Use of Siri discovered in iOS 5

A while back we reported that thanks to some digging through the iOS 5 beta, developers have discovered a new button in the OS that would allow speech-to-text capabilities. It is believed that this feature would be making use of Nuance’s technology although it was not revealed during Apple’s WWDC earlier this year.

Thanks to 9to5Mac, they have dug further into the code and it appears that that the Nuance engine that would apparently be running the speech-to-text feature, will be powered by Siri. Basically what this means is that it seems Apple will be combining both technologies, with Nuance capturing the user’s voice while Siri provides the AI necessary to convert it into text.

There have been rumblings even before iOS 5 was revealed that Apple had plans to integrate Siri and Nuance technology into iOS, so it’s really no surprise to see more Siri and Nuance features being discovered in the iOS 5 beta. As to what the final version will be like, and if Siri and Nuance will actually be making appearances remains to be seen. It looks like we have to wait until iOS 5 is actually released before any of this can be confirmed, but for now it is shaping up to be pretty exciting.