An analogue of Siri for Android from Yandex. Setting up and using Siri

Five examples of applications that can not only replace the well-known Siri, but also surpass it in some functions.

Speaktoit Assistant

The app works similarly to Siri, allowing you to dictate a message in iMessage, open a website, add events to your calendar, and more.

Its interface, however, is not so universal: as an illustration, the voice assistant comes with a drawn girl who “answers” all your questions. The assistant works in conjunction with many applications, with maps, and with productivity management applications. In the future, the developer promises to expand the list of supported programs and tasks.

Google Now

The most famous Siri competitor was created by Google, the application will be useful for those who have a business account in Google Apps, since the corporate scheduling and calendar management capabilities work in conjunction with Google Now.

Google Now is supported on iOS and Android devices, as well as the Chrome browser. So for universal work, a browser on your desktop computer and a smartphone (or tablet) based on one of the 2 popular mobile OS will be enough.

Calendars 5

Powerful task manager and organizer of meetings and calendars. It is distinguished by its support for ordinary human speech: you simply dictate in your usual manner (though in English) - and you get a calendar filled with events and plans. This method of typing is definitely faster than manually.

Setting up this application is also quite simple.

Meeting Assistant

This voice assistant is suitable for those whose business tasks and organizing notes come first. There is also a detailed meeting planner here.

The interface of this application is reminiscent of a good old spring notepad, which has a main calendar and appointments attached to specific times and dates. You can also leave notes and comments linked to social networks.

Mynd

And completing our list is an alternative iPhone assistant called Mynd with a tiled interface and reminders right on the home screen. Not only can it create tasks, calendar entries and manage applications, but it also adapts to your habits and provides you with contextual information based on your current location.

The intelligent voice assistant Siri acts as a personal secretary that can understand voice commands. Siri understands natural speech, so the user does not need to learn special commands or remember keywords. Various formulations of queries and commands are allowed. For example, you can say “Set the alarm for 6:30 a.m.” (Set your alarm for 6:30) or “Wake me at 6:30 in the morning.” Both phrases are interpreted as commands in Siri.

WARNING . For important information about safe navigation and avoiding distraction while driving, see Important Safety Information.

With Siri, you can compose and send messages, schedule appointments, make FaceTime calls, get directions, create reminders, search the Internet, and more by simply speaking commands. If clarification or additional information is needed, Siri asks a question. Interpretation of commands in the Siri program is carried out taking into account information from your contacts list, media library, calendars, reminders and other programs.

Siri interacts effectively with most built-in apps on iPod touch and uses Search and Location Services when needed. You can also ask Siri to open an app.

You can ask Siri for many things. Below are a number of examples for novice users.

Note. Siri is available on the 5th generation iPod touch. An Internet connection is required for it to work. Siri may not be available in all languages or regions, and features may vary depending on the selected language and region.

Using Siri

Launch Siri

The Siri program is launched by pressing a button.

Launch the Siri program. Press and hold the Home button until the Siri screen appears. If Siri wasn't turned on when you set up iPod touch, go to Settings > General > Siri.

Two short beeps are played and the screen displays the text “What can I help you with?” (How can I help?).

Just start talking. The microphone icon lights up, indicating that Siri is listening to your speech. When interacting with Siri, you should press the microphone icon before speaking the next command.

The pause is interpreted by Siri as command completion, but command completion can also be indicated by tapping the microphone icon. This feature is useful when there is high background noise. This feature also allows you to interact with Siri faster because it doesn't take time to recognize a pause. The spoken command is displayed on the screen after interpretation in Siri, after which the program will respond to your request. In many cases, Siri's screen also displays additional information that you may find useful. If the information displayed is specific to an application (for example, a user-composed text message or a requested location), clicking that information opens the application so you can view more information and take action.

How Siri recognized How Siri recognized your words Your words Siri's answer Siri's answer

Related Related information - information - click, click to open to open the program. program. Tap to Tap to instruct Siri. give instructions to Siri. If clarification is required to complete a command, Siri asks the appropriate question. For example, after saying “Remind me to call mom,” Siri might prompt “What time would you like me to remind you?” (What time do you want to receive a reminder?). Cancel request. Say "Cancel" and tap or press the Home button.

Entering user information into Siri

The more information about the user entered into Siri, the more accurate it will be in executing commands. Siri uses information about the user that is specified in his personal card (“My Details”) in the Contacts program.

Entering user information into Siri. Go to Settings > General > Siri > My Info and tap your name.

Enter your home and work addresses on the card so you can make queries like “How do I get home?” (How can I get home?).

