alt Hacker NewsWouldnt you prefer a competent Siri that you can turn off?
Gemini on android just works. I can ask it nearly anything in spoken natural language and it'll talk back with an answer.
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I can count on one hand, the number of times where I have gone “gosh, I so wish my voice assistant was better”.
It queues up music correctly, and picks the right destination on maps in my car. 98% use case satisfied. Would I like it to be better? Don’t really care. Is it a purchasing point? Nope. Would I miss it if it disappeared tomorrow? Also nope.
Siri can answer questions just fine. It's the "doing stuff" that introduces complications
How is Gemini on iPhone is diffetent though? Do you really use AI as assistant on the phone for anything other than fancy way to set an alarm clock?
I mean not for looking up the information, but for something that alter how you use phone.
Is the answer correct?
I use the phone voice assistants to set timers, and call people when I'm driving.
It is objectively worse at calling people than Assistant was. If I ask you to call someone, don't come up with a scolling list of phone numbers that I have to pick from. At least Assistant called the primary designated number for someone, Gemini just froze and wouldn't take voice commands to pick the number but forced my to pick up my phone.
I turned that bullshit off a couple of days after they forced it on me without asking.
I use Siri for about four or five things:
- setting a timer; - sending a text; - starting a call; - adding an item to a shopping list; - playing/controlling music (very occasionally);
Siri does all of these with 95% accuracy. Occasionally it mishears "15 minutes" as "50 minutes" if I'm rushed or something.
You use the device however it works for you, but I truly cannot comprehend the use case of a voice assistant beyond these type of tasks.
More complex tasks would likely require more concentration on the response/result, at which point I shouldn't need to do it hands free.
> Gemini on android just works.
Unless you want to turn it off, which I haven't been able to figure out how to do. Every now and then my phone will randomly prompt me to "ask Gemini", which is really annoying. When I want to use the LLM, I will go to it, stop shoving it in my face over and over.