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A5 Mystery Solved (Why Siri Won't Run On iPhone 4)
Hugh Pickens writes "Anna Leach reports that Siri support has been a contentious issue for owners of earlier iPhones, but a recent filing from Audience shows that Siri won't run on the iPhone 4 because the phone's chip can't handle it. Linley Gwennap of the Linley Group cracked one of the secrets of the new iPhone's A5 chip after working out that it packs some serious audio cleaning power not available on the iPhone 4's A4 chip. Audience has developed technology that removes most or all of the background noise when someone places a cell-phone call from a restaurant, airport, or other noisy location. The iPhone 4S integrates Audience's 'EarSmart' technology directly into the A5 processor, improving its technology to handle 'far-field speech,' which means holding the device at arm's length rather than directly in front of the mouth. Apple has also licensed the Audience technology for a 'new generation of processor IP,' which may mean that the forthcoming A6 processor will appear in the iPad 3 and iPhone 5. 'Why Apple has not simply purchased Audience is unclear. An acquisition would prevent Audience's other major customer, Samsung, from using the technology to compete with Apple,' says Gwennap. 'The company may be hedging its bets, as it could switch to Qualcomm's Fluence noise-reduction technology in the future.'"
Or at least not the whole story. It has been shown already that a jailbroken iPhone 4 can run Siri just fine.
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away
improving its technology to handle 'far-field speech,' which means holding the device at arm's length rather than directly in front of the mouth
I thought cell phone users were annoying enough when they constantly raised their voice as if the other end were deaf; now people are going to be yelling at their phones from across the room.
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
I have tried Siri on a jailbroken iPhone 4 and it works just as well, I did not notice any difference.
I doubt this is a major reason for not enabling this on the iPhone 4, especially when taking into account how little difference "just" the improved camera and a dual core processor is to most users.
I would think the improved hardware sensor played a major role, but again, Siri worked just as well for me on an iPhone 4.
Also, I'm surprised that they advertise as "removing most or all of the background noise", while Siri did a fairly good job of knowing who was talking to her, it gets confused too often, which means that it won't work very well if other people in the room are talking.
I always assumed the answer was something to the effect of:
boolean siriEnabled() {
return (system.cpu.version >= 5.0);
}
Is anything else really needed? They don't want to support it on older models so you have to buy the new one. Conversely, if you really want the feature, buy the latest phone. Personally I find Siri an overhyped piece of junk. I have a 4S and I disabled it because it kept getting activated randomly and rarely understood my commands. Plus for the basic stuff like weather, I can just open the app. The anecdotal crap like "Will I need an umbrella today?" is just a dumb gimmick to me. But anyway, the fact is that the 4S is really an incremental improvement over the 4, and Siri is the one feature Apple can point to on the 4S as a differentiator, so they enforce that differentiation.
rooooar
Possibly true: Siri uses a unique feature of the iPhone 4S.
False: Siri won't run on the iPhone 4
Siri runs just fine on jailbroken a iPhone 4, and it ran just fine on an iPhone 4 Before apple removed it. Kudos to the authors for enhancing Siri to use new features of the A5 chip. Good job to the researcher who figured this out. But shame on anyone who uses this as FUD to make Apple look like they didn't cripple their own product to force people to upgrade.
I am using Spire to enable Siri on my i4 and it seems to work fine. I can use it fine while it is sitting in the dock in my truck about 4 feet from my mouth with tire, engine, and heater noise going. Not sure if it works better on a 4S but there are quite a few people using Siri on jailbroken i4's without problems.
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
But the iPhone 4 use to run Siri. Apple removed it from the App Store, broke everyones existing copy by blocking it from the servers and then made it a 4S exclusive.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
There is already a dozen comments or so about how the article is wrong because Siri works on a jailbroken iPhone 4. That was never the point of the article. We know that it will work because of the jailbreaks. The question is why Apple didn't allow it to work on the 4. The article suggests a hardware limitation in that while the A4 chip can run Siri it lacks the much better audio processing the A5 has to remove background noise. Design wise this means that the Siri was meant to be used at a distance instead of always next to user's mouth. Also this means the 4S should be able to handle noise better. This is speculation but a reasonable one as I can see Apple not releasing a feature for quality reasons even if people disagree it is really a valid reason for them.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
"'Why Apple has not simply purchased Audience is unclear."
Perhaps it's because Audience doesn't want to be bought? Even without Siri, it sounds like that tech would be useful in EVERY SINGLE PHONE - would make conversations a bit easier in noisy locations.
