5 Most Useful Ways to Use Siri–Send Your Thoughts and Win!

November 01, 2011 |  Posted By : Barbara  In : Giveaways, Industry News, iPhone

It’s been a few weeks since the iPhone 4S came out, and multi-million iPhone 4S sales later, everyone’s been talking about the good, the bad & the weird when it comes to Siri. “Siri is great for hands-free in the car!” “Siri picks up background noise too often.” “Does Siri really stand for ‘Steve Is Really Inside’?”

At the Mobclix Velti office, we like to focus on the good, and what Siri was really built for. If you’re looking for Siri to read your mind, you won’t get that–instead, you’ll get a Smart Alec answer. But if you need Siri to e-mail your coworker that you’re running 5 minutes late, voilà–done. Below are the top 5 ways we’ve found Siri to be the most helpful–but we’re going to need your help on #5. Read on…

1. Reminders

If you haven’t noticed already, iPhones are all about simplicity. Reminders is a great new, simple app that helps users remember what they need to do. But instead of typing out the address, location, time and task, Siri helps organize your reminders in the most efficient way. Tell Siri what you need to do, and in return, you’ll get a titled reminder attached with a location and time, if stated.

2. Text/E-mail

As long as you remember the weird nicknames you may give people in your contact list, Siri isn’t bad at creating text messages and e-mails while you’re on-the-go. Of course, Siri is best at shorter messages, like “Text Mom ‘I’ll be home for dinner.’” or “Text Joe ‘What time are you off work?‘” But the way we see it, these types of messages are when you need Siri most–if you want to send what looks like a novel, you should probably take the time to write it out yourself.

3. Weather

Weather is always important to know, as it can make or break your attire, your decision to step outside or to stay indoors. Luckily, Siri does a pretty good job at forecasting the weather, not just for day of, but for the week outlook–and for any location you please. Using Siri for weather is much more efficient than trying to sift through different locations and dates for an answer.

4. GPS

Siri is used best when it comes to local inquiries. If you’re in San Francisco, you can search for anything you need around the bay area. If you visit New York, you can search for the same things, but in NYC. Anywhere, besides the UK (read CNET UK, and solutions on Pocket-lint), if you ask Siri where the nearest gas station is, or the best lunch spot near your work meeting, chances are you’ll get exactly what you’re looking for.

5. Entertainment

The biggest fascination with Siri has been its ability to amuse. Forget asking Siri real questions–most of Apple’s latest fame to fortune has come from surprising answers to weird questions, as seen in Mashable’s blog.

In an effort to compile all of the best questions asked & responses given from our community, we need your help. Send us a screenshot, at bdizon [at] velti [dot] com, of the funniest interaction(s) you’ve had with Siri, and get a chance to win a $75 gift certificate to ThinkGeek!

We’ll be accepting Siri screenshots until next Tuesday 11/8. Then, we’ll choose 5-10 finalists, send an internal vote throughout the Mobclix Velti office, tally up the votes, and select the winner! We’ll announce on Thursday, 11/10, so you have a good week to share your Siri relationship with us. Good luck!

UPDATE: To see the winning Siri screenshots, check out: Top Siri Screenshots — Contest Winner Announced!