TAG | Google’s iPhone mobile app finds “voice” at last |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Wednesday, 19 November 2008 | |
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I’ve just downloaded the app to my iPhone, and have been trying out the vaunted voice recognition - and it works! As reported elsewhere on the web, it works most of the time quite happily, with the simple trick being to speak as clearly as possible for the best result, and even simplifying your question to the basics, rather than asking in a complete sentence (although either works fine). It’s pretty cool to be able to ask Google for answers with this new app, watching the recorded sound file being sent to Google for transcription and then returning with a page of results headed up by what Google thought you asked. For example, I asked “What is the population of Australia” and the very first result is a link to the CIA factbook, although the answer is in the search results – 20,434,176 people as of July 2007, saving me the trouble of needing to click through any further. Asking “What was the original name of the Google search engine” originally showed the system didn’t understand what I’d asked, showing search results for something about a “channel”, apparently confusing Google with the world "channel", but asking the same question again brought up a list of search results. I couldn’t see the answer “Backrub” in the first three search results, but the fourth result had “Backrub” in the short preview above the link, giving me the answer I wanted. I'm also in a relatively noisy environment, with music playing overhead, people coming and going, and the system figured out what I said 90% of the time I tried it. Exiting the app and starting it up again gives you a list of your last searches, and clearing the search history takes you back to the initial search screen where you can click the search bar to type your request, or click a link to load up Google’s introductory voice search video clip in the iPhone’s YouTube application, which you can also watch here. Of course the voice recognition fun is in simply holding the iPhone up to your ear, waiting for the “bidoop” sound before you start speaking, and then waiting to see the results and what Google thought you asked. Google’s Mobile Blog announces the software launch here. If you have an iPhone, whether a 2G or 3G model, fire up iTunes on your computer or iPhone, download the app, and give it a go!
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