back to article Another reason to jail-break your iPhone 4: You can get Siri

Apple withheld Siri from iPhone 4 as a straightforward ploy to get people to fork out another £499 for its new iPhone. But there's no reason Siri can't run on the 4 – and you can get it on there by jail-breaking your phone. Siri ran perfectly well as an app on 3GS too before Apple yanked it from the iTunes store when it bought …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Erm..

    If you bothered to read RTFA a not just the video you'd see you can't actually run it because

    1) someone needs to distribute Apple proprietary (and certainly copyrighted) files

    2) You need a validation key from a live 4S

    1. Annihilator

      Dear internet

      Well, I've bothered to RTFA

      1) you can obtain that from a jailbroken 4S

      2) you can obtain that from a jailbroken 4S

      Right now the guy who figured it out isn't going to distribute the files, but I suspect has detailed the process for others to try. Either "borrowing" a 4S, or waiting for someone to inevitably distribute the files doesn't seem too hard.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Annihilator

        What about the key unique to the handset, are you going to borrow that?

        Seems you have to do a bit more reading before criticising others.

        1. Annihilator

          Unique

          It doesn't say that you can't apply it to the 4. It also doesn't say it will stop the 4S working. The implication is that the Siri servers will just assume the 4S is doing all the Siri requests that the 4 actually is.

    2. Andy ORourke
      Happy

      Or if you really must have Siri functionality

      and you don't want (or know how to) jailbreak your iPhone 4 (or 3Gs) you could just download Vlingo for free from the App store?

  2. tin 2

    Don't bother

    Siri is unfortunately rubbish. It can't understand most of the time, is impossible to cancel once it's decided you said something you didn't say and is about to text random jibberish to your mother, and often just sits there sulking after it misunderstood you. Requiring you to press buttons, that you were supposed to be avoiding by using Siri.

    Maybe it's just the way I talk but I haven't even been able to get anywhere near what Tim Cook demoed at the release.

    1. HMB

      Don't worry. I had the same experience on Nexus One

      My Nexus One (with built in voice recognition as input) occasionally makes just one mistake, but often makes far more when I try to dictate a text message. I find voice recognition surprisingly crap at the moment. I'd love to see it working, I really would, but honestly I think we need some sort of breakthrough tech as currently, it really doesn't cut the mustard, and slapping an apple logo onto that doesn't seem to distort reality enough to make it work either.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Siri is rubbish? OMFG!!

        To anyone who seriously thought it would be good... really? Did you REALLY think it would be any good? Why? When has this sort of thing EVER been any good before?

  3. nickrw
    Boffin

    Probably worth pointing out that, as of yet, there is no untethered jailbreak for iOS 5. That's to say it needs to be hooked up to your computer to switch on.

    1. Annihilator
      Happy

      Fair enough

      But I honestly can't remember the last time I turned off my phone though

    2. Andy Gilbert
      Facepalm

      More importantly, there's no publically available jailbreak at all for the 4S!

      This article should have been called "In Another reason to jail-break your iPhone 4: You might, one day, be able to get Siri. But not now."

  4. LarsG

    'SIRI' as usual with all phone manufacturers.....

    They bring out a 'must have' update that is hyped up so much that when you finally get it, it leaves you disappointed. All phone manufacturers are guilty of it. They stick tech into a phone which has no practical use, takes up memory and slows the thing down just so they can say 'ooooooh look what we've got!'

    Remember how easy it was to make a phone call, now instead someone will send a text, taking twice as long to send as it would be to call, and its spelt so badly you have to phone back to ask what its all about.

    Let's get back to phones that can actually make a call. Sod the tech.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Sod the tech"? On The Register?

      Did you get lost mate? The Amish community billboard is to the left.

    2. Darren Barratt
      Devil

      I remember when this was all fields...

      and what about finding your phone? In the old days (bless them) your phone was handily attached to the wall in the hallway so you always know where it was.

      I'm touting a product to apple at the moment, the ITether(tm). It attaches to the wall at the bottom of the stairs and the other end permanently attaches to the bottom of your IPhone, allowing you to combine the surety of the past with the poor reception of the future.

  5. alwarming
    Paris Hilton

    Isn't it a bit like telling a junkie

    to quit drugs in order to try out the new one on the market ?

  6. Confuciousmobil

    Not yet.

    Chpwn explains why not here -> http://blog.chpwn.com/post/12189986710

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    legality

    I'd like to see apple take to the cleaners for their dodgy actions regarding Siri. As the article says, it wad available from the app store for iPhone 4 and 3gs and got pulled to force an upgrade to iPhone 4s for access to that feature. Apple have somehow avoided all legal issues that other companies must go through...if Microsoft tried to pull some stunt like that, the EU would take them to court and review.

    1. Andy ORourke
      WTF?

      As I stated elsewhere (and got a thumbs down, WTF?)

      if you really want Siri functionality on your 3Gs or iPhone 4 then download Vlingo for free:

      Looking for Siri-like functionality on your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4? Look no further. Vlingo even goes beyond the new Siri Assistant by integrating with your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Plus all functionality, including sms and email, is now completely free.

      It's even available on OVI Store (remember that) and the android market place, Blackberry support as well!

