With iOS 6, there’s a whole lot of Siri going around! Once the exclusive personal assistant for iPhone 4S users, Siri is now also available on the third generation iPad, the fifth generation iPod touch, and… Oh yeah, that new phone that’s being released on Friday. Has Siri been improved? Has she learned anything new during her one year beta test on the 4S? Let’s take a look.
Siri’s New iOS 6 Tricks
Sports Scores and Stats
You can now find out what the score is of a game currently being played, or any of the season’s past games. Find out schedules, team rosters, and player’s stats for sports including: baseball, basketball, football, hockey, and soccer.
Movie Showtimes, Trivia and Trailers
Siri can tell you upcoming showtimes, look up information about movies, and even play trailers so you can preview a movie you’re wanting to see. Still undecided? She can show you ratings and reviews from Rotten Tomatoes.
Restaurant Information, Reviews and Reservations
Looking for a great place to eat? Siri can help you find restaurants by type of cuisine, prices, location, outdoor seating or any combination of choices. Siri will show you photos, Yelp stars, and reviews. When you find a restaurant you want to try, Siri can make a reservation for you via OpenTable.
Voice Dictation
If you’re like me, your thumbs are WAY too fat to efficiently enter text on a phone sized keyboard. Instead of trying to type, just tap the microphone icon on the keyboard. Siri starts to listen, so just say what you want to say, and Siri transcribes it like a good personal assistant should. Tap “done”, and your message is ready to go. You can use Siri’s dictation function to write messages, take notes, and search the web. The dictation function also works with 3rd-party apps, like Facebook or Instagram.
Launch Apps With Your Voice
Say “Launch Flight Tracker” or “Open Angry Birds” and Siri does just that. You can also use Siri to post Facebook updates and tweets for you.
Apple is also working with car companies to integrate Siri into select voice control systems. Using the voice command button on the steering wheel, you’ll be able to ask Siri questions without having to take you eyes off the road. Apple says, “With the Eyes Free feature, ask Siri to call people, select and play music, hear and compose text messages, use Maps and get directions, read your notifications, find calendar information, add reminders, and more.”
TUAW:
Siri now supports arbitrary relationships. You can say “Megan Lavey-Heaton is my favorite comics author” and Siri will add that relationship. You can launch applications by saying “Launch Angry Birds” and post to Twitter and Facebook by voice. Siri also now lets you dismiss her (or him) by voice. Say “Goodbye Siri” and Siri will close the interaction window.
The above link to TUAW can tell you much more about the way Siri now understands relationships, her new commands, and how she can work with appointments, reminders, alarms and timers. It’s a great reference if you want to understand how Siri can better work for you.
Make sure to check out our full iOS 6 coverage for all the details on Apple’s latest mobile platform!
