For those that are not aware, the new iPad doesn’t feature full Siri functionality yet, but it does bring a portion of the assistant’s capabilities with a fairly decent voice dictation mode. This was Apple’s first crack at shifting this over to the tablet community and now it could be extended to Mac OS X users as well.

A report over at 9to5Mac shows that Apple could make this possible, exclusively on Mac OS X Mountain Lion. At the moment, the MacBook Pro and Air models do not come with a separate voice speech button as seen on the new iPad’s virtual keyboard. However, an easy workaround appears to be in place as voice dictation on future MacBook Pro models could be accessible by simply pressing both command buttons simultaneously which are located either side of the space key.

If Apple are indeed planning to do this, we would like to see some improvements to voice dictation accuracy first. If you have used Siri on the iPhone 4 or dictation on the new iPad, you’ll know that it could obviously do with some enhancements in detecting speech more accurately.

Having voice dictation on New MacBook Pro models would obviously imply that Apple plans to make this a viable way of inputting text away from the physical keyboard. It would be fantastic if blog entries or long passages of text could be made via voice dictation on Mac OS X, but the software would obviously need some work first before this becomes a reality. At the moment, trying to input several sentences on the new iPad dictation doesn’t really work and you’ll probably agree if you have tried this out before.

Would you like to see voice dictation extended to Apple’s upcoming MacBook Pro refresh? Hopefully we will see some clarity on this at WWDC 2012 which starts next month.

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You may remember that Apple insisted that Siri was an iPhone 4S feature only and they didn’t approve of unofficial attempts to port the software over to other iOS devices. Samsung is now facing the exact same thing as recent reports suggest that they have had to ‘block’ S-Voice from being used on other Android devices after it leaked out a few days ago.

In their efforts to explain their reasoning behind the block, Samsung has said that S-Voice is still ‘test software’ and that they didn’t want consumers to judge the program before they have had a chance to improve it. Correct us if we’re wrong, but isn’t the Galaxy S III due out in a matter of days in Europe anyway? It sounds to us like they just want to keep the app exclusive to the Galaxy S III as a method of selling more handsets – Apple style and obviously very logical from a business point of view.

With that issue out of the way, how does S-Voice actually compare to Siri for those that have managed to have an early test run on either the Galaxy S III or other Android devices? An excellent video provided by GSMArena tells the exact story and based on what we see, it looks like Siri may still be on top for the moment. Siri performs searches much more quickly, and the speed of S-Voice may grow to be frustrating for Android users.

One thing that S-Voice does do better than Siri at the moment though is open specific apps. Telling Siri to change your Facebook status or open Dropbox results in your assistant politely replying that she is unable to do this. S-Voice on the other hand has no problem doing this, so this may be an area which Apple needs to improve on.

Should Samsung really be focusing on blocking this app from other Android users, rather than trying to improve the speed of S-Voice searches before the device launches in Europe? They won’t want to play second fiddle to Apple of course, but it looks like Siri may be the better assistant for the time being. If you have had a chance to preview both already, let us know which app you think comes out on top.

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At the moment, Siri is still exclusive to the iPhone 4S with the only updates coming via support for more languages. Now though, we have found out that Apple may be planning to bring some interesting new functionality to Siri in future iOS updates, as your favorite personal assistant may be able to give you live sports scores.

A developer has discovered that Siri already recognizes baseball team The New York Yankees as one ‘token’, and not three separate words. This means of course that Siri understands that this is a sports team and future features may include live sports updates from such teams.

The discovery was made by Evan Coleman and his SiriSports app which is available for jailbroken devices. After finding out that Siri recognizes sports teams as tokens in this way, he reached out to ESPN to see if they would be willing to offer their official API for further development. ESPN responded to the developer as noted by TheNextWeb and revealed that they were not willing to work on jailbroken apps as they are in a ”partnership with Apple on many fronts”.

Could we be seeing a possibility where Apple and ESPN will officially bring live sports scores to iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad via Siri? We’re not sure about you, but we would love the idea. It may seem a bit of a gimmick to some of you, but Siri is definitely crying out for some new functionality and this would be a fantastic start.

Would you like to see live sports scores from Siri, or is this feature not needed in your opinion?

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Apple kept Siri exclusive to the iPhone 4S although when it comes to hardware it seemed obvious that the iPad 2 could run Siri but Apple never offered the voice control to that device, which made the 4S more special to some buyers. If you own an iPhone 4S what do you think of Siri, and how much do you use that feature?

