We humans always have a fascination for talking machines. We marvel at computers that seemingly have the ability to actually speak to us nonchalantly, as if it was a normal person. We even believe that one day, with our current rate of technological progress, robots would actually be advanced enough to be able to understand, and intuitively learn on its own during an active conversation. That must be the reason why the speech interface Siri is such a natural sensation for many iOS users, and it seems that Android users too, can experience the same intuitive talking experience with the Iris app.
Ask, and you’ll Receive … a Robotic Response
The basic engine that runs on Iris is a type of analytical software that actually tries to pull all of its digital resources from the web. Instead of a know-it-all large database of information, it would instead try to utilize the “cloud” of web information to keep up with your inquiries and comments. So if you ask what a “Chevy Volt” is, or inquire anything about a man named “Harrison Ford”, it would try and give you a definition using a number of related info websites (e.g. Wikipedia).
Much like Siri, the app also features a number of commands that can be activated using specific words and voice prompts. For example, saying “call” along with a name would activate your phone’s call function, calling whoever name you have spoken. It can also respond to a few random questions, though the responses a bit more “rigid” than Siri’s, and may not actually be appropriate for the situation.
The actual voice of the app is overall quite robotic, but it is of course intended by the users to give the feel of talking to a computer interface in a sci-fi movie.
Still Needs a Workaround, but is Okay Overall
The bad thing about Iris though is that the last update can be quite unstable for older Android versions. A test of the new 3.1.1 update on an Android 2.1 (Éclair) phone have resulted in lots of force close sessions, without even a chance to actually see what it could do on an older Android unit.
Another obvious problem with Iris is that it can only recognize words that are actually registered in an official English dictionary. So if you say anything in another language, or utter invented terminologies, she might give you a totally weird response.
Nevertheless, Iris is still quite the innovative speech interface software that it is cracked up to be. We may still be far from actually feeling sentience in her lines, but we may soon see more surprises within her, to be unlocked by her own developers.
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