Manage to get an iPhone 4S this morning? Having fun asking Siri questions that wouldn’t be out of place in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Well cherish those initial moments of joy UK tech fans; we’ve got some bad news for you. Tech Digest have been hands-on with the iPhone 4S all morning, and noticed a few features missing from Siri on UK shores.
Firstly, if you’re hoping that your new voice activated assistant will help you navigate the streets of old Blighty, you’re out of luck. Navigation features are not programmed into the UK version of Siri (at least not yet) meaning you’re going to have to map out routes manually. In the US, Siri is able to handle all your navigation requests.
Likewise, if you’re looking to ask Siri for information on local businesses (say to order a pizza, or find the nearest chemist) you wont be able to do that using voice commands either. Apple have failed to secure a UK business look-up partner, meaning again it’s time to hit Google for your search answers. Again, in the US you’re able to carry out these tasks, with the Siri search partner being Yell.
Hopefully Apple will put these missing features in place sooner rather than later, as our experience with Siri’s voice recognition capabilities on the whole has been very good.
But if they don’t, what does that mean for the iPhone 4S? Siri is the smartphone’s headline feature in its fully functional state. If it’s hamstrung in the UK by a lack of search partners, does that make you less likely to upgrade to Apple’s revamped iPhone?
Let us know in the comments section below.
