Sara, Siri's free and easy evil twin, Jailbreak Required

Still rocking your older iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, and want the amazing features of Siri?  My blog post on the Spire Siri port too complicated or are you too cheap to buy a server slot to get the 4S tokens required? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this blog post is for you!!!!!  Another awesome reason to Jailbreak your device.  

My son E-Man and I have been playing with this for couple weeks now, and the developers have done an amazing job on this.  There have been several releases and updates, this package is moving fast.  Here she is, Siri's free & easy evil twin:  SARA.  We have asked SARA everything from who her daddy is, what is that smell, directions to China, the time, current temp, tell me a joke, the list goes on and on. SARA even check your inbox and can launch any app on your device.  With Siri, you need add ons to accomplish this.


SARA is quite entertaining with more an more responses added everyday.  SARA is also available in several languages with new translations everyday.  

You can have these Siri like features, and in some respects, more powerful features by simply Jailbreaking and installing Sara.


E-man and I have not done a video in a while, so we decided to make a demo for SARA.  I apologize for the glare and fuzziness, we keep it old skewl.  Here's the vid:

What you need:


Jailbreak your iDevice, if you have not already.


Click HERE for instructions on Jailbreaking your non A5 device [everything but iPad 2 & iPhone 4S]


In Cydia, add the SARA repo, isoftjsc.com.   


From there, install SARA and SARA dictation if you like. Respring or reboot. Done. It is really that easy.


I used Activator to program the short hold option to launch SARA.  It is not necessary, you can launch SARA from your spring board like any other app, but the short hold option makes it more like SIRI.


Click HERE for more information about SARA direct from her father, Nobita.


The other cool thing is that plugins are being developed everyday and it's open source, anyone can submit one.  There will soon be a SARA plugin repo going live.  Keep your eye out for it.  SARA will surely become one of the most awesome apps and tweaks ever released.  


Click HERE to follow SARA on Facebook, and HERE for Twitter.

The only cons I have with this Siri clone are that facts that the servers are a little slow, and sometimes responses are not accurate.  Hardly a complaint when you consider this is FREE and EASY.  The Spire Siri port is mildly complicated with the added step of a Siri Proxy server, and to get a good response time you will need to purchase a slot on a proxy server. 


Try this out and have some fun with it!!!


That's how Bruce T Does artificial intelligence!!!!

Want Siri on your iPhone 4 or 3GS? Let's do it.

Update 2/15/2012


It appears Apple has taken measures to attempt disabling Spire & Siri Proxy servers.  I will post an update on this issue as soon as the Dev's and Proxy providers have a solution. 


CLICK HERE TO READ MORE, AND TO LEARN ABOUT A TEMPORARY FIX

CLICK HERE FOR ANOTHER GOOD DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM AND TEMPORARY FIX

I had to delete the .plist to get Spire to work.  Siri works great once you follow delete the .plist as outlined in the link above.


SiriZone says they have updated all of their servers, and I can confirm, Siri is getting faster and faster.

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Original post:


It's been a couple weeks since my last post, nothing nerd worthy has been going on since the Absinthe A5 iOS 5.0.1 Jailbreak.   So I have been BORED.  That boredom led me to finally play with Spire, the ever popular and LEGAL, Siri port for iPhone 4, 3GS, iPT, and iPad.  Ever since I got this going on my iPhone 4, I haven't been able to put it down.  Yet another reason to Jailbreak your iOS device.

First, everyone give a round of applause to Apple and the greatest marketing scam ever: Siri is only available on the iPhone 4S......

Click here for a more intelligent and less humorous reason why Siri is only available on the iPhone 4S.....

Thanks to iOS dev, CHWPN,  falling in love with Siri isn't just for Raj and 4S owners anymore (cheesy Big Bang Theory reference). Spire gives you FULL SIRI FUNCTIONALITY. 

Click here for a brief description of Spire.

Don't be intimidated, this is easier than it sounds.

Read this entire blog post, here's what you need: 

1. A Jailbroken iPhone 4 or 3GS on iOS 5.0.1. 

 Click here for Jailbreak instructions.

2. Spire installed from Cydia at the low price of FREE.  Do this over Wifi. This is a rather large download and will take a little while.  Once installed and rebooted, Spire appears in the Settings app, Siri will appear in Settings, General.

Spire in Cydia

3. Access to iPhone 4S Authentication Keys.....How do you do that, you ask?

Option #1, and easiest of all:  Pay for them.  That's what I did.  I went with SiriZone by iModZone.  Cost wasn't bad at $20.00 for one year of service.  They have several servers and I have had a fast response time through Siri with no down time since install.  I have tried a server in Dallas and one in Atlanta.  Order response was quick, as soon as I submitted my order to SiriZone, I recieved an email with server information and a link to download the appropriate certificate.  

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SIRIZONE once you have Spire installed and have rebooted your device.  I have no ties to SiriZone nor do I get paid to endorse them.  As always, I find and test what's out there so my posts bring you WORKING and PROVEN solutions.  That's how Bruce T rolls.


Or, CLICK HERE FOR A GOOD REVIEW OF SIRI PROXY SERVERS.

You will need your device's UDID number to purchase a server slot.  Email it to yourself so you can copy and paste into your SiriZone order using UDID Pro, free in iTunes.

Click here to download UDID Pro from iTunes.

Option #2, if you have an iPhone 4S or know someone that does who is willing to play along, AND you are the biggest NERD on the block:

CREATE YOUR OWN SIRI PROXY SERVER.  If I knew someone with a 4S, I would have gone this route.  Also, if you have an iPhone 4S, you can get paid for access to your authentication keys, Google it.

CLICK HERE TO BE THE BIGGEST NERD ON THE BLOCK AND CREATE YOUR OWN SIRI PROXY.

Keep in mind, Apple could make changes that may render this useless, but for now, I'm enjoying Siri while I await release of the fabled iPhone 5.

Let's keep this simple.  Follow these steps to configure Spire once you have purchased a slot on a Siri Proxy Server or setup your own.  I will reference SiriZone as this is the service I chose.  Setup will be similar for most Siri Proxy providers.

1.  From your device, open your email from SiriZone or other provider, copy and paste host address for the server nearest to you into Spire from the Settings App. If using SiriZone, make note of the server name, you will need to know this when you download the server's certificate in step 2:

2. From the same email provided by SiriZone or other provider, click on the link to their server certificates.  Safari will launch and take you to SiriZone's temporary Profile Service that will register your devices UDID on their network.  Tap "Install the Certificate", a Profile Service will open, tap install again, you will get a warning that server is unsigned, click install again. Tap done after profile is installed.  Safari will come back up with a page to install the certificate for the host you chose in step 1.  Tap on the name of the server you chose in step 1 and go through the motions of installing.  TiP: I installed all of the US host certificates so I could change the host address in Spire later if needed and not have to go through the certificate install again.


3. When done, go to Settings App, General, and turn on Siri.

 It will happen exactly like this:

Sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't if you purchase a slot on a Siri Proxy.  Siri is as fun as it is useful. Now you can save your upgrade for the iPhone 5 and lead everyone to believe that you have an iPhone 4S.


Spire: Free
Siri Proxy Server: $20.00
NOT buying a 4S: Priceless


Stay tuned...in the near future I will show you how to make Siri even better on your Jailbroken device with some really cool Siri plugins.


Until then.....