iPhone 4S

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I'm going to get one for my wife soon. It'll be a colossal upgrade from her Droid Eris (which is such a steaming pile of dung).

I'm assuming there will be more available voices for the Siri thing. The voice in the video sounds pretty cheesy. Even cheap GPS's come with better voices than that these days.

lol. That was my first thought upon hearing Siri: "Don't in car navi units sound more natural?" Also, ouch @ Droid Eris, the iPhone will be worlds better.
 
Probably going to sell my iPhone 4 and use the money to buy an iPhone 4S, assuming I'm eligible for an upgrade.
 
I'm assuming there will be more available voices for the Siri thing. The voice in the video sounds pretty cheesy. Even cheap GPS's come with better voices than that these days.

In all fairness though, the GPS's phrases are pre recorded and can have the tone of them tweaked to make it sound more realistic, whereas on Siri it has to make the whole sentence it says out of a library of words and try to make it sound natural and try and take into consideration the tone in which it is being said.

Though I do see what you are saying and it shouldn't really be too much longer until it catches up.

the GPS voice > Siri on iPhone 4S > Getting my macbook to say something just to make me laugh at the way it says it...
 
Sprint roams on Verizon, so...how long ago did you have service with Sprint? I think the biggest announcement is that the 4 and 4S is now available on Sprint - the last major carrier with unlimited data (and cheapest).
A long ass time ago like 7-8 years. From what my friends tell me it hasn't changed really. I don't want to roam esp not for data which would be stupid expensive.
Probably going to sell my iPhone 4 and use the money to buy an iPhone 4S, assuming I'm eligible for an upgrade.
From all reports you are likely not but you can check here https://buyiphone.apple.com/WebObjects/IPACustomer.woa/wa/IPAToolAction/springboard
 
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If the voice choice is directly linked to the Mac's selected voice, boy do will that be fun. I LOVE to have the PipeOrgan voice on my iPhone. :D
 
Probably going to sell my iPhone 4 and use the money to buy an iPhone 4S, assuming I'm eligible for an upgrade.

If I had an iPhone 4 I wouldn't bother. I'd wait for the 5.
 
Says you :p Either way I'd never go back, the only ones doing a legit LTE rollout is VZ anyways.

Sprint's switcing to LTE with a full rollout in like 2 years iirc.
 
In all fairness though, the GPS's phrases are pre recorded and can have the tone of them tweaked to make it sound more realistic, whereas on Siri it has to make the whole sentence it says out of a library of words and try to make it sound natural and try and take into consideration the tone in which it is being said.

This is not quite correct.

Satnavs use prerecorded snippets which it then plays back one after another, like "Turn right in" "six" "hundred" "meters" "then" "you've arrived at your destination." etc. So far you're correct.

What Siri uses is speech synth. It might sound a bit weird and it will probably pronounce some things wrong, but it will be able to speak anything out loud. There's no prerecorded anything, because it would be impossible.
 
This is not quite correct.

Satnavs use prerecorded snippets which it then plays back one after another, like "Turn right in" "six" "hundred" "meters" "then" "you've arrived at your destination." etc. So far you're correct.

What Siri uses is speech synth. It might sound a bit weird and it will probably pronounce some things wrong, but it will be able to speak anything out loud. There's no prerecorded anything, because it would be impossible.

Totally possible, just record every possible conjugation of every word. Or at least the vast majority. But yes, it's highly unlikely that that's how it works :p

There are pre-determined pronunciations though, there would have to be, English is not a phonetically written language.
 
It is mostly phonetically written.

Mostly, maybe, but a speech system built entirely on phonics would have a lot of trouble. Take a common word from your own sentence - "most." Long O. "Cost" is not pronounced the same way but there's no way to know that just from the letters written.
 
This is not quite correct.

Satnavs use prerecorded snippets which it then plays back one after another, like "Turn right in" "six" "hundred" "meters" "then" "you've arrived at your destination." etc. So far you're correct.

What Siri uses is speech synth. It might sound a bit weird and it will probably pronounce some things wrong, but it will be able to speak anything out loud. There's no prerecorded anything, because it would be impossible.

That is actually what I meant but just said it in a silly way and backwards way. :s

Because Siri is with the speech synth, it doesn't really do voices naturally and the ways in which it can ask things are generally limited compared to the vast way humans can convey language. My lecturer at uni is doing a research project based on (the lack of) emotion, tone etc in synth voices and how it makes users of text-to-speech devices come across as emotionless and it does actually speak lots about this. This is the website about the project he has done which should be able to explain a bit more and better than what I can do: http://imd.dundee.ac.uk/sixspeakingchairs/

Sat Nav voices, even though they are stitched together with different phrases have a lot more control on the tone of the way they are said because they are done in a controlled environment and can be rerecorded if they need to and tested over with all other combinations to see if they work right, so they are seamless and natural.
 

I don't know enough information about my bill to use that form, but from what I've heard if your bill is over $99/month then you can upgrade once a year instead once every two years. I'm on a family plan with my iPhone and I bought my 4 on release day, so it's been over a year.

If I had an iPhone 4 I wouldn't bother. I'd wait for the 5.

Why? If it's going to be essentially free...
 
I don't know enough information about my bill to use that form, but from what I've heard if your bill is over $99/month then you can upgrade once a year instead once every two years. I'm on a family plan with my iPhone and I bought my 4 on release day, so it's been over a year.
You just need your cell# your SS# and your billing Zip Code :) Ahh OK, I'm on a business plan from my old job :p
 
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Mostly, maybe, but a speech system built entirely on phonics would have a lot of trouble. Take a common word from your own sentence - "most." Long O. "Cost" is not pronounced the same way but there's no way to know that just from the letters written.

Still mostly phonetical, we are nowhere near Ancient Egyptian. :p Though I wish English would separate some of the vowels like Greek (they divide "O" into ? and ?).

Why? If it's going to be essentially free...

I think you need to be 18 months in or it is $650.
 
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