Siri, which for some reason is only ‘officially’ available on the iPhone 4S, had previously been hacked onto the iPhone 4. Now, the terribly ancient iPhone 3GS joins in on the fun. Siri has just been hacked onto that plastic-backed 3GS.
Porting Siri over to the 3GS was done by Grant Paul and Steve Troughton-Smith and from the looks of the video, seems to work as well as you’d imagine. It even connects to Apple’s servers! Seeing this hacked proof that Siri would work on both the old iPhone 4 and the even older iPhone 3GS begs the question why Apple made Siri an iPhone 4S exclusive feature. From our perspective, it seems like old iPhone hardware is perfectly fine for new iOS software. [Ryan Petrich via Electronista]
JonBOY
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 9:54 AMHaving Siri as an iPhone 4S only feature was undoubtedly a strategic move to aid in selling the 4S. Everubody was hoping for an iPhone 5, yet they got a 4S, so the 4S needed something to set it apart from previous iPhones……hence Siri.
However, with more and more hacks proving that Siri can run on older iPhone versions it will put pressure on Apple to release Siri to the other models. I expect that Apple might actually be intending on doing this, but only at some point down the track once they’ve secured enough iPhone 4S sales.
wes
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:09 AMI totally agree. In the end, Siri is just a piece of software that converts audio into data and then queries Apple’s servers through the internet. I hardly see why you would need a faster phone for Siri. Sure, the 4S runs faster than the 3GS, but in the end, it is just all about converting the audio to data which wouldn’t take a whole lot of time anyways!
Joel
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:17 AM+1 it was a strategic move to sell more 4S’s.
-1 it will not legitimately come to older devices ever.
Johnny P
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:55 AMWhy would apple need strategy to sell more 4S’s? Surely Apple could have just kept the iPhone 4 for another 3 years and it would still be the best selling phone
Kroo
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 4:14 PM“-1 it will not legitimately come to older devices ever.” No, I bet it certainly will, once it comes out of beta, and they have enough servers to make it run smoothly. It’s part of Steve Jobs legacy to bring thermonuclear war to google. Siri is meant to be the Apple alternate to google search, and Apple have bought a Map development company to undermine google maps. Its all part of the plan. So expect Siri to be ported to all iOS 5 compatible devices, next year.
Joel
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 4:32 PMThe iPhone runs on a (basically) two year life cycle.
Once iPhone 5 comes out, the 3GS will be no longer and they have absolutely 0 reason to bring it to the (then two year old) iPhone 4. Most people will be updating after their two year contract expires and the number of iPhone 4′s will drop.
They have no marketable reason to bring it to older devices. My opinion, but I’m >90% confident the iPhone 3GS/4 will never see Siri.
Joel
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 4:33 PMThat being said, if it does come to the iPhone 4, I won’t be complaining because I’m currently using one lol
Kroo
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 8:42 PMIf Apple weren’t interested in bringing Siri to anything other than the 4s, then why write iOS 5 for the 3Gs (a 2 year old phone). This is why
http://www.cultofmac.com/128447/google-siri-is-a-significant-development-that-could-help-kill-our-search-business/
Joel
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 11:35 PMNo, they’re still selling the 3GS as a cheap iPhone, so they really need to give it iOS5 – they don’t need to give it Siri.
As I said, my opinion, but I’m quite certain.
Stew
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 3:21 PMAgreed. There’s no technological boundary at all. Just marketing to get people to buy the newest most expensive device.
Buddy
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:46 AMIf only they’d port iCloud & FindMyFriends and I wouldn’t have to upgrade to IOS5 (and slow my aging 3Gs)
Kroo
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 4:17 PMWell, surprisingly, iOS 5 on my old 3Gs runs smoother than 4.3 did, honestly. My daughter now has it, and it works better than we all expected. Do a clean install, you might be surprised ;)
Tim
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 11:13 AMthis might be a stupid question…but what’s with the light next to the speaker at the top of the phone when Siri is enabled?
i didn’t realise iPhone 3Gs’s's had these…?
Luke
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 11:56 AMI think its the proximity sensor.
Adam
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 12:00 PMI think it might be infrared light being picked up by the camera, but invisible to the human eye.
Dan
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 12:05 PM“terribly ancient” ?! – 2yrs isn’t THAT old!
Sicarius123
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 12:40 PMPeople are still getting these new on 2 year contracts now! haha.
The people who originall got these brand new on contract have only just come off contract.
Aaron
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 2:10 PMYep strategic move. If it can run fine on a 3GS theres NO problem running it on an iPhone 4! I’m dissapointed….
Dan
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 8:35 PMApple will do what they do best. Keep quiet and neither confirm or deny that they’re making Siri available for any other device, and just not make it available. They’re just on the profit grab once again. In saying that, I wish I had apple shares.
Tim
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 9:22 PMI think the arguments about it’s technical requirements are pointless, because the answer is simple – the Siri servers cannot handle the load of more than the 4S phones at the moment, they have proven so far to not be even able to handle that!
Until the software comes out of beta and they increase the server capacity, adding it to other phones will just crash the system and not allow anyone to use it.
smurfydog
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:40 PMI haven’t updated my iP4 to iOS5 yet. I’m holding out for an untethered jailbreak.
iOS5 has covered many of the reasons I love my jailbreak, but not enough.
It would be sweet if the jailbreak includes some Siri goodness too!