Right after the iPhone 4S, and with it Siri, launched, a number of people wondered why won't Apple let iPhone 4 users get Siri.
Some reasoned that the huge number of iPhone 4 devices in the market, along with iPhone 4S users would overload Apple's servers in North Carolina, while others said that since the software was in beta, Apple wanted to restrict the number of users.
Linley Group chip analyst, Linley Gwennap, proposes another theory, one that seems the most credible until now. He says that Apple's dual core A5 chip includes noise reduction technology called "earSmart" licensed from a Silicon Valley start-up, Audience.
Although tear downs of the iPhone 4 also included a dedicated Audience chip, the technology built into the outdated chip was effective only when the microphone was placed next to the speaker's mouth.
In his report, Gwennap writes:
"Even after accounting for the dual Cortex-A9 CPUs and the large GPU that provides the A5 with industry-leading 3D graphics performance, the remaining die area seems too large for the usual mundane housekeeping logic. To reduce system cost and eliminate the extra package required for the Audience chip, Apple cut a deal to integrate the noise-reduction technology directly into its A5 processor, which appears in the iPhone 4S.
This situation helps explain why Apple does not offer Siri as a software upgrade on the iPhone 4. Although the older phone includes an Audience chip, the company has since improved its technology to handle 'far-field speech,' which means holding the device at arm's length rather than directly in front of the mouth."
Although Gwennap's reasoning sufficiently explains the absence of Siri from the iPhone 4, it doesn't explain why the iPad 2, which also has an A5 chip, doesn't run Siri. Our assumption is that Apple wanted Siri's AI engine to mature a bit more, before bringing it to more devices.
CNET notes that Audience had disclosed its relationship with Apple in its S-1 filing, when it decided to go public:
Commencing in the three months ended December 31, 2011, Apple has integrated our processor IP in certain of its mobile phones. Pursuant to our agreement, this OEM [original equipment manufacturer] will pay us a royalty, on a quarterly basis, for the use of our processor IP for all mobile phones in which it is used.
Audience's technology resides not just in Apple's in-house chips, but also in devices manufactured by Samsung, LG, HTC and others.
This, however, doesn't mean that Siri running on an iPhone is impossible. In fact, we've seen several Siri ports by hackers which make Apple's virtual assistant run on various iOS devices. It just means that the performance of Siri running on an iPhone 4 won't be what Apple deems sufficient.
[via CNET]
Could this be why Siri on my iphone 4 isn’t as loud as the one on my 4s?
O/T- Has the dev team given up on the 4s unlock? A friend was telling me the other day that the reason the dev team hasn’t focused on the unlock is because there is no incentive for them to create one.
At least with a JB, they are incentivised to create and sell tweaks or applications yet to be approved by Apple.
That would have to do with the speaker improvements of the 4s
Indeed there is no incentive to produce an unlock for the 4S: when carriers will do an unlock for a nominal fee*, releasing a software unlock would only benefit the dodgy phone shops that charge the unwary consumer more than their operator would, for an unlock that doesn’t survive updates.
Jailbreaking is interesting: it allows the phone to do things it otherwise couldn’t. Unlocking is not: it only allows the phone to do things its owner is unwilling to pay for.
* I just unlocked my old 4, it cost £15 ($25)
Folks in the US don’t have the luxury you guys have in the UK when it comes to unlocking phones. Our politicians are bought and paid for by big corporations like Apple and ATT. This is why there are no laws requiring/forcing these companies to unlock our phones even when you are no longer in contract.
Short of buying a factory unlock phone which is very expensive, there is nothing we can do to get our iphones unlocked outside of unauthorized software unlocks.
Well if they are STILL trying to say that the iphone 4 doesn’t have the power, mic or whatever else to run Siri they are talking rubbish. I have “Siriport” running on my iP4 and side by side with my friends iP4S there is no difference what so ever…
Even in noisy environments?
win ^
This is a stupid article. The one and only reason is cause apple released a halfa$$ over hyped phone that’s main selling point was siri. And to get as many people to waste there money on it it makes sense to make it proprietary and say some bs that its beta or other phones can’t handle it.
This is a stupid article. The one and only reason is cause apple released a halfa$$ over hyped phone that’s main selling point was siri. And to get as many people to waste there money on it it makes sense to make it proprietary and say some bs that its beta or other phones can’t handle it.
