Siri can help you in an endless number of ways, and
in a style that feels personal, efficient and friendly. It’s
remarkably effective with iOS 9.
Siri is a brilliant invention from Apple and can be
used for much more than you might expect. We will
highlight some of the more popular and lesser known
features, but the best advice is to just speak to Siri and see
what answers you get back. Web searches are built in and Siri
is also capable of interacting with many default apps including
Maps, Contacts and Calendar. However, it is the way that Siri
works that is most impressive: you can speak naturally and it will
understand you. The more you use it, the more accurately it will
recognise your voice and over time you’ll find yourself speaking
to it just as you would a friend. Don’t ever feel restricted by
what you believe it can or cannot do – think of anything and
chances are that Siri will understand and respond in exactly the
way you want it to. The advantages of the system will be crucial
to those who require the accessibility help, but we can think
of very few people who would not benefit from the way Siri
works. It is one of those rare systems that gets better the more
you use it, and it works very well from the start anyway.
1: Get the weather
Asking Siri for weather information is
surprisingly natural. Say something like “What
will the weather be like in Brighton tomorrow?”
or “Do I need an umbrella?” to send the request.
2: Manage hardware
You can control many hardware features in Siri
by simply asking. “Turn on Bluetooth” is enough
to switch it on immediately and the same
applies to Wi-Fi and other features.
3: Set up relationships
Provided you have people in Contacts, you
can assign relationships to them. For example,
saying “Alice is my daughter” means you can
then say “Send a text to my daughter.”
4: Check the sports results
Siri’s abilities are quite extensive and you can
even ask if a sports team that you follow won.
You will be presented with the result from the
respective team’s last game.
5: Roll a die/flip a coin
Siri even works for the simpler things, such as if
you have mislaid a die for your favourite board
game or if you want to make a decision on the
flip of a coin, but don’t have one!
6: Ask anything
For a more detailed run down of other things
you can ask Siri, tap the small ‘?’ icon and you
will be presented with an extensive list of
examples. But basically, ask anything!