15
Feb
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Utter! Claims To Be The First Non-IME App To Utilize Offline Voice Recognition In Jelly Bean

Posted by in Applications, Development, News

Did you know that, since the last update to Google Search, developers have been able to utilize offline voice recognition? Previously, any non-system app that wasn't an IME (Input Method Editor) that hoped to recognize your voice without a web connection needed a rather kludgy typing overlay. Since the update though, apps can hear and interpret not just your words, but essentially any command that doesn't explicitly require web access.

Utter!, taking advantage of the new possibility, claims to have become the first app with working offline voice recognition for Android Jelly Bean. After reaching out to Ben Randall, the app's developer, we've got a clearer picture of what it used to take to recognize speech offline, and what has changed.

24
Oct
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Nuance Releases Dragon Mobile Assistant, Asks, 'What Google Voice Actions?'

Posted by in Applications, News

For years Nuance's Dragon served as a leader in the world of voice dictation and commands. More recently, though, as Google and Apple move in on the speech control world, the company has a more pressing need than ever to distinguish itself. Enter Dragon Mobile Assistant. This app aims to "expands the natural language understanding and artificial intelligence" of Dragon Go! and "[add] the most popular personal assistant features."

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At this point, most of our readers are probably aware of how voice assistants work. This one isn't much different from the usual fare. You can speak commands to set up appointments, make calls, send texts, and perform searches.

19
Oct
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Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Live Speech-To-Text Allows Users To Dictate Messages With Even Greater Ease

Posted by in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Android's voice capabilities have always impressed me, giving me the ability to speak to my phone instead of spending time typing. Raising the bar a bit, Google introduced us tonight to live speech-to-text, making message dictation faster and more streamlined than ever.

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Android's new speech-to-text functionality happens completely live, as we saw in tonight's demo. As soon as you start talking, your phone begins typing. It will even wait for you if you take a pause, and add emoticons and punctuation per your request.

What's more, this feature can be used in just about any app, using the microphone key on Ice Cream Sandwich's new keyboard.

23
Sep
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SwiftKey Keyboard, One Of Android's Best Keyboards, Sheds Beta Status, Goes Premium; On Sale For $0.99 Until September 30th, $3.99 After

Posted by in Applications, News

SwiftKey Keyboard has been in beta ever since its introduction to the Android Market a few months ago. Having tried Swype, I also jumped on SwiftKey to give it a fair shot and ended up sticking with it. Yes, it was that good.

SwiftKey is different from other keyboards because it uses predictive recognition based on both tons of statistical information and your own typing habits. In fact, you can make whole sentences without typing a single key and just picking default suggestions.

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Every company needs to make money at some point, and so today, having shed the beta status, SwiftKey is turning into a paid app.

11
Aug
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Swiftkey Beta Now Updated To Include Speech-To-Text! Also Includes Various Fixes And Improvements

Posted by in Applications, News

All I can say is “YAY—FINALLY!” Can you tell that I am totally psyched about the addition of speech-to-text to Swiftkey?

If you recall, I did a brief review on Swiftkey beta back in mid-July. I have been using this keyboard exclusively since that time and have not looked back. In my humble opinion, it is better than any keyboard, including Swype, that I have tested to date on my Droid Incredible. Yes, it is THAT good. Now, with the addition of speech-to-text, there is very little that I can suggest to make this any better. In fact, if you look at the changelog below, they have improved the overall appearance of the keyboard with clearer lettering and larger keys.