It is also recommended to enter information on your personal card about close relatives and friends who may be mentioned in requests to Siri. For example, if a user commands a message to be sent to her sister, Siri will ask for her sister's information (if it's not in the card). After this, data on family relationships is automatically entered by the Siri program into a personal card, and when receiving similar commands, such a request no longer appears. Create cards in Contacts for all your family and friends, and on each card include phone numbers, email addresses, home and work addresses, and pet names.

On-Screen Guide

Examples of possible voice commands are displayed directly on the Siri screen. When you first see the Siri screen, say “what can you do?” or tap . When asked in the example, Siri displays a list of supported programs. For more examples, click an item in the list.

Using Siri with headphones

When you use Siri, you can use Apple EarPods with Remote and Microphone (sold separately) or other wired headphones and Bluetooth headsets.

Interact with Siri using headphones. Press and hold the center button (or the call button on a Bluetooth headset).

The button must be pressed before each command and held until the command is spoken. If you're using a headset or headphones, Siri speaks its response to you. Before sending previously dictated text messages and emails, Siri speaks the text out loud. This way, the user can edit the message if necessary. Siri also reads reminder topics aloud before creating reminders.

Location services

Siri uses Location Services to get information about local weather, restaurants, and other places near you.

Location information is not tracked or stored on any devices other than iPod touch. Turning off Location Services doesn't stop Siri from working, but commands that require location information won't work.

Disable Location Services for Siri. Go to Settings > Privacy > Geolocation.

Universal Access

Visually impaired users can interact with Siri using VoiceOver, a voice-guided interface program built into iOS. VoiceOver reads the contents of your screen aloud, including Siri's responses. This way, users can operate iPod touch without looking at the screen.

Turn on VoiceOver. Go to Settings > General > Accessibility.

When VoiceOver is turned on, notifications also play out loud. See VoiceOver for more information.

Set Siri settings

Turn Siri on or off. Go to Settings > General > Siri.

Note. Turning off the Siri program restores its original state: in particular, information about the user’s voice that the program remembers is lost.

Configure Siri settings.Go to Settings > General > Siri.

Language. Selecting a language for working with the Siri program.
Voice response . By default, Siri only speaks its responses when you interact with Siri through headphones or a headset. To ensure Siri always speaks its responses, set this feature to Always.
My details. Using this option, you can specify a card in the Contacts app that contains personal information about the user that is needed to interact with the Siri app. See Adding user information to Siri.

Allow or deny access to Siri when iPod touch is locked with a passcode. Go to Settings > General > Password Protection. You can also restrict access to Siri by setting restrictions. See Limitations.

Restaurants

Siri works with Yelp, OpenTable and other restaurant information providers to help you make restaurant reservations. Ask to find a restaurant with a specific cuisine, price, location, terrace, or a combination of options. Siri can show you available photos, Yelp stars, price range, and reviews. Additional information is available through Yelp and OpenTable; if they aren't installed, iPod touch will prompt you to install them. View detailed information about the restaurant. Tap a restaurant suggested by Siri.

Movies

Ask Siri what movies are playing and where you can watch a particular movie. Find out when the film will premiere, who its director is and what awards it won. Siri provides information about movie theater locations, showtimes, and reviews posted on the Rotten Tomato website.

Siri can work with Fandango to purchase tickets (for theaters that support this feature). Ask Siri what time a movie is playing or tell Siri you want to buy a ticket. Clicking Buy Tickets will launch Fandango if you have it installed, or you will be prompted to install it from the App Store.

View detailed information about the movie. Tap a movie suggested by Siri.

Sport

Siri has extensive information about a variety of sports, including baseball, basketball, American and European football and hockey. Ask Siri about game schedules, current season results, or scores of pending matches. Ask Siri to show a player's profile and compare it with another player's profile. Siri also tracks command data. Here are some examples of such tasks.

What was the score of the last Giants game? (What was the score in the Giants' last game?)
What are the National League standings? (Find National League standings)
When is the Chicago Cubs first game of the season? (When is the first Chicago Cup game of the season?)

Dictation

When Siri is on, you can also dictate text. See Dictation.

Although you can compose emails, text messages, and other text-based content directly using your voice in Siri, in some cases it's more convenient to use the dictation feature. In Dictation mode, you can edit a message without replacing all the text. In addition, the user is given more time to think about the text.

When working with the Siri program, a pause is perceived as the completion of a command and a signal to formulate a response. Thanks to this feature, interacting with the Siri program resembles a normal conversation. However, a pause that is too long may be interpreted by Siri as the end of the command. In dictation mode, there is no limit on how long you can pause, so you can continue speaking whenever you're ready.

You can also start composing text using Siri and continue it in dictation mode. For example, you can compose an email message in Siri, and then tap draft to open the message in Mail. In Mail, you can complete or edit messages, or make other changes (such as adding or removing recipients, changing the subject, or sending a message from a different address).