      No, I don't work for Vlingo, I don't use Vlingo but to have people moaning that they can't have Siri (functionality) on their phone without upgrading to the new iPhone 4s really does my head in!

      1. alwarming
        Gimp

        @Andy ORourke: Mystery of the downvotes.

        (just pondering)

        It could have come from either fanbois.

        1) iFan - how can you even dare to claim that something is siri-like!! It's either siri or bust. You should go buy a real iphone 4S for the real Siri experience, el cheapo!!! And "Vilingo" ?? It already sounds shitty to me as it's not spelt s-i-r-i !!!!

        2) fandroid - how can you presume that something as frivolous and as useless as siri, is something that would interest me or anyone else (since it, as you must've noticed, doesn't interest me) ???? (Er.. wait... you didn't say it was available in the android marketplace.).

        Earlier I used to try and understand why I got downvoted but after fanboi wars broke out, it doesn't make any sense anymore. As someone else noted that maybe el reg has attracted some /. rejects who think they are fixing "karma".

    2. ThomH

      Not really dodgy action

      Apple paid some money to acquire the rights to a product. As part of that the previous owners agreed to surrender their right to sell it. Apple then decided to charge the consumer for the product.

      Google have pretty much killed any realistic prospect for competition law challenges to Apple, just as Microsoft did in the PC realm — the actionable offence is abuse of a monopoly position, i.e. taking advantage of your standing so as to manipulate the market. It's a protection for consumers, not for other companies. Because Google have a much larger share of the relevant market (I think it was 50% versus 21% worldwide during September), Apple's actions aren't sufficiently damaging for the market as a whole.

      Personally I find it really difficult to be upset either way given that the product is rubbish. I think of it like one of those Ask Jeeves-style question-based search engines. In the 80s the idea may have sounded really attractive but the simple fact is that we're more efficient at just using a keyboard and typing our search terms in a Google-friendly way than at formulating a proper question, especially when keeping the sentence structure suitably simple and trying to focus on annunciation.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cloth-eared bint...

    cannae un'erston a wird ah say....nae wirth tha boather pal....

    1. Hatless Pemberty
      Coat

      Aye

      Eleven. EL-LE-VEN. ELVEN!

  9. lansalot
    Happy

    Personally, I liked this one..

    As seen on twitter, via @TwopTwips...

    SIRI: When unable to understand the Scottish accent, have an educated guess by recommending the nearest pub.

    I liked it...

  10. Richard North
    Happy

    Missing the point?

    Siri might not be the sharpest tool in the box, but you'll get more sense out of her than you will out of most middle managers... and she's *fun*

    http://shitthatsirisays.tumblr.com/ (Occasionally NSFW)

  11. Really? I need a "handle"?

    "...from iPhone 4" doesn't make sense.

    OK I am being a pedant here but "Apple withheld Siri from iPhone 4" should read "Apple withheld Siri from the iPhone 4". A phone is a discrete item, not a continuous one. In the same way that "a sheet a paper", is different to "paper". I love Apple, but it really gets on my wick how they are trying to change the basics of English to suit them and it seems to be working.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I absolutely *hate* this!

      New, on iPhone, etc, really bugs me. Infact, it drives me mad with fury.

      I've spotted adverts on telly doing it too, this particular nappy is 'better for baby'.

      NO!

  12. dssf

    Speak like SIRI?

    SIRIously... speak like a machine, or speak in Siri's intonation. Does that work? I've spoken to computer banks and whatnots on the other ends of landlines ages ago, and began to have fun speaking like a MACHINE *to* a machine. It seemed to understand better, made fewer mistakes, and resulted in a smoother process.

    Of course, it'll be funny to see a busload of people looking serious but speaking SIRIous... They might as well stand back-to-back in threes like a 1980s triumverate of V's, hhehehehe

  13. dssf

    I wonder if a new voice such as Darwin would help Siri get more SIRIous...

    Yep, speaking like that dolphin Darwin in SeaQuest... If enough people do it, though, there'll probably be mass INquest around the globe.. Just chortle out "DHAARRHWIN HHHORNY" and see whether or not Siri produces 25 massage parlors, categorized by Operating, raided, unknown, re-spawned, legit, infiltrated by undercovers, etc...

    This would take some seriously sirious bridge-to-bridge communications.

    Siri..umm, seriously, it'll be interesting to see these things spawn into translators with voices. But, not as dodgey as babelfish and google. Those are funny as hell to, for instance, convert Korean to Chinese, then that Chinese to Japanese, and that Japanese result to English. Talk about getting things lost in translation.

  14. dssf

    Trimuverate...

    "Speak like SIRI? #

    SIRIously... speak like a machine, or speak in Siri's intonation. Does that work? I've spoken to computer banks and whatnots on the other ends of landlines ages ago, and began to have fun speaking like a MACHINE *to* a machine. It seemed to understand better, made fewer mistakes, and resulted in a smoother process.

    Of course, it'll be funny to see a busload of people looking serious but speaking SIRIous... They might as well stand back-to-back in threes like a 1980s triumverate of V's, hhehehehe"

    Whupps... I meant 1980's triumverate of War of the World aliens..., not V...

    https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_%28TV_series%29

    (Now, as long as the "passengers" are not really from Mor-Tax, and in the process of hijacking hosts on the bus...)

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