When Siri was released in October 2011 it was quite the revelation to blind and low vision technology users.
Finally, the screen wasn’t the only way to navigate through a phone. There was a talk back feature and you could do things hands free.
It could understand phrases such as when you wanted to send a message, know what the weather would be like, or set an alarm.
The personal voice assistant finally got traction.
For blind tech guru and Talking Tech host David Woodbridge, Siri is hugely relevant still.
“I couldn’t do without Siri, I use it all the time on my iPhone and watch,” he said on Vision Australia Radio’s Talking Tech.
Over its 10 years, Siri has slowly developed to include a multitude of voices, improved commands and entertainment options and even managed to tackle different accents and languages.
But it hasn’t come far enough, David admits.
“I don’t think it has developed as much as it probably could have as to where Amazon and Google personal assistants have gone.”
Listen to the full discussion on Siri in the player below:
Siri still needs to record and train itself to your voice, while other smart speakers are able to help straight out of the box.
It is also was very slow at allowing third party apps access. Only in July 2021 did Apple finally allow integration, with a particular bugbear being its inability to support Spotify and defaulting to Apple Music.
What are your thoughts on Siri? Send your feedback to [email protected]
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Time: 11am (AEST)
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Hear more tech tips from a blind and low vision perspective every week on Talking Tech, Tuesday 4.30pm AEST or catch up with the podcast via Spotify, Omny, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts.