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Comment by nabaraz | Hacker News Reader

I've never used any of these voice assistants. Do people find it easier to yell "Hey Siri, set up an alarm for 1 hour" vs going to Clock app and setting one? Not bashing anyone, genuinely curious.

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Personally I find it faster to use Siri for alarms, timers, and particularly reminders, than to use the apps directly. Though I don’t actually say Hey Siri, since I always invoke Siri by holding down the button (might be an outdated habit, but Hey Siri used to be pretty unreliable). And even today, my reminder messages get mangled to unrecognizability at least half of the time.

Also with this setting there's no defensible reason for the device to be constantly listening and analyzing everything you say.

Yes, timers and alarms are much easier with Siri. I also use it to set reminders and to add items to a grocery list. I use Siri to tell a HomePod to play various songs and artists while I’m doing other things in the house and to also to call person “X”. I sometimes ask Siri what the temperature is outside or if rain is forecast in the next N hours. We have some lights that are automated but that we can ask Siri to turn on or off as needed.

A lot of what makes Siri easier than the various apps is easier input and multitasking. Input can be simpler as some apps can have fiddle controls for adding very precise values. I am often doing something else while using Siri to do something. My phone may not be in my hard or even in the same room.

Yes. I use Siri preferentially for almost every UI task that I can, ranging from alarms to “next song” to sending text messages. These habits were encouraged by the pandemic when FaceID was unreliable due to masks, but they also make sense while driving and doing exercise and are often easier than “pull phone out, unlock, find app, painfully type message” in normal circumstances. With AirPods in your ears Siri is even more convenient because you don’t need to take the phone out of your pocket for many tasks. Honestly I’d switch entirely to voice control for most non-reading tasks if I didn’t occasionally have to repeat myself due to transcription inaccuracies or “Hey Siri” failing to wake up the device.

Not when controlling a single device, but as your needs expand across an entire home, it becomes really convenient not to rely on the presence of your phone or have to tie up your hands or attention to do anything.

I have Google Hubs in every room not just for the excellent audio casting, but to keep my phone out of my hands more than it absolutely needs to be.

That’s about the only use case I use. Helpful for cooking, when working with kids and you want them to know you set the timer, or you’ve crawled into bed and are barely conscious enough to realize you didn’t set an alarm.

Yes. Just say “hey Siri alarm one hour” or hold the button and say “alarm one hour.” It’s impossible to tap to create one that fast.

I can set an alarm for my washing machine while walking up the stairs on my smartwatch. Just makes routines easier.

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