back to article Android clobbers Siri in Japanese... and English

Apple's attempts to get its natural-language assistant to speak Japanese haven't gone down well locally, getting itself trounced by the Android-based Syabette Concier. We're grateful to Kotaku for the translation, which demonstrates how Siri fails to provide directions to the hospital when told of that the user has a stomach …

COMMENTS

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  1. thesykes
    WTF?

    yeah... right...

    "No one buys a phone 'cos it's marginally better at recognising voice commands – we're a very long way from when that matters."

    Which is why Apple don't promote Siri at all in the adverts for the iPhone 4S... oh... wait...

    1. Loyal Commenter Silver badge

      Apple user's down buy the product because it does anything better, more efficiently, or cheaper. They buy it because their name is Nathan Barley, or because they are shallow and easily led by advertising, like magpies going after shiny beads...

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. Jeebus

        Magpies have survival instincts, Appletards do not, all the better for the hunt.

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        splughhher

        Coffee everywhere......You sir owe me a new keyboard....

      4. Loyal Commenter Silver badge
        Trollface

        Correction

        Of course, that should have read "don't", not 'down'. Stupid fingers!

        More to the point - only five downvotes (so far)? I must try harder when baiting the cultists.

    2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: yeah... right...

      > "No one buys a phone 'cos it's marginally better at recognising voice commands – we're a very

      > long way from when that matters."

      >

      > Which is why Apple don't promote Siri at all in the adverts for the iPhone 4S... oh... wait...

      I must have missed the ads where Apple claim that Siri is better than alternatives at recognizing voice commands, then.

      Or did you utterly fail to understand the point of the claim you quoted?

  2. David Evans
    Headmaster

    "Android was just as much better at recognising spoken instructions in English as it is in Japanese."

    Not just better than Siri, better than you as well by the looks of things.

  3. sisk

    Siri, bah

    From what I've seen, Google Voice Search gets better results than Siri, and all it does is run a Google search.

    Siri looks like something that should still be in beta. I don't understand why Apple released it in its current state. It's not like them at all to release an app that performs as inconsistantly as Siri, let alone make it the center of a marketting campaign.

    1. Richard 81

      Re: Siri, bah

      Why else would anyone have bought the iPhone 4S?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: something that should still be in beta

      It is. See the Apple FAQs

      1. Steven Raith
        FAIL

        Re: something that should still be in beta

        "It is. See the Apple FAQs"

        Not the adverts then, which I genuinely don't recall clearly referencing the fact that it's a beta, and effectively giving the impression that it's a complete, polished product.

        OutOfTheBox voice control (as opposed to learned - which is pretty mature and works well enough with enough training) will remain being crap on the whole till either bandwidth and latency improve drastically on mobile networks, or until the handsets have SOCs that can do the heavy lifting required for natural linguistics by themselves.

        FACT.

        END OF.

        Steven R

  4. Christoph
    Coat

    Politically Correct R Not Us

    So the Japanese thought it was velly Siri ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Politically Correct R Not Us

      Velly????? Ridicurous! you sone more like Indian, the big probrem is dat you usuarry not plonouncing "L" in marverrous Japanese ranguage. Rern to speak Japanese correctry you plick, no wonder you so roney

    2. ratfox
      Joke

      Re: Politically Correct R Not Us

      I rather think that the Japanese feel that talking to Siri is very much like talking to an ass...

  5. Jinxter
    FAIL

    "No one buys a phone 'cos it's marginally better at recognising voice commands"

    Except for this disgruntled UK iPhone user:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/02/asa_ruling_siri_uk/

    Or this disatisfied US iPhone user:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/13/siri_lawsuit/

    Lets be slightly fair to Apple development group; there was a great idea and concept that they haven't yet delivered on. They just forgot to inform their marketing group.

  6. This post has been deleted by its author

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Marginally better?

    "No one buys a phone 'cos it's marginally better at recognising voice commands"

    From the Gizmodo comparison, I would say Android is substantially better, not only at recognizing what was said, but understanding and returning results quickly.

    Considering how much noise Apple have made over Siri, i'm betting there are ALOT of iPhone 4s owners feeling a little cheated right now, when they discover voice commands are not the be-all-and-end-all, and that even if they were, that Android did a much better job of it (and got the results quicker without massive amounts of online data consumption).

