Siri may have its drawbacks. It can't look up local services thanks to Apple not signing deals with any in the UK. So ask it for a local information and you'll be out of luck. But one young boy was shocked at more than Siri's incompetence, when it blasted him with a four-letter tirade, The Sun reports.
Charlie Le Quesne picked up the demo handset in Tesco in Coventry, and asked it, "How many people are there in the world?" Siri's answer? "Shut the f*** up you ugly t***."
It seems pranksters played with the settings, entering the seven-word phrase as the username, so Siri would read it out regardless of the question.
Charlie's mum Kim was horrified. "It's verbal abuse," she told the Coventry Telegraph. "Charlie was with his dad looking at the phones. We can't believe the filth it came out with. He showed my husband what the phone had said to him and my husband found the store manager and said 'it shouldn't be saying that.'"
The phone was a demo version, that Charlie (who's 12 in The Sun, 10 according to the Coventry Telegraph) had a play with. It's not known when it was tampered with, whether it was staff at the store, another customer, or someone else along the way. Charlie went back with his nan the next day, and the same thing happened, despite staff being alerted the first time.
A statement from Tesco read, "We have arranged for the handset in question to be sent for diagnostic testing and we will investigate this issue as a matter of priority with Apple."
Google is thought to be working on a Siri rival for Android, named Majel after the name of the voice of the computer in Star Trek. But don't expect Microsoft to do the same -- it claims it's had Siri for more than a year.
What do you make of Siri? Let us know on our Facebook page, or below in the comments.
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Comments 13
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anonymous 31 December, 2011 15:13
; 0 ha ha ha ha ha siri ftw
anonymous 31 December, 2011 17:09
""It's verbal abuse" said his Mum, whilst dialling for the nearest solicitor so that she could demand compensation and the opportunity to sue someone for something to do with human rights
Naryan 31 December, 2011 19:39
"It shouldn't be doing that."
hahahhaAAHAHAHAHAHA.
anonymous 31 December, 2011 21:09
Never even heard of Siri, sounds like a curry sauce lol
anonymous 1 January, 2012 04:47
I wonder how much hate the mum is giving and stating how damaged they are just to demand free iPhones, the very object they're complaining about.
anonymous 1 January, 2012 07:23
What a mistake. This response was meant to be programmed to anyone asking "why apple are unfairly trying to bully all rival companies and take over the world?"
anonymous 1 January, 2012 13:50
His mum wasn't even there ! Just another opportunity for some stuck up so and so trying to make a drama out of nothing. They obviously weren't too concerned at the time as the boy went back the next day and tried the same phone again. I've never known anyone who has been verbally abused to go back for more....
anonymous 1 January, 2012 22:21
Why is this even news or being reported?
As quoted elsewhere:
"Step One: Add a contact with an expletive name. Step Two: tap Settings>General>Siri>My Info. Step Three: scroll through Address book and choose contact. Step Four: press and hold Home button until Siri appears and ask 'What's my name?' Step Five: Siri will answer with your 'rude' name.
Oh, and a note to Tesco: delete the offending contact in the Address book and Siri will remove the 'offending' name. Simples!!"
jedharrisonmoore 2 January, 2012 15:51
Pathetic.......... This is why we have war. Selfish, ignorant, morons.
If it was a new whiteboard on show and someone wrote **** YOU on it would they complain then? YES of course they would, they would milk it for all it's worth. Some people may think they should complain so the shop can do something but they shouldn't, they should just rub it off themselves and get on with their lives.
If ***** like these people didn't exist neither would the problem because know one would give a ****.
Trying to sum up what is wrong with society in one comment just isn't happening, I think i'll write a book one day........Watch this space
anonymous 2 January, 2012 22:11
@JedHarrisonMoore: I await your book with interest, I just hope you employ the services of a top proof reader. "know one"? I think you meant "no one".
Chris Chapman 3 January, 2012 12:02
I find this funny because both Tesco and the customers had no idea what had been done to the phone :P
Although, if they sue Apple or something, please, for the sake of the media and the rest of us, DON'T PURSUE THE CASE! :@
anonymous 3 January, 2012 20:25
he goes to school with me in my class he is 10 years old
anonymous 12 January, 2012 17:53
I expect the mum will write to the BBC to complain - not that it has anything to do with the BBC just that people like to contact them to express their outrage - Country has gone to the dogs - full of tree huggers.