Siri is a bandwidth hog ?

[KnightWRX]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...vice-for-all/2012/01/23/gIQAZ1O5TQ_story.html

But not in every way. Siri’s dirty little secret is that she’s a bandwidth guzzler, the digital equivalent of a 10-miles-per-gallon Hummer H1.

To make your wish her command, Siri floods your cell network with a stream of data; her responses require a similarly large flow in return. A study published this month by Arieso, an Atlanta firm that specializes in mobile networks, found that the Siri-equipped iPhone 4S uses twice as much data as does the plain old iPhone 4 and nearly three times as much as does the iPhone 3G. The new phone requires far more data than most other advanced smartphones, which are pretty data-intensive themselves, The Post has reported.

Who knew, transferring all your spoken audio data into Apple's datacenter would require more bandwidth. After all this time, I'm still surprised no one ever talks about the privacy side of such a system. Everything you tell Siri, your reminders, your SMSs, your appointements, your food cravings, Apple gets to know it all, tied to your phone's serial number which is tied to your iTunes account.

Frankly, I'm not too down on the fact that I've yet to find Siri more than a flashy gimmick myself. It's been great at setting reminders and that's about it, thanks to Apple's appalling Reminders app.

 

[rbrian]

It's not much of a surprise that it's a bandwidth hog, and it's been pretty comprehensively covered. Fortunately, Siri is not very useful, so barely gets used, so doesn't use much data.

I hadn't even considered the privacy aspect. That's food for thought. But is it any different to Apple knowing everything that goes through iMessage, me.com emails; knows precisely where you are at any time; knows your credit card number... it could be a scary dangerous Enemy of the State dystopia - or it could just be modern life.

 

[interrobang]

Siri actually isn't a bandwidth hog. The article is mis-interpreting the study, and conflating Siri with the iPhone 4S. Siri itself doesn't use much data.

The plain truth of it is that the people who buy iPhone 4S's are the kind of people who use their phones a lot.

 

[boss.king]

The plain truth of it is that the people who buy iPhone 4S's are the kind of people who use their phones a lot.

Not really. I know a few people who have the 4s just as a regular cellphone. The people who buy the 4s are no more likely to use it than the people who bought the iPhone 4 or the 3GS or any other smartphone.

 

[bTaryag]

Fortunately, Siri is not very useful, so barely gets used, so doesn't use much data.

This is true. It's a gimmick, you use it for a few days and then realize it's easier and quicker to not use it!

 

[interrobang]

Not really. I know a few people who have the 4s just as a regular cellphone. The people who buy the 4s are no more likely to use it than the people who bought the iPhone 4 or the 3GS or any other smartphone.

Umm, no. the data certainly does show that 4S users use more data, on average, than users of previous iPhones.

It's just extremely unlikely that Siri is a factor.

 

[KnightWRX]

Umm, no. the data certainly does show that 4S users use more data, on average, than users of previous iPhones.

It's just extremely unlikely that Siri is a factor.

So wait, you're saying that Siri is not the reason the 4S users are using more data than previous iPhone owners, but Siri is the only new feature that uses more data...

Not to mention, you're saying Siri, an application that sounds out audio data streams for remote interpretation, is not a data heavy application ?

Frankly, I'll trust the study more than you on this. So what if Siri is a data hog anyhow, I don't get why you feel the need to defend it. It is what it is.

 

[aristobrat]

Frankly, I'll trust the study more than you on this.

"Siri, how much data do you gobble up in a month?" Ars investigates

Answer? On the average of 36.7KB per query. Ars technica defines their testing methodology in their article.

The report the WSJ opinion piece that you linked to doesn't define a testing methodology. Oh, they say iPhone 4 users use more data than iPhone 3GS. What iPhone 4 feature caused that?

 

[Intell]

Siri isn't the cause of the higher average data usage. I've used Siri about 5 times since I got my 4S in October, but my bill shows a roughly 1.5x increase in data usage over my 3Gs in the monthly billing cycle. My theory is that the faster cellular connection allows users to download and upload data at much faster rates and thus accumulate data usage faster.

 

[Kebabselector]

So wait, you're saying that Siri is not the reason the 4S users are using more data than previous iPhone owners, but Siri is the only new feature that uses more data...

I know where your coming from, but I've noticed more data use since getting the 4S, and I hardly use Siri. On the 3GS I barely went over 250mb a month, now I almost use up my 500mb.

 

[aristobrat]

I know where your coming from, but I've noticed more data use since getting the 4S, and I hardly use Siri. On the 3GS I barely went over 250mb a month, now I almost use up my 500mb.

iCloud? That's also a new feature that was introduced at the same time the iPhone 4S came out.

 

[Intell]

iCloud? That's also a new feature that was introduced at the same time the iPhone 4S came out.

iCloud doesn't backup over 3G.

 

[Phil A.]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Fortunately, Siri is not very useful, so barely gets used, so doesn't use much data.

This is true. It's a gimmick, you use it for a few days and then realize it's easier and quicker to not use it!

I disabled Siri and just use the old fashioned voice control.

