You wouldn’t name a dude “Siri,” right?)

Siri can give you directions, set an alarm or a calendar date, search Wikipedia or Wolfram Alpha, respond to text messages, and more. It understands English, French and German initially, and it’s compatible with all native apps using 3G and WiFI. And if it doesn’t nail things immediately, says Apple, give it time to train. Then she’ll be like a long-lost gal pal helping you get things done on your phone.

UPDATE: Siri is a beta build that runs on the iPhone 4S only. (My guess is that it needs the beefier processor to handle this systemwide. Sorry legacy iPhone owners.)