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MikeonTV

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 9, 2007
115
0
I've seen videos of how Siri works and it's my understanding that you have to his the home button to make Siri listen.

Is it possible to have it run like the computer on Star Trek where you would trigger it to listen by saying "Computer" (or in this case "Siri").

I would be nice if while doing something with both my hands I can have Siri search and find results for me.

Probably would be a battery sucker though.

heh
 

omgitscro

macrumors 6502a
Jul 12, 2008
576
91
You can alternatively put the phone up to your ear and it'll trigger Siri. This is how I usually use it.
 

Rubo Draco

macrumors regular
Sep 21, 2011
151
1
I think it would drain your battery life cause the app will have to be "running" all the time. it would be awesome, tho!
 

Lukeyy19

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2010
771
3
England, UK
what if your phone was in your pocket and you were talking to someone about Siri, or happened to say the word Serious, It would just jump into action in your pocket all on its own.
 

AlvinNguyen

macrumors 6502a
Jun 23, 2010
820
3
Would be cool if you can set up a phrase to activate Siri to prevent accidentally turning her on.
 

S.B.G

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 8, 2010
26,668
10,446
Detroit
Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4S: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

That would be cool for sure. But it's going to need a trigger to get started and if it's always listening for its name, it'll be draining the battery.
 

Demosthenes X

macrumors 68000
Oct 21, 2008
1,954
5
The voice command system for OSX can be triggered by a command word, so it's certainly technically feasible. I imagine, as has been said, that battery life would be a concern, though, so until a way of "listening" that doesn't drain the battery is figured out, I don't think we'll see it.

In the long term, I think it will come eventually, though.
 

kdarling

macrumors P6
Is it possible to have it run like the computer on Star Trek where you would trigger it to listen by saying "Computer" (or in this case "Siri").

Actually, it kind of does work like portable devices in Star Trek.

Think about how the comm badges were woken up with a tap.

It was only the ship's computer with its ridiculously huge power source that listened all the time :)
 

joflo723

macrumors member
Dec 6, 2010
61
0
Would be cool if you can set up a phrase to activate Siri to prevent accidentally turning her on.

This. Our Magellan in our car is voice activated. We simply say, "Magellan" and she says "Say a command." To which we can reply "Find the nearest gas station" or whatever. Many times we say something similar to Magellan and she pipes up. For example, my son got a phone call and when the person on the other end asked him what he was up to, and he goes "Just Chillin", Magellan thought we called for her. lol

I can see someone sitting in a board meeting and saying, "...we have SERIOUS budget issues..." and a voice from his pocket going "How may I assist you?"
 

TimTheEnchanter

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2004
733
12
Minneapolis, MN
Until Apple figures out how to safely replace the battery with dilithium crystals so it can run continuously, this will never happen. It's against the laws of physics.
 

davelanger

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2009
832
2
This. Our Magellan in our car is voice activated. We simply say, "Magellan" and she says "Say a command." To which we can reply "Find the nearest gas station" or whatever. Many times we say something similar to Magellan and she pipes up. For example, my son got a phone call and when the person on the other end asked him what he was up to, and he goes "Just Chillin", Magellan thought we called for her. lol

I can see someone sitting in a board meeting and saying, "...we have SERIOUS budget issues..." and a voice from his pocket going "How may I assist you?"

Siri how can we fix our budge issues.......
 

flatfoot99

Guest
Aug 4, 2010
521
0
Actually, it kind of does work like portable devices in Star Trek.

Think about how the comm badges were woken up with a tap.

It was only the ship's computer with its ridiculously huge power source that listened all the time :)

someone needs to invent a bluetooth starfleet badge...
 

Xenc

macrumors 65816
May 8, 2010
1,043
290
London, England
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

The technology is available to do this (for example, Microsoft Kinect). Why it's not a feature with the iPhone is more to do with battery consumption and practicality right now.

Siri's patents do include an active listening mode, so perhaps it's something that will be added in an update. It would be very useful in the car!
 

outz

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2007
447
25
Until Apple figures out how to safely replace the battery with dilithium crystals so it can run continuously, this will never happen. It's against the laws of physics.

not sure if it's gonna take all that.

i've read a few reviews regarding googles android version ice cream sandwich:

"Open Mic: Unlike Siri, the iPhone 4S virtual assistant that's activated with the push of a button, Android's voice input system is always open, so the OS is always listening to the user for instructions."

not sure how valid this is seeing it isn't out yet... but who knows.
 

TonyC28

macrumors 68030
Aug 15, 2009
2,885
7,256
USA
Unfortunately since the "always listening" part would kill the battery I don't see that being viable on a phone. But imagine it on a home computer. That could easily be made to be always listening. Users could maybe even make their own initiation word that told the computer you are about to ask it something.
 
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