When the iPhone 4S was announced the main feature was the addition of Siri and the voice recognition capability that it brought to iOS.
It was hoped that Siri might eventually make its way on to older devices but Apple has played down that possibility. It has been cited that the iPhone 4S contains dedicated noise cancellation hardware that makes Siri a possibility.
However, this hasn’t prevented developers from working on alternative solutions that can be applied to older devices including the older iPad models. Some of these are available on the App Store, while others require a jailbroken device in order to be installed.
The caveat is that some of these alternatives aren’t up to the benchmark set by Siri. Some services don’t possess the same skill at voice recognition, while other Siri copycat apps can be problematic to install.
Despite this these alternatives are still a step in the right direction when it comes to putting all iOS device users on a more level playing field.
In this tutorial we’ll look at ESRA, a free jailbreak-based Siri alternative. It is by no means perfect but it’s an interesting tool to play with as a taster of what could come in future.
ESRA is available from the BigBoss repo. Search for it in Cydia and it will appear under ‘ESRA Assistant’. Click this entry to install.
2: Setting up ESRA
ESRA will ask for location information and offer some setup options. The Wolfram Alpha section isn’t essential for ESRA to work.
3: Start talking
Once your settings are applied tap Done! to go to the main screen. Tap the mic icon and start talking to ESRA. ESRA will process the audio.
4: ESRA’s skills
ESRA boasts some basic tricks at the moment – it can play songs, compose tweets, provide weather info and show photos.
5: Talk or type?
Sometimes ESRA’s speech recognition isn’t quite up to the task. For these occasions it’s possible to type a command into the text box.
6: ESRA’s Siri theme
There is a theme that can make ESRA appear more like Siri. It’s available in the Cydia Store and works with the WinterBoard app.
This Alternative to Siri for iPad article taken from : iPad Tips, Tricks, Apps & Hacks Volume 4 - Imagine Publishing Ltd
