There are a few words I can think of that accurately describe Siri, the voice-driven personal assistant: game-changing, mind-blowing, revolutionary, empowering. Is Siri really that big a deal? Yes.
I was initially skeptical about Siri's usefulness beyond the novelty value. Then I got in my car and drove somewhere. Texting and driving is terribly risky, but be honest -- most of us glance at our phones or worse when we're in the car. Siri enabled me to get all of my new text messages and e-mails, reply to my text messages, check my calendar, move an appointment, create an appointment including inviting someone to the meeting, check the weather, play a specific song, find where a specific friend was in the world (using Apple's Find My Friends app), and make a few phone calls. I didn't look at my phone once.
That's a game changer.
Siri lets you have a normal conversation with your phone, and it's actually a tad unsettling at first. Asking your phone to move your 1:00 p.m. calendar appointment to 3:00 p.m., call your mother back, and text your friend to tell him that the movie he recommended was horrendous is just ridiculous. I've asked Siri her age, her favorite color is, where she's from and other personal questions. Each time there's a personal response -- often with a slightly snarky edge.
Siri does have a few hiccups. It relies on the network, so if you're using something like Optimum's Wi-Fi hotspots when you're out and about, this can cause problems as you switch among Wi-Fi access points. Siri won't be able to connect to the server when you're between points. If you're on an Edge or 1x network, Siri can take a while to respond.
Sometimes Siri messes up, but I've found that even if you don't say a few words clearly enough, Siri will usually manage an accurate response anyway. When Siri misunderstands a word, you can also edit it with a simple tap. Things get comical when Siri doesn't get what you're saying at all, but luckily that doesn't happen too often.
