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Will Apple's iPhone 5 Feature Fully-Integrated Voice Control?

 & Leslie Horn Reporter

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Will you be able to control the iPhone 5 with your voice? According to a screenshot discovered by 9to5Mac, Apple is brewing a fully-integrated voice control feature called Assistant.

Assistant isn't yet available in the developer beta of iOS 5. 9to5Mac predicts it could be exclusive to the iPhone 5, although it's possible the feature won't be ready by then.

Apple acquired voice control app Siri early last year. Siri takes items stored on your phone like location data, calendar information, music metadata, and contacts to help satisfy verbal requests. Assistant, which will presumably be built using Siri's technology, will also use this information to serve the user in a similar way, but not as a standalone app, rather built into the iPhone 5. If you want to see how Assistant might work, the Siri app is available for a free download in the App Store.

For example, you could say "make brunch plans with Katie," and the feature would search Katie's contact information, find time in your iCal schedule, and offer listings of restaurants in your area that serve brunch.

The feature would also be able to talk back to the you, and 9to5Mac says the Apple will crowd-source the speech data, meaning you would have the option of sending your data to Apple securely to help improve the service.

Beyond this voice control feature, other pervasive iPhone 5 rumors include a completely revamped "teardrop"-shaped profile, an edge-to-edge screen, a dual-core A5 processor like the one featured in the iPad 2, and wireless baseband chips from Qualcomm. It's also been rumored that Apple could announce more than one iPhone when the fifth-gen smartphone is launched.

When will Apple launch the iPhone 5? So far, most rumors indicate that Apple will debut the phone in September or October to coincide with the fall launches of iOS 5 and iCloud.

For the full laundry list of iPhone 5 rumors, check out PCMag's feature "8 Likely iPhone 5 Rumors, and 2 Wild Ones."

About Our Expert

Leslie Horn

Leslie Horn

Reporter

Leslie Horn joined the PCMag team as a news reporter in the fall of 2010. She covered a wide range of topics, from digital media to the latest Apple rumor. After graduating with a degree in Magazine Journalism from the University of Missouri, she wrote for Out & About, a travel guide in coastal Maine. One of her favorite reporting experiences was covering the 2008 Olympics from Beijing. She travels every chance she gets; a favorite trip was backpacking along the coast of Brazil. Though she was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Leslie embraces life as a New Yorker.

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