Audience probably figures that by broadly licensing the tech to every phone company in the world, they'll make MORE MONEY that Apple would be willing to offer them. At least, they might be betting on it.
A moment's more reflection, and not only does the tech sound useful for every phone - sounds useful for any device with a microphone - video cameras, sound boards, computers, public address systems, teleconferencing systems, voice control systems in cars, voice control systems for customer support call-center use, etc.
It sounds like one of those rare instances of a technology which has almost universal applications.
The Android update model's been working great for me. My Samsung Epic shipped with Eclair and has since been updated to Froyo, and Gingerbread. Samsung is working on another update to the phone right now, 17 months after the phone's initial release.
Fully functional and stable CM7 and CM9 builds for the Epic are also available from the community.
Come to think of it, you don't even need an Android phone for the Android update model to work for you. I was running Android on my Touch Pro 2 before I got the Epic!
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.
Hold on, so there's a cell phone of a particular OS which appears to have different capabilities and thus can't run the same software as its immediate predecessor. And both of them are on the market at the same time, you say?
Wait, wait... there's... somewhere in my mind... I'm remembering something... there's a word there I remember from long ago... it... it starts with an 'F'... F... F... Fra... Frag... FragmentatiALL GLORY AND HONOR TO THE ALMIGHTY SAINT JOBS AS IT WAS WRITTEN AT JANUARY 1, 1904 AND SHALL BE UNTIL HIS GLORIOUS SECOND COMING! ALL GLORY TO HIS AVATAR, DOGCOW! ALL GLORY! SOSUMI! SOSUMI!
Woah, sorry, guys. Don't know what just hit me. Anyway, as I was about to say, the... um... word... it... oh, forget it. I've got to get in line for the iPad 3! I heard that before his ascension into... before his death, Jobs himself sweated over the first batch of plastic cases! Oh boy!
And lulz are had by all! :D
The Android update model:
1) Flash the latest CyanogenMod
2) Update it when the update comes out
Not too hard (at least on the newer phones, some older ones need exploits)
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
http://www.ifixit.com/blog/2011/05/17/unveiled-audience-powers-iphone-4s-impressive-noise-cancellation/
There's been an Audience chip included in the iPhone 4 since June 2010. When iFixit tore down the iPhone 4S and noticed the chip wasn't there, it was assumed that the chip was either integrated into the A5 design or that Apple opted to do noise-cancellation without the need of an Audience chip.
It's true that the A4 chip doesn't have an Audience subprocessor in it but it doesn't mean that the iPhone 4 doesn't have the chip included somewhere else on its motherboard. The conclusion that the iPhone 4 can't do Siri is absolute garbage. The conclusion that the iPhone 4 can't do Siri technically because of this kind audio subprocessor is not being included in the iPhone 4's design needs to have their head examined and start doing some research. This entire thing is hogwash.
Still does not explain why siri will not work on my ipad 2.
Who stated that goal? Some capitalist's PR flack?
The stated goal of capitalism is to gain more valuable property. Any other goal is either a means to that end, or an end for which capitalism is merely the means, or just not capitalism - or some combination.
In fact the goal of most capitalists is to ignore quality while driving profits up for purchasing more property. Stated or otherwise. Capitalists don't want competition; they want monopoly. It's only when other capitalists must compete with them that there is competition.
--
make install -not war
Given how server- and bandwidth-intensive Siri is, Apple may also have wanted to restrict it to the 4S simply to limit the number of people using it.
Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
The fact that the A5 processor incorporates some fancy noise cancellation technology goes beyond enhancing Siri voice recognition, and explains the startling difference in speakerphone and handset call quality I have noticed after upgrading from the iPhone 4. The 4S is easily one of the best sounding smartphones I have used in recent memory.
Not that iPhone 4 call quality is terrible, it's just that the 4S is that much better.
The Galaxy S is a top-selling phone that's only months old and yet not getting Android 4.0, while the 2 1/2 year old iPhone 3GS can run the latest version of iOS.
Just to be 100% clear here, the characterization of the Galaxy S as 'only months old' is a bit disingenuous, it's well over a year old, in fact it's over 1 1/2 years old. And the iPhone 3GS can run the latest version of iOS but does lack some features like AirPlay mirroring.
That clarified, the Galaxy S doesn't get ICS because the at the time the requirements for ICS obviously couldn't be factored into the hardware design because they weren't known, that's a major advantage of Apple's vertical integration. It would be nice if Google worked closer with official (certified?) Android handset manufacturers to establish the compatibility of devices going forward.