It's just as accurate for voice dialling when driving (which is all I ever used it for) and means the stupid microphone button disappears from the keyboard.

 

[Kebabselector]

iCloud? That's also a new feature that was introduced at the same time the iPhone 4S came out.

It was mentioned in the post before mine that a faster device might just make the user consume more data. Maybe it's shiny new toy syndrome!

 

[aristobrat]

iCloud doesn't backup over 3G.

Right, but IIRC iCloud gives users more "use cellular" sync options than they've ever had before, as well as iTunes Match.

It was mentioned in the post before mine that a faster device might just make the user consume more data. Maybe it's shiny new toy syndrome!

Data speeds for my iPhone 4s aren't any faster than my iPhone 4 (they're actually significantly slower), but I'm also using more data. So for me, that theory doesn't pan out.

 

[Intell]

Right, but IIRC iCloud gives users more "use cellular" sync options than they've ever had before, as well as iTunes Match.

Not every user uses iCloud and even fewer use iTunes Match. I use don't use either of them, yet my data has increased since I got my 4S.

 

[aristobrat]

Not every user uses iCloud and even fewer use iTunes Match. I use don't use either of them, yet my data has increased since I got my 4S.

I never said backups occur over iCloud. I never said that every user uses iCloud, either. I'm simply pointing out that iCloud and iTunes Match both have the potential to consume cellular data and like Siri, these options weren't around for prior iPhone models.

 

[KnightWRX]

I never said backups occur over iCloud. I never said that every user uses iCloud, either. I'm simply pointing out that iCloud and iTunes Match both have the potential to consume cellular data and like Siri, these options weren't around for prior iPhone models.

But they are now available on the 3GS and 4.

Siri is the only differentiating factor, aside from faster data rates for AT&T customers.

 

[aristobrat]

Siri is the only differentiating factor, aside from faster data rates for AT&T customers.

Siri isn't ruining your cellphone service - The Verge

GigaOM's Stacey Higginbotham does an excellent job of debunking the piece, noting that Siri itself does not consume a lot of data — in fact, Ars Technica took a look at it a couple months ago, estimating that even heavy usage (10 to 15 Siri requests a day) would generate under 30MB of usage in a month.

The company doesn't reveal its research methodology for the study in its press release, nor does it say that Siri is responsible for the alleged jump in data consumption — it appears Farhi is drawing that conclusion himself, since Siri perhaps the only feature specific to the 4S that's known to consume data directly.

We had a chance to look over Arieso's full report, which doesn't clarify the methodology at all. It simply says that it "addresses the recent data demands of over 1.1 million distinct subscribers over a single, 24-hour weekday in a Tier-1 UMTS market with a mixture of urban and suburban morphologies."

Arieso doesn't reveal what single country it studied — something that you'd clearly consider when you're analyzing the behaviors of wireless subscribers, since plans and plan structures vary widely from country to country — but we can safely say this isn't the United States; the Samsung Galaxy Ace, Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro, and Nokia N800 (presumably Arieso meant the N8, or perhaps the N900) wouldn't register a blip. And the entire study needs to be called into question, anyway: why is the BlackBerry Curve consuming 12 percent more download data and 94 percent more upload data than the BlackBerry Storm 2? Perhaps more damningly, why is the Galaxy S downloading more than the Galaxy S II?

Similar recent articles:

Siri doesn't suck bandwidth, it's the users that do - ZDNet
Siri isn’t a bandwidth hog & users aren’t the problem - GigaOm

 

[mrsir2009]

Not really. I know a few people who have the 4s just as a regular cellphone.

Then whats the point in getting a smartphone?

 

[boss.king]

Umm, no. the data certainly does show that 4S users use more data, on average, than users of previous iPhones.

It's just extremely unlikely that Siri is a factor.

Just becuase the phone uses more data doesn't mean people are usig it more. That could easily be chalked up to iCloud etc.

----------

Then whats the point in getting a smartphone?

A nice touchscreen interface for texting? Good customer support? Just because you can? My parents, for example, use Apple at home and in the workplace so they figured "hey, might as well get some Apple phones and tablets and see if we like them" and they did. My mom doesn't use apps and only has a few songs synced for music in the car.

 

[Avatar74]

Depends on how many users are asking Siri if she'll have sex with them at any given moment.

 

[mrsir2009]

A nice touchscreen interface for texting? Good customer support? Just because you can? My parents, for example, use Apple at home and in the workplace so they figured "hey, might as well get some Apple phones and tablets and see if we like them" and they did. My mom doesn't use apps and only has a few songs synced for music in the car.

I guess you can for the sake of it if your buying on a contract so the cost is hidden ... I don't think anyone would pay $1000 or so upfront for a nice touchscreen texting interface

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I though they did some studies on siri and while Apple does crap compression and using more bandwidth that they should for something like it. They could compress the data a lot more.

 

[boss.king]

I guess you can for the sake of it if your buying on a contract so the cost is hidden ... I don't think anyone would pay $1000 or so upfront for a nice touchscreen texting interface

But they do.