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Marginally better?

      You hate apple so much you'll believe any myth you hear. Siri data consumption is not massive. I don't expect you to read the article or to change 'google can do wrong' attitude. But it does get very boring to hear nothing objective from you.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Siri data consumption is a myth

      You just keep getting it wrong

      http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/11/how-data-heavy-is-siri-on-an-iphone-4s-ars-investigates.ars

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The conclusions from the test are a bit off, do I really want to directions to an hospital for a simple "stomach ache"? Maybe recommending a pharmacy for some antacid would be a better idea.

    Do I want the phone to assume that "wake me tomorrow" means at 10AM - or ask me what time I would like to wake up like Siri does?

    OK so the Japanese assistant has a link to a cooking database, that's why it got the curry recipe. Same goes for maps.

    Siri may lack such varied data sources as of yet, but I'm sure that's changing soon.

    1. Roger Varley

      @Metavisor

      You might think that directions to a hospital might be a bit over the top for a simple "stomach ache" but I can understand why Siri thinks it appropriate.

      You are an intelligent human being. You can tell the difference between a touch of indigestion and something potentially more serious. Siri cannot. A stomach ache could be the result of an acid attack due to over indulgence, appendicitus or god knows what. Given the propensity of Joe Public to believe whatever a computer tells them despite evidence to the contrary (see the idiots who drive into fields because their sat-nav told them to) you can see that anything that hints of a medical matter should be directed to the nearest health professional, if only to cut down on lawsuits.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Facepalm

        Re: @Metavisor

        "You are an intelligent human being. You can tell the difference between a touch of indigestion and something potentially more serious."

        Intelligent human being may be a little much. They did buy an Apple product with a 50% margin after all.

        Your point is valid though. Are people so lazy that they would really ask Siri such things?

        "Siri I need to poo"

        "Then go the bathroom you idiot"

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You can spin these tests any way you want

    Here's another result:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBrdQcf9-MQ

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You can spin these tests any way you want

      Did you actually watch that video?

  10. Some Beggar
    Gimp

    "they want to buy into Apple's projected lifestyle"

    Any chance you could be a tiny little bit more condescending?

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Barry Shitpeas with a Fail or Stop icon?

    Surely not...

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    cobblers

    Punters buy phones 'cos they're shiny and all their mates have better ones, so must upgrade.

    And 'cos there's a free playstation if you signup for a 200 month contract.

    Or

    Marketing types and graphic designers buy iPhones because they are discerning customers who care deeply about design and presentation - and because all their mates have one.

    Or

    Geeky types buy Android because they like to 'roll their own' and because half their mates have iPhones and they want to prove Android is better

    Or

    You can use your ancient Nokia and save epic amounts of time

    1. thenim

      Re: cobblers

      Amen to that, my nokia sends/receive texts and I can make/receive phone calls. On the entertainment side, it has a basic sudoku, for when I don't have a good book.

      That is all I've ever needed a phone for.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: cobblers

      Well, I've only got an iphone because a friend didn't need his anymore, and my partner didn't want it (preferred a Samsung non-smart phone), so I was next in line for the freebie. Before that I got by with an occaisional text from my work-suppled Blackberry.

      That said, now I have it I do use it for more than just basic phone functions but I'd live without them if it broke.

  13. frank ly
    WTF?

    Now for something nearly different.....

    Have a look at this:

    http://www.androidme.org/news/android-clobbers-siri-japanese-well-english.html

    androidme.org seems to be an Android news site that lifts articles from other sources, then runs them through a doubleback translator, maybe to disguise the source.

    An alternative explanation is that Bill Ray copied his article from androidme.org and did a very good job of rewriting it - which I'm sure he didn't :)

  14. dssf

    Obviously, Siri is not too Sirious...

    Apparently, it is still missing the "ous" ... "Look up definitions of "ous" if you need help in seeing the wry humor...

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dalston Taxi Services here...

    Look, do you want a cab or not?

    Another of those iPhone jokers, I suppose...

  16. Dana W
    Meh

    It works fine for me. If you speak clearly and distinctly, Siri has no trouble at all. Mumble like street trash, not so much so. I use Siri now and again, and I use verbal texting constantly. Its about 95% accurate, and only seems to fail me on the occasional bit of technical jargon.

