Hopes that Siri could come to the iPhone 4 appeared more forlorn than ever today, after it emerged that the handset doesn’t have the on board specs to handle the service.
Since the iPhone 4S dropped last year, the received wisdom has been that the so-called voice-controlled assistant will remain exclusive to the newest iPhone. This is intended to allow Apple to charge a premium price for a smartphone that otherwise differs little from its predecessor.
If that were so, theoretically there would be nothing to stop Apple porting it to the iPhone 4 in future - once the commercial imperative to reserve it for the iPhone 4S is no more.
However, today it has emerged that the reason Siri has yet to come to the fourth-gen phone has nothing to do with business and everything to do with what it’s got under the hood.
According to a report from Cnet, the A5 processor in the iPhone 4S contains an Audience earSmart chip that enables users to be heard better and is crucial to Siri working as it does. Not least because it improves voice recognition when owners are speaking into the phone from a distance.
Conversely, because the iPhone 4 doesn't have the same chip set, the notion of Siri ever landing in the phone will remain a dim and distant fantasy, according to Cnet.
Whether iPhone 4 owners should be disappointed by this is another matter. Given the mixed response Siri got among users and the number of people who tired of the novelty within weeks, we'd say it's far from certain.
Via:
Comments