BLIND people and those with vision impairment take using voice commands for granted when using modern technology. So when Apple launched the iPhone 4S with virtual assistant Siri, vision impaired people got very excited.
Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes said that the technology would be of great value to people with vision impairment and he has his order in for an iPhone 4S already.
“While the technology will be much more efficient for blind people than the triple-tap input used now, I would think that the (voice commands) would benefit many people – vision impaired or not.”
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“Users should speak clearly and ask for one thing at a time,” Mr Noonan said. Also, because the maps, traffic and business data is currently only available for the US, users should ensure that contacts include home and work addresses so that commands such as “take me home” can be given and followed by Siri.
Also, for people who work in large office blocks or complexes, addresses need to match the global positioning satellite address for the complex. “If your building has multiple addresses and you say ‘remind me at work,’ Siri won’t recognise that you are at work unless the addresses match.”
Mr Innes commented that “Siri won’t work well when there is background noise”.
“Always use Siri when your phone is unlocked,” Mr Noonan said although the iPhone 4S has capability that can be used when the screen is locked, it can cause crashes when using voice commands, he said.
Mr Innes said that single commands such as “find (the name of a song)” or “find email from (named person)” work well, Mr Noonan said that these commands allow you to find emails by specific dates.
“Siri can also be used to send text messages or send a text to Twitter,” Mr Noonan said. “Give Siri small chunks of information. That’s the most important thing,” he said