    I never have any problems with Siri, but I credit it to the fact that unlike many Americans, I grew up watching old British television. This made me learn to speak English "more or less" rather than mumble in American.

    I'm actually grateful to Siri, its made me watch my diction.

    As to trendy, I don't care about fashion. I buy what works for me. And a new Android phone the size of a paperback book is not what I wanted.

    1. Bjorg

      Your horse is a bit high

      You credit your stellar non-mumbling skills to watching British television, but what do you credit your spectacular arrogance to? You sounds like my few friends that bought an Apple product, were disappointed that they paid 2 - 3 times as much as I did for the something worse, and attempt to justify their purchases. They say the same things like "I'm *grateful* I make poor financial decisions, because now I watch my diction."

  17. Petrea Mitchell
    Facepalm

    Well, if we're going to start talking pronunciation...

    ...how is it the crack* Reg journalism team has missed the opportunity to mention what "Siri" transliterates to in Japanese?

    http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/awkward-apples-siri-translates-buttocks-japan-120296

    * And maybe I do mean that. :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Well, if we're going to start talking pronunciation...

      Actually, arse is shi-ri in Japanese.

      You need to get in more, and watch some episodes of Crayon Shin-chan

      1. Petrea Mitchell

        Re: Well, if we're going to start talking pronunciation...

        And s + i becomes "shi" when transliterated to Japanese. So (let's see if this input form can handle katakana) "Siri" -> シリ and there you go.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Well, if we're going to start talking pronunciation...

          Very clever, but, since we are talking about recognising spoken Japanese, not about dictating Romaji, irrelevant.

          The word for bum is pronounced shi-ri, not si-ri.

          Also, you 'd write it with kanji, not katakana.

          1. Petrea Mitchell

            Re: Well, if we're going to start talking pronunciation...

            The claim is "sounds the same", not "looks the same". "si" transliterated -> "shi", just as say, a borrowed word like "samurai" develops an English "r" and modified vowels when native English speakers pronounce it, because it gets fitted to English phonology.

            I think we have reached the point where this discussion is no longer useful. Moderators, I will try to shut up and spare you now.

  18. DrXym

    Voice recognition sucks

    My phone has voice recognition and if you talk out a text then 8 or 9 words out of 10 are correct. Problem is that it still leaves a lot of correcting to do. I imagine Siri is just as annoying because it's supposed to parse the sentence and then interpret it in some meaningful way and if it doesnt then its worse than useless.

  19. AdamChew

    If an app developed by DoCoMo is not better than Siri, it would be downright embarrassing.

    Apple's Siri gets schooled by Japanese carrier DoCoMo's Syabette ...

    You got to be kidding, Siri better in Japanese than an app developed by DoCoMo?

    I wonder who is kidding who?

    Get real.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Source?

    "Android might be the technically leading platform, but iPhone users don't want to be at the bleeding edge of technology: they want to buy into Apple's projected lifestyle."

    How do you know this?

    1. SpaMster

      Re: Source?

      Bit of homework, ask 100 apple users what processor their system is running on, I think you'll find your answer

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Source?

        Actually that's a terrible example. Apple makes a pretty big marketing push about its A4/A5 chips. There are probably a lot of people who can tell you that their iPhone has an A-whatever chip. How many random Android users are going to be able to tell you that their phone has an OMAP, or a Tegra, or a Hummingbird, or whatever? I would guess almost zero.

        But I was more interested in the "lifestyle" comment--what lifestyle is Apple promoting exactly? Their commercials generally show attractive, well-dressed, multiethnic people doing things like jogging (talking to Siri), learning in school, and video chatting with distant relatives. If that's a lifestyle, then it's the same lifestyle that every other company tries to promote on TV. What would you expect to see in the advertising material, a bunch of fat white nerds eating chips in their basement and talking about processor names/specs?

  21. SpaMster
    Thumb Up

    I buy and iphone because its teh cool

    "but iPhone users don't want to be at the bleeding edge of technology: they want to buy into Apple's projected lifestyle"

    Lol this is so true, most of the people buying apple products dont even know what they are getting!

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    APPLES ARE GOOD AT TALKING N STUFF?!??!@?!?@~?@!?@

    We know Apple is great at diction. I mean just look at all the web sites devoted to how badly programmed Siri is and their autocorrect text feature.

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