James Delahunty
11 May 2012 21:37
Siri cheating on iPhone 4S.
Users noticed that when Siri is asked to find the "best smartphone ever," it actually gives an answer that recommends rival Nokia's Lumia 900 Windows Phone handset, and not any of Apple's gear.
The reason for Siri's betrayal of iPhone is explained easily though. The service returns results for the question from WolframAlpha, which returns exactly the same result as Siri when asked, "What is the best smartphone ever?".
WolframAlpha's results show that the Nokia Lumia 900 has four user reviews with a score of 5 out of 5, while a list of smartphones ranked by customer review does not even include an iPhone.
Since launching the iPhone 4S, Siri has given all kinds of bizarre answers to questions, ranking from answers that were hilarious to ones that actually caused controversy.
In November, Siri came under fire because it could not provide information on abortion clinics or contraception, but it could answer questions about where to have sex, or where a local escort service is located. Some groups were particularly angered that questions about abortion instead returned results for pregnancy crisis centers.