Android is gaining ground – it’s not like Google to stand by when they are beaten on anything, and with Siri showing how voice control on a phone should be handled it had created demand for the same feature on Android phones. We spoke about a few Siri-type apps for Android last week and how demand for this feature is increasing every day, although some people now feel an Android app has finally offered better voice control than Siri.

Doing what Siri does and then some more – below this article you can see a 22 minute hands-on with Utter for Android, which actually hooks into applications and seems to be more useful than any alternative currently on Android. The review details a lot about Utter in the first few minutes, and around 10 minutes in you can see how the app handles tasks that don’t have a default app.

Utter shows a lot of promise and some Android users believe it could be better than Siri in time, although that dream is a long way off with no release date in sight and the fact it can only support other apps that have enabled support in their code. When Utter finally releases it will need support from most of the popular apps to stand any real chance of success, but for now we’d love to hear your thoughts on Utter after seeing the video below.

What are your thoughts on voice control apps like Siri, and do you want to be talking to Android phones? Let us know more by voting in the poll below.

[poll id="413"]

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However, Apple may run into one major stumbling block if they end up calling their product iTV. It has been noted before, but there is the little matter of a major broadcasting network in the UK which also goes by the name of ITV.

Reports are suggesting this week that ITV has actually sent a letter to Apple warning them not to use the iTV name for their product, but there is no official information regarding this claim and the CEO of ITV Adam Crozier has quickly come out and distanced his company from the alleged letter.

Will Apple have their way though regardless of if ITV the television company were first to the party? We could actually see a scenario where Apple may go all out and just put in an offer to buy out ITV in order to secure the precious iTV name which would suit their product perfectly – it’s not like the company are short of money these days is it?

Don’t forget that Apple already has a product called ‘Apple TV’ as well, so really if it doesn’t end up being called iTV, what else could it be? iTV is the name that is most likely going to be unveiled later this year, and the reason that we haven’t seen it yet could well be due to behind the scenes negotiations between Apple and ITV.

As for the iTV itself, an additional report is claiming that Canadian carriers Rogers and Bell are already in possession of Apple iTV units and that the device will come equipped with integrated Siri software for voice commands, as well as further navigation capabilities via the use of hand gestures. If the details are accurate and the likes of Rogers and Bell already have the product in their labs, does that mean the same can be said for both Verizon and AT&T as well?

Going back to the ‘i’ dispute though, what are your thoughts on it? Do you think ITV the network are powerless to stop Apple from claiming the name, or should Apple try to rename their product out of respect? One company that is probably paying close attention to this is the BBC, as their iPlayer software may be next for Apple’s taking.

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Wanting Siri for Android phones – we’ve seen an increase in Android users demanding a Siri like app for their Android phone, which might be after seeing the smart voice app on an iPhone 4S. Do you want something like Siri on your Android phone? In most cases Siri is a feature that looks nice but might not get used much after the novelty has worn off, which is just what happened in our case although we’d love to hear from other 4S users and their thoughts on Siri after a few months of having the feature to hand.

Earlier this month we saw a fake Android Siri app that claimed to be the real thing, although it has since been removed from the Android Market Place. Have you used any useless Siri type apps on Android phones or maybe even the fake app before it had been removed?

Controversial views of the so-called Intelligent Software Assistant – the first thing most iPhone 4S users would try with Siri is finding out the answers you get from different questions, which can be really entertaining and we’ve all seen the YouTube videos to prove this. One popular Android app called “Iris” has hit the headlines lately but for the wrong reasons, and the video below this article shows you how controversial a software assistant can be when asked about Abortion. Watch the video and let us know what you think about this Siri type app for Android phones?

We looked at an Android app that could become a real challenger to Siri last month, which is called “Majel” and you can read more in this article if you missed it. Another recent article found here explains why Majel could help Google offer a real alternative, and the author explains a few reasons why they think Majel could be better than Siri. We’re a little skeptical on that possibility but the idea of custom character packs seems really impressive.

There are plenty of reasons not to install apps like Siri on an Android phone, which includes some users complaining about battery life issues that some 4S users say Siri is the cause. We’ve also seen network strain that has been blamed on Siri but the difference for Android users is the Siri type app could be installed optionally. If you’re still on the hunt for the best Virtual Assistant for Android then you should see another app called “Vlingo“, found on the Market Place here for free, which some bloggers strongly believe is the best app Android users will find. You can see the Vlingo features explained in the second video found below and also see the app in action.

