Snippet: Voice as the Next Interface ☇

Patrick Rhone muses on Minimal Mac where smartphone interfaces may be going:

In other words, what if when we slid to unlock instead of being met with rows and pages of icons we, instead, were met with Siri? What if our primary interaction with such devices was not touch, but voice? What would that look like? What would that feel like?

Although Kyle Baxter shows excitement over this, especially in the context of television, I think there is a big reason why this will most likely not happen in the near-future—people will still tap an icon or virtual keyboard from time to time of the sake of silence. Features like Siri and Google’s voice search are impressive, and with increased computing power and bandwidth will get even more accurate and responsive. There are plenty of times I could use Siri for things, but it’s easier, and maybe less socially awkward to do things “the old way”. This has even been demonstrated with the shift from phone calls to text message conversations—it’s perceived as a little less disruptive.