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Apple again highlights Siri with new 'Road Trip,' 'Rock God' iPhone 4S ads

By Josh Ong

Published: 01:10 AM EST (10:10 PM PST)

Apple on Thursday posted two new video ads showcasing how the Siri virtual assistant on the iPhone 4S can help people achieve dreams like cross-country road trips and playing in a rock band.

The promotional spots went up on Apple's website and its YouTube channel on Thursday as part of a series of ads for the iPhone 4S. Though the iPhone maker has also published commercials highlighting iCloud and the upgraded camera on the device, the bulk of its advertising efforts for its latest handset have been spent on showing off what Siri can do.

The "Road Trip" commercial shows a man asking directions from the east coast of the U.S. to the west coast. He and a companion are then depicted as going on a road trip and using Siri to search for restaurants, activities, directions and other information. The commercial ends with a shot of the couple standing at the Pacific Ocean.

"Remind me to do this again," the woman tells Siri. "Okay, I'll remind you," she replies.

"Rock God" begins with a young man telling Siri that he's "gotta get a guitar." The voice recognition software then helps him learn to play the instrument, make a list of band names and send a message to his friends that his band is playing in a garage.

"Call me a Rock God," he whispers to Siri after finishing a song. She responds with: "From now on, I'll call you 'Rock God'. OK?"

Apple focused on Siri with its first television ad last October. A couple months later, Apple's holiday-themed ad featuring Santa using Siri and the iPhone 4S was voted the most effective ad of the 2011 season.

The company has some work to do in convincing some skeptical customers that Siri, which is still in beta, is more than just a gimmick. Though initial reviewers touted Siri as a worthwhile reason to upgrade from the iPhone 4, a number of pundits have voiced disappointment in it.

Apple's cause isn't helped by the fact that the feature is only available in a few languages and has limited functionality in some regions outside of the U.S. The company has promised support for additional languages later this year, with one rumor suggesting that Siri will speak Mandarin, Japanese and Russian in March.

Siri's limitations notwithstanding, Apple has enjoyed phenomenal sales of the iPhone 4S thus far. The handset was the top-selling smartphone in the U.S. last quarter, followed by its predecessors, the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS. Apple sold a record 37 million iPhones in the December quarter, up 128 percent year over year.

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Remember when my good friend Stefanos Kofopoulos tortured the screen of the Nokia N8 in his famous video about a year ago? Well, Stefanos is at it again and sent over this video, where he puts the Gorilla Glass of Nokia’s first Windows Phone, the Lumia 800 through it’s paces. This video, posted over at his pestaola.gr blog is not for the faint hearted though, Stefanos does not hold back, scratching all over the display with keys, coins and even a Swiss Army knife! I don’t know about you, but those scratching sounds just made me cringe. Horrible stuff. What happens to the display you ask? Check out the video after the break and make sure to watch in full HD for full proof and enjoy!

Source: pestaola.gr

Michael Hell, Austria, Mobile Phone Freak, social networked Fella, down to earth and always up for new Challenges. Also blogging on www.thoughtsfromhell.net, which is my private Blog for Things like Photography and personal Things :) Feel free to add me on http://twitter.com/michaelxhell or http://www.facebook.com/michaelhell

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Sony Ericsson revealed only one device at the CES 2011, which is known as Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, a beautiful slim and smart phone. A few days ago, we saw a leaked shot of Sony Ericsson phone, which is actually a successor to Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro. We saw some benchmarks of the device, and now some more shots and further information is leaked about the phone. A Chinese forum known as IT168 has posted specifications and some new images of the phone. In the new images, we can also see the QWERTY keyboard. It is reported that the phone comes with Android 2.3, a 3-inch 320

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In the past few weeks, we talked a lot about the Sony Ericsson Playstation phone a.k.a Zeus, and we also saw some shots of it, and we heard that the phone will be launch officially this month. Now a video of the Playstation phone is rolling around the internet, and the video quality is very clear, in which we can see the SE Playstation phone clearly and almost in any angle. SE Playstation phone is running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which we all know is going to be the next version of Android OS, and it’s expected to be out soon. It looks like this is the prototype version of the SE Playstation phone, but still we have an idea on how the phones looks like. SE Playstation phone is going to be a very desirable device for people who love portable gaming, and especially for PSP fans. PSP fans always wanted to have calling ability in their PSP, and soon their dream will come true. The name of the phone is not confirmed yet, so you can call it Zeus, Playstation Phone, or Z1. So folks, check out the video after the break, and tell us what do you think about it?

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Recently, we saw the first leaked images of the Motorola Olympus, which is an Android powered phone and it’s reported that the phone comes with Nvidia Tegra 2, which is a dual-core processor chip. Motorola Olympus seems to be a powerful phone, and we also heard that it’s an iPhone killer. Our friends over at Gizmodo got their hands on the Motorola Olympus. The phone is currently running Android 2.2, but it looks like the phone will come with Android 2.3 at the launch, because it’s going to be the next Motorola high-end flagship device. The Motorola Olympus is also running on MotoBlur, which is a bad news for few people who don’t like MotoBlur. The model number of the phone is Motorola MB860, and the phone also comes with a HDMI port and microUSB port. The phone looks slim, and it will be Motorola’s first phone to feature Nvidia Tegra 2 chip. We also heard that the Motorola Olympus will hit AT&T, so you will see this device on AT&T in few months if the rumors are true.

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