The iOS 6 Review: Maps Thoroughly Investigated and More
by Brian Klug & Saumitra Bhagwat on September 19, 2012 2:21 PM ESTSiri
We put Siri through her paces quite extensively when we reviewed the iPhone 4S, and since then, she’s learnt some new tricks along the way. Also, Siri is no longer exclusive to the iPhone. At Apple’s Fall event last week, it was revealed that in addition to the 3rd generation iPad, Siri will also be available on the new 5th generation iPod touch. So with the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5, that’s four devices with support for Siri now. Good stuff.
Well hello there Siri running on an iPad!
Location based Siri queries really depend on, as you might guess, your location. A lot of queries worked fine in the US, however we also did testing in Dubai where the results have been quite appalling. There’s very little that you can do with Siri in Dubai. Anything location-based simply doesn’t work, but other, more general queries work just fine.
I was actually quite impressed by Siri’s sports quotient; it pulls up game schedules and team rosters very accurately. Now this isn’t limited to American sports, because it pulled up information about teams and schedules for the English Premier League as well. Other stuff like Cricket and Table Tennis evoked a much humbler response; probably something we can expect to see a few years down the line. Siri can now also launch apps, but unless you have a ton of apps, it’s probably faster to do it the old-fashioned way. Just for fun, I was looking at some of the queries Anand ran for Siri in our iPhone 4S review and decided to replicate the one for calculating tips. I was pleasantly surprised to see the results, because it returned the answer in USD as well as AED (UAE Dirham). Its little things like these that go a long way towards fostering the kind of overzealous customer loyalty that Apple enjoys.
Siri's good with non-American sports too.
People may use Siri to do a lot of different things and I would argue that, because of the subjective nature of the results, primarily based on your location and other external factors, a review would simply not do justice to all the readers. So instead of focusing on Siri’s performance, we will be focusing more on its implementation on the iPad.
Now the iPad has a mammoth 9.7” screen compared to the 3.5” screen on the iPhone 4S and the 4” screens on the new iPhone 5 and 5th generation iPod touch. I expected Siri on the iPad to be more than a simple port of the iPhone version; but that’s exactly what Apple’s done. I’ve had a similar complaint with Notifications Center on the iPad as well. Apple’s entire argument with the iPad was that apps get a bigger canvas and developers can do a lot more with the extra screen real estate. But with Siri, Apple does not seem to be making good use of that space at all. You get the same-sized UI from the iPhone, and after one query, you’re left scrolling away to glory to keep track of your results.
It could have been helpful if Siri had a slightly more optimized UI to leverage the added screen space afforded by the iPad. Just as an example, I tried to get Manchester United’s team roster, and low and behold, I was scrolling forever to get through that list. At the very least, they could make the UI taller so that it displays more information. Apart from that, I do not have any major gripes with the way Siri works on the iPad, and it’s definitely a welcome addition.
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iwod - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
Am i the only one who think the Dial is Fugly?chenedwa - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
Some of the free GPS apps require you to pay for spoken directions. Apple's new Maps app plays well with other GPS apps. If you set Maps to navigate to a destination, then switch to another GPS app without the ability to speak turn by turn directions, then the Maps will offer continue to give navigation updates as a badge with drop down text over the status bar spoken with Siri's voice. A great way to augment other "silent" free GPS apps.Conficio - Thursday, September 20, 2012 - link
I'd like to send a caller that I can't take right now to a pre-determined voice message: "Call you back ASAP", etc. instead of sending messages. Why?* first of all it is not good to switch communication methods. If someone sends me a text I don't answer with an e-mail or a long form letter.
* Second not every phone line is mobile, so text messages end up nowhere
* There are users that do not use texts
* last the communication is disrupted. If I call then I get what (I guess a busy sign) and I put down the phone and a few seconds later I get a text, informing me of the pre-canned message, so I have to pick up the phone to read the message.
If I get a voice answer, then I stay in the intended communication mode and optionally can leave a voice message (which some service at the convenience of the recipient can transcribe).
mikato - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
Wow, so it doesn't actually answer the call and play your prerecorded message? That's what I thought the article was saying. Yeah no point to sending a text message if someone is calling from a regular phone.Impulses - Friday, September 21, 2012 - link
I'm more than halfway thru the article (currently on the Mail page) and I'm honestly not seeing this bias that a lot of comments are complaining of... And I'm hardly an Apple fan, I own exactly one Apple device (old 2nd gen IPod touch) and I've had three Android phones and a tablet (andI bought a second one as a gift even). Maybe it's more evident in the conclusion? Couple more pages to find out...
I'm not reading it as an Android vs iOS article tho, just as what it is, an update and overview on what's changed on iOS. Speaking of Android vs iOS, I've seen it mentioned here many times by various editors that they don't imagine a lot of people cross shopping between both ecosystems... And as far as existing customers I'd agree.
The smartphone and tablet markets are still growing rapidly tho and new buyers (who haven't owned either type of device before) are absolutely cross shopping IMO.
jramskov - Saturday, September 22, 2012 - link
As others have written, the maps may be fine in the USA, but Apple do sell their products elsewhere. Here in small Denmark, it's horrible. The amount of errors are staggering, I spent less than 30 seconds browsing the maps in my local area and found at least 3 big errors. Later I browsed a bit more and apparently the second biggest hospital in the country doesn't exist. The navigation guides you on highways that's not going to open until 2016. I have an iPhone because I like Apples attention to detail - their products generally just work. In this case they failed big time.Another thing: Isn't this the first time there aren't any new IOS features that's exclusive to the new model? I don't seem to lose any features by staying with my 4s.
medi01 - Saturday, September 22, 2012 - link
What does this pathetic marketing BS have to do with this article?Are you now officially apple's bi1ches, boys?
PS
Oh, and good one from brits:
http://media.bestofmicro.com/london-underground-io...
Stas - Sunday, September 23, 2012 - link
lolLaststop311 - Sunday, September 23, 2012 - link
video showing off the gps like wow test it on some residential roads without all these long ass red lights, do it on a day without rain dont enjoy hearing the wipers screeching. a little common sense would go a long way. you're an iphone user aren't youmikato - Thursday, September 27, 2012 - link
Maybe that's why they said the turn by turn voice directions were too quiet. It is good to know at least.