Are you looking for a Siri type app for Android phones, or do you find this feature a waste of time?

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Apple has recently made a patent application that has been discovered by the guys over at AppleInsider, which may eventually allow users to make purchases via online stores. Currently users are not able to complete transactions using Siri, and just get the message “Sorry, I can’t purchase that”.

The latest Apple patent application points at e-commerce as a major part of the software, and may be used to purchase items such as DVDs, music, and books among other things online. If this feature becomes available for Siri users would be able to simply ask their handset to purchase something through the Apple iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore.

Apples application though also mentions items such as DVDs, so this could mean Siri could integrate with other online retailers. Users may be able to make a purchase with a store such as Best Buy, and then pick up the item at a local store.

Only last month users of Siri became able to check stock at Best Buy, thanks to the Wolfram Alpha engine Siri utilizes. Amazon is also named as a potential partner in any new system that will open even more possibilities to users. With any luck Apple will also get Siri onto other mobile devices from its portfolio.

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The latest beta that was released to developers was apparently short of any new features that may hint at upcoming iOS devices, but 9To5 Mac have managed to discover something. While looking through the iOS 5.1 beta 3 settings application on the iPad a new section was found in the keyboard menu.

This was named “About Privacy and Dictation”, and when opened provides the user with legal literature and other information for Siri Dictation. This feature is not actually functional on the current iPad model, so this could mean it is an iOS 5.1 launch feature for the iPad, or alternatively it could be an exclusive feature that will come with the iPad 3.

The iPhone 4S had a similar process with Siri and Siri Dictation via iOS 5.0 at launch, and it is also said the document appears on the later versions of the iPod Touch as well. With regards to the iPhone 4S it doesn’t have a specific menu that is related to “Dictation and Privacy” via the keyboard settings panel.

This may help to dampen concerns that this new iPad Dictation menu is simply ported over code from the iPhone 4S. In turn this could also mean that any Siri feature on the iPad is limited to Siri Dictation. It has been reported before that Apple was rumored to be working on a full version of Siri for the iPad.

It is thought we are only a few months away from the launch of the next iPad with various rumors suggesting a cheaper iPad 2 alongside an all new model. Would you like to see full Siri support on the iPad?

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The new feature has been well received from most iPhone 4S users, but Siri has resulted in many of those users to use almost double the amount of data compared to the iPhone 4. Bloomberg are reporting that network company Arieso has said this is putting carriers under greater pressure.

Arieso are based in Atlanta and advises companies such as Telefonica and the Vodafone group about managing wireless networks. Apple released the new feature back in October and allows users to schedule appointments and write SMS messages among other things.

Over one million subscribers were measured on a single unknown European network, which centered on both rural and urban areas. The increase in data usage could easily put extra strain on networks as carriers look to expand faster networks. Verizon in the US only recently announced that it doubled the amount of iPhones it had sold during the fourth quarter.

Previously AT&T has come under fire for dropped calls and network coverage in heavily populated areas such as New York and San Francisco. The iPhone 4S regularly connects to Apple’s servers to synchronize various applications, which can add to the data load according to Michael Flanagan of Arieso.

Carriers have moved to limit their data tariffs to stop heavy use as more customers browse the internet and download HD content. Vodafone has moved toward a usage based billing to try and protect its network capacity. Research by Arieso found that a small number of users accounted for fifty percent of downloaded data.

Do you use much mobile data?

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When Siri was first launched many Android fans commented that it was just something similar to what some Android Apps have been offering for ages. Since then we have seen an explosion of other apps being released for the platform. But recently an application actually called Siri for Android appeared on the Android Market.

IT ProPortal are reporting the app claimed to be an official app for the Android platform, and after being present for a few hours Google quickly took it down. While it was still live the app was downloaded by almost 1,000 users.

The application was developed by Official Software and it seems the developers account has also now been pulled. Other applications from the company have now also disappeared from the store. Google are reported to have moved quickly to remove the app and would have been keen not to get hit with anymore lawsuits from Apple.

This has been one of the biggest criticisms of the Android platform and how easy it is to get rogue applications on to the Android Market. There have been many reports of criminals putting up apps that create malware on devices that they get downloaded to.

Last month we told you about rumors that Google were working on their own Siri like feature for the Android platform, codenamed Majel. While this is being worked on expect to see even more Siri type apps appearing on the platform.

Did you download the fake Android Siri app?

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