Making corrections to Siri

Fixing Siri errors

Sometimes Siri may not understand you, for example, in a noisy environment. If a user speaks with an accent, Siri takes extra time to learn to understand their voice. If Siri doesn't recognize your words quite correctly, you can make corrections. Once Siri receives a command, it will display the command text on the screen along with the response.

Correcting errors in the interpretation of voice commands in the Siri program. Click the dialog cloud with the text of the command interpreted by Siri. Edit your request. To do this, enter the desired text or press on the keyboard and use the dictation function. For details about the dictation feature, see Dictation on page 41.

If a piece of text is underlined in blue, when you tap that piece of text, Siri's screen displays other options. Click one of the options or replace the text by typing or dictating.

Siri's error correction command should not contain any indication of misinterpretation; it should be stated in an affirmative form.

Correcting an email or text message. When you ask to send a message you created in Siri, you can say one of the following commands.

Change it to: (Change to:) FaceTime me tomorrow. (Call me on FaceTime tomorrow.)
Add: (Add:) See you there question mark. (See you there exclamation point)
No, send it to Bob. (No, send it to Bob.)
No (to save the message without sending it).
Cancel. (Cancel)

To hear the text of a message in Siri, say “Read it back to me” or “Read me the message.” If you don't need to make any corrections, you can say something like "Yes, send it."

High noise environment

When there is high ambient noise, hold iPod touch close to your mouth, but keep the bottom edge of the device some distance from your lips. speak clearly and naturally. When you have finished speaking the command, press .

Network connection

When network connectivity issues occur, Siri can play a notification. Because Siri connects to Apple servers to recognize speech and perform other functions, you must have a strong Wi-Fi internet connection.

Five examples of applications that can not only replace the well-known Siri, but also surpass it in some functions.

Speaktoit Assistant

The app works similarly to Siri, allowing you to dictate a message in iMessage, open a website, add events to your calendar, and more.

Google Now

Calendars 5

Setting up this application is also quite simple.

Meeting Assistant

This voice assistant is suitable for those whose business tasks and organizing notes come first. There is also a detailed meeting planner here.

Mynd

Hey Siri is supported on iPhone SE, iPhone 6s or later, iPad Pro (except 12.9-inch 1st generation model), and iPad (5th generation or later) without being connected to a power source. Hey Siri is supported on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch with iOS 8 or later when connected to a power source. This feature is not supported on first-generation iPad, iPad 2, or first-generation iPad mini.
Siri suggestions for the Commands app are supported on iPhone 6s or later, iPad Pro, iPad (5th generation or later), iPad Air 2, and iPad mini 4.
Apple Music subscription required.

Siri is available on iPhone 4s or later, iPad Pro, iPad (3rd generation or later), iPad Air or later, iPad mini or later, and iPod touch (5th generation or later). Internet access required. Siri may not be available in all languages or regions. Siri capabilities may also vary. Cellular data charges may apply.
Siri features and functionality vary by device.
Some features are only available in apps developed using SiriKit.
Some features may not be available in all countries or regions. Click

The role of smartphones in the lives of each of us is becoming much more noticeable. We spend most of our time with portable mobile devices, and therefore we can say that we are constantly connected both on the mobile network and on various social platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

But what’s remarkable is that smartphones have become our assistants who organize our work day, help set and achieve goals, and control our behavior (to some extent). One of the tools that makes a user's life easier is Siri. We will tell you in this article how to enable this “assistant” on your phone, what it is and how it works.

Siri technology

So, let's start with the fact that the technology on which the Siri system operates is, in fact, the experience of many years of development by a huge group of scientists. According to official information, about 40 years ago developers worked to create a prototype of artificial intelligence that could collect, analyze and respond to information coming from the environment. Siri, based on these technologies, has essentially absorbed these developments. And Apple, which introduced the platform to the market as an addition to its product, became one of the pioneers of the era of artificial intelligence in smartphones. And, in fact, thanks to the work of many scientists, today the user can work with Siri. What this is - we will tell you in more detail below.

Siri on iPhone

On an Apple smartphone - iPhone (from the 4S model to the latest - Siri is presented as a simple application. It can be installed from the catalog of programs for devices running the iOS operating system and launched with a simple press of a button.

In addition to the ability to additionally download Siri, the iPhone has this program as one of the basic ones. Thus, even if the user does not know about the existence of the Appstore, he can use this “assistant” after purchasing the phone.

Although Siri works on the principle of detecting speech requests, this does not limit users from most countries in terms of language integration. This is achieved by the development company due to the fact that the program has up to 20 versions that work in different languages. Of course, there is also Siri in Russian, which is available in the Russian Federation.

