Apple's event invitation hints iPhone 5 takes voice commands
Will a voice recognition app be among the new features of Apple Inc.âs upcoming iPhone 5 when it is unveiled early in October? Several tech sites and blogs raised the possibility this week, based on the invites that Apple issued for an iPhone event on Oct. 4 (Oct. 5 in Manila). âLet's talk iPhone," PC Magazine quoted the invite as saying. The invite was pictured along with four iOS icons for Calendar, Clock, Maps, and Phone. Apple is known for having given âcryptic hints" in its previous invitations. The âLet's talk" phrase could refer to new speech-based features for the iPhone. As early as March, it was long-rumored voice recognition feature on iOS 5. Apple had just then acquired in April last year the voice-recognition application âAssistant" of start-up Siri. Afterwards, Apple added some voice-to-text features to iOS 4. The iOS 4 additions included the ability to verbally order an iPhone to âcall Mom" or âplay more songs like this." The Siri websiteâs splash declares: âJust ask Siri. Itâs the new way to get things done. No more endless clicking on links and pages to get things done on the Internet. Delegate the work to Siri and relax while Siri takes care of it for you⦠Type or speak... itâs up to you." On Aug. 25, Apple filed a patent application for a "user profiling for voice input processing" to identify the user providing the voice input and make its devices more responsive to complex voice commands. In July 2010, Apple filed a patent application for an âAdaptive Audio Feedback System and Method." â MRT/LBG, GMA News