iPhone 4S Siri: Just Puffed up or Truly Useful?

Apple Siri, a groundbreaking application which set the world by storm since the very first day of the launch of iPhone 4S, is now being highly criticized for its language bias and security flaws.

Apple iPhone 4S introduced Siri, a revolutionary voice-recognition feature which is now, as reported, found to be highly partial and obedient to the English speakers in the United States.

According to Apple, Siri is built to handle any simple tasks like composing, sending and reading text messages provided they all are done in only five languages: U.S. English, U.K. English, Australian English, French, and German. But to make this revolutionary feature work in its full potential, one needs to master the art of American English and to locate any place, one has to be in the U.S. as it seems that Siri works best only with the Americans speaking U.S. English and within the U.S.

Siri still works in Beta and the language problem will be improved and eventually be solved by 2012, asserts Apple. It will include more language options but till then the users will have to face Apple's U.S. favoritism, believe experts.

The latest criticism against Siri will join the bandwagon of complaints pointed out by users.

How Hilarious Siri Is?

Siri's replies are hilarious. But how much are you ready to take when it comes to use the feature on a daily basis?

Say, one is ready to go for an interview in the morning and is late, Siri will still expect that person to be slow and giving commands as it cannot adjust with all speech-patterns. Leave alone the robotic tone which users often find unimpressive, now to get required information, one has to follow certain speech rules every time to use an application.

Moreover, Siri often fails to perform lengthy tasks and inserts wrong contacts which again dampen the reputation that Apple carries.

Siri and Its Security Loophole

Siri, which Apple claimed to have turned the handset into a personal assistant, fails to provide enough security to its users. By default, Siri will take commands from anyone even if the phone has been locked by the user. That gives any stranger who gets unauthorized access to iPhone 4S to ask Siri to send emails, text messages or carry out other tasks.

The security issue, however, has a relatively easy fix as explained by Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos, who wrote in an Oct. 19 blog posting: Enter Settings/General/Passcode Lock on your iPhone 4S, and make sure that the Siri option is set to Off. That way Siri cannot be used when the smartphone is locked with a passcode.

The fix, however, is good for the time being, in long run, to evade the security issue Apple has to come up with software upgrade.

Siri - an Embarrassing Word for Japanese and Georgians

Another major criticism that Apple received with the launch of Siri is the word itself has baffled and offended the Japanese and Georgian users. It has embarrassing meaning for the word in both these languages.

In Japanese, 'Siri,' which sound like shiri, means buttocks. In the Georgian language, it refers to a vulgar way of referring to one's penis. This raises serious allegation and questions about Apple's negligence to translate the word before releasing iPhone 4S.

With all the major loopholes that Siri is now showing, the question is now how justified it is to go gaga over a feature which runs more on gimmicks than real helpfulness.