Hey, Siri, Are You a Data Hog? Not Really

The new iPhone's Siri feature has won mostly raves, but users should be aware that all those requests of the "personal assistant" are eating up data. How much? Ars Technica put Siri through its paces, and it looks like most users won't come anywhere near busting their monthly limits because of the feature (unless they're hopelessly addicted). Some "rough" ballparks:

• 2-3 requests per day: Figure 4 to 6MB per month
• 4-6 per day: 7 to 11MB per month
• 10-15 per day: 19 to 28MB per month

• Breakdowns: The site found that "local" tasks such as asking Siri to set an alarm use an average of 37KB, while those that require Siri to look up something online average 95KB
• Texts, emails: Figure 15KB to have Siri send a text and 73KB for an email

"Your own numbers will be different depending on how wordy you are, what kinds of queries you're making, and how frequently you do it," writes Jacqui Cheng. Much depends on your particular plan, of course, but it would take a lot of Siri requests to crack, say, Verizon's lowest tier of 2GB per month. The site's full explainer is here. (More iPhone 4S stories.)