This is a stupid article. The one and only reason is cause apple released a halfarse over hyped phone that’s main selling point was siri. And to get as many people to waste there money on it it makes sense to make it proprietary and say some bs that its beta or other phones can’t handle it.
This is a stupid article. The one and only reason is cause apple released a halfe over hyped phone that’s main selling point was siri. And to get as many people to waste there money on it it makes sense to make it proprietary and say some bs that its beta or other phones can’t handle it.
Sorry for the multiple post it kept saying the publication failed check comment and I kept trting to edit it but I guess it didn’t fail.
Well if they are STILL trying to say that the iphone 4 doesn’t have the power, mic or whatever else to run Siri they are talking rubbish. I have Siri running on my iP4 and side by side with my friends iP4S there is no difference what so ever…
I Have a iphone 4 with working spire siri port. I seen and tried a iPhone 4s siri. There is a difference. The iPhone 4s is faster at responding and understanding clearly what I said. The iPhone 4, to work as fast and understanding everything you said, requires a headset. Other than that the difference is very, very small. Plus all the extensions out now for siri, Apple can suck it!
think outside the garden. siri is the main selling point of 4s ( and upcomming ipad3) with slight upgrade specs. if iphone4 and ipad2 run siri, sales of 4s would be cut in half and ipad3 would take a major hit. thus the reason devs were able to get i4 to runs siri effectively not some bs from so called analyst/expert words.
I’m sure that it’s not about performance. Siri sends all data to Apple servers and it doesn’t involve much computing power – at least not for iP4. It’s “just” marketing. Would you buy new iP4s if you had iP4 and could run Siri? I don’t have friend with iP4s so I can’t use “Siriport”, I will wait for Apple solution or iP5
did you read the article?
Im kind if happy that I don’t have siri. All my family members have iPhones. Can you imagine all of them yelling questions to Siri during thanksgiving or Xmas gathering?! That would be something. I’m a happy iPhone 4 owner
Yeah this is bullsh*t I wouldn’t be suprised if apple is behind this “analyst” even if thier was a slight difference apple could come up with a way around it and if not and it bothers a person that much then Upgrade but apple doesent even give us that choice kuz the’re greedy and it thier selling point
Yeah this is bull*+^% I wouldn’t be suprised if apple is behind this “analyst” even if thier was a slight difference apple could come up with a way around it and if not and it bothers a person that much then Upgrade but apple doesent even give us that choice kuz the’re greedy and it thier selling point
Yeah this is bull-ish I wouldn’t be suprised if apple is behind this “analyst” even if thier was a slight difference apple could come up with a way around it and if not and it bothers a person that much then Upgrade but apple doesent even give us that choice kuz the’re greedy and it thier selling point
Yeah this is bull-ish I wouldn’t be suprised if apple is behind this “analyst” even if thier was a slight difference apple could come up with a way around it and if not and it bothers a person that much then Upgrade but apple doesent even give us that choice kuz the’re greedy and its thier selling point
Lol calm down and buy a 4s or stop complaining. You probably wouldn’t use Siri much anyway.
It so you buy the new one it’s just not polite to go out and say it
i could care less about Siri. i doubt i’d even use it.
Becuz that is the only different between 4S and 4
it’s complicated to use
Ive downloaded and installed siriport. But I still can’t get it to work. Does it have to do that I am in Canada?
you need a siri proxy
Siri on iPhone is already losing its appeal
Siriport.ru/1.crt
It said install this and all good, am I missing something?
who cares.. even i have iphone 4s i dont use siri that much..
Forget iPhone 4, even iPhone 4S users dont see much sense in Siri.
I would have at least liked to try it. I uninstalled siriport. I’ll just edit and see what the future brings.
I have spire on my iPod touch 4gen and it works amazing no need for external mic or anything I use it with a wep 480 Bluetooth mono earpiece and sometimes the apple earphones with the remote and mic but no matter how I use it it works flawlessly
I have spire on my iPod touch 4gen and it works amazing no need for external mic or anything I use it with Bluetooth mono earpiece and sometimes the apple earphones with the remote and mic but no matter how I use it it works flawlessly
I’ve tried that. But I don’t know how to get a Siri proxy. I have access to a friends iPhone 4s but I don’t know how to get it.
I’ve given up. October I’ll get the 5
i had the official SIRI app on my iphone4, and it worked OK, but it was disabled when the 4s phone came out and doesn’t work anymore. It still sits on my hard drive, waiting, hoping to one day be useful again, but it’s not, not at all, not ever again…