Siri features

A user who has not yet encountered this application has a logical question: what exactly is included in Siri’s functions? Actually, how can this program help the phone owner, and why is it needed?

The answer is simple: the application acts as a personal assistant. Its “responsibilities” (to use this word correctly in relation to the application) include recognizing user commands, processing them and, of course, reacting appropriately. This is how the main function of the application can be characterized.

As for the specific tasks that Siri works with, these are, in fact, the same tasks that your smartphone performs. Considering the iPhone, we can say that this application allows you to make various requests to the phone and wait for it to complete the task.

Features of the program

Of course, technologies that would allow your iPhone to absolutely accurately “understand” you solely by your voice do not yet exist. Siri is just an attempt to create such a universal and working solution, but it is not perfect either. Therefore, you need to know on the iPhone 5 (as, indeed, on any other model). In particular, you need to try to make the most correct requests (for example, “Call mom,” “Open a card,” and so on). It’s not worth making calls to your smartphone in any form (especially if it’s not English, which Siri recognizes best).

Another feature, of course, is the clarity of speech and, in particular, the words you speak to Siri. What kind of phrases these will be and how clearly you will pronounce them is up to you. But remember that the degree to which the program recognizes your voice depends on this. For example, if you give a command in a noisy environment, the “assistant” will most likely “not understand” you.

Available languages

You may ask, what languages are available in Siri? We answer: these are English, Danish, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Italian, French, Spanish, Cantonese, Danish, Chinese, Korean, German, Thai, Turkish and Japanese. The presence of a language in this list means that people can make a request to the program in it, and it will “understand” what the user wants.

One thing to note is that each of these languages is not available on all versions of iOS. About half were added relatively recently, starting with modification 8.3.

How to work with Siri?

In this part of the article we will describe the procedure for what is needed to start working with Siri (how to enable the application, in fact). So, we are considering two possible options: if you have a pre-installed program (which comes immediately with the new device), then in this case you do not need to take any special actions. The program is launched, as mentioned above, by long pressing the Home button. If you do not use this function and do not want to call the “assistant” in this way, you can disable it in the settings.

Another option is when you, for some reason, don't have Siri and would like to install it from scratch. This is easy to do: just go to the Appstore and install it like other programs. Then you can access Siri from the desktop, launching it in normal mode.

The program does not require any activation or additional registration. This is the beauty of this development - with all the breadth of its capabilities, Apple presented it in the most simplified form. The interface ended up being simple and clear.

How to use?

And using Siri (what it is and how it works, in general, I think we figured it out) is very simple. Once you launch the application, you will see a new window showing a line (like in voice recorders). In addition, the launch of Siri is also accompanied by a characteristic sound (a specific “double” signal), after which the phrase “Hello, how can i help you?” is pronounced. in English (or “How can I help you?” in Russian). After that, you can say a phrase indicating the command you need: “Siri, show me the nearest restaurants,” for example.

After your speech has been recorded, the program will give another signal, followed immediately by a response.

Prospects and opportunities

In fact, all information about this application is general. We know how Siri helps. That this is a product that in the future will be able to “learn” to fulfill all our requirements without exception (and then it will become truly convenient).

I wonder if this development can somehow be applied in other areas?

Experts say that software solutions such as Siri are the future of humanity. Perhaps one day artificial intelligence will be able to solve our most complex problems, make incredible calculations, answer those questions for which we, humans, have not been able to find answers.

There is also a theory that Siri is just a useless Apple gimmick that also doesn't recognize speech at the required level.

Be that as it may, in English (in the USA, in particular), people really use this application more actively than in all other countries. Here Siri is integrated into many other user online services produced by Yahoo, Google, Yandex, Facebook and many others. The task of each of them is to make sure that a user working with his iPhone can perform any action “hands-free” by simply issuing commands verbally. Perhaps such developments will actually lead to something interesting on the market.

Analogs on other platforms

It should also be noted that Siri technology is not original or new to the mobile device market. In order to understand this, it is enough to take some advanced Samsung and find the function Yes, on devices of the Korean company such applications work less accurately than on smartphones with iOS; however, it is quite possible that at one point Apple will cede its leadership position to a technologically advanced company.

In addition, there are a number of lesser-known developments that exist in the form of small startups and are also working on voice recognition. So far, of course, there have not been any “high-profile” breakthroughs in this area, but it is also impossible to say that it is standing still. Using your voice, for example, you can already control the multimedia system in your car, which helps reduce the level of danger on the roads. A similar mechanism can be applied in a variety of other areas - and it can really help improve our lives.

In the meantime, even the fact that your iPhone has its own “assistant” is encouraging. After all, two words are enough to call a loved one. Or maybe Siri was even able to save someone’s life?!