![]() “It’s designed to get quickly at tasks without a keyboard.” It has a hands-free mode that lets you launch the app then put the phone down and speak to it it will make sounds to let you know it’s listening and processing your commands. The Vlingo app can send emails and texts, search the web, place calls and launch apps (but not give commands inside the apps). Your assistant automatically prompts you for replies. It also has a Conversation Mode once it’s enabled, you don’t have to hit the mic button each time you speak. Ask, “What’s the weather like in New York?” and then ask, “What’s it like in L.A.?,” and it will know you’re still talking about the weather. “It’s conversational, and it does that by context,” Tofel says. Your assistant answers questions, creates messages (you’ll still have to hit Send), adds events to your calendar, initiates calls and shows you the nearest coffee shop it is integrated with Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare. When you launch Speaktoit Assistant (using the mic button or a long press of your phone’s Search button), you’ll see your assistant avatar, which you can personalize if you choose. ![]() You have to tap the mic button to turn on the app. Skyvi can give you directions, weather information and reminders, but it doesn’t make calls or send messages. It also performs searches and offers Twitter and Facebook integration-it can update your status or read aloud your best friend’s wall. This app “makes witty remarks and even tells jokes,” say developers. ![]() Other new apps are springing up to refine and expand voice-recognition functionality. Simply say, “OK Google Now,” and tell the app what you want it to do, such as “call Mom,” “go to ,” “show me my schedule for the weekend” and many more possibilities. Google Now also has a great voice command feature, and it acts as a simple virtual assistant by delivering weather and traffic updates, sports scores and other information you may be interested in. (One note: you don’t need to speak exceptionally slowly or over-enunciate, but do try to avoid a lot of stops and starts when you speak.) Turn on the personalized voice-recognition capability through the Settings function, and Google will learn how you speak and improve its responses. If you’re using an Android phone, you may already have Google Now, allowing you to dictate texts and emails, play music or show a map with voice commands. “Most of the processing is happening in the cloud-that’s why you need a connected device.” Voice commands “Anytime you’re using any mobile app that uses voice recognition, chances are that it’s sending your voice recording out to the cloud,” Tofel says. Today’s renewed interest results, in part, from improvements in the natural user-interface that make for better recognition of normal speech it also has much do with the development of the cloud, which enables the necessary processing. Voice recognition has been around a long time, going back to the Microsoft Windows® mobile platforms and the old PDAs, says Kevin C. With the ability to send email, buy movie tickets, learn about your community and much more-all just by speaking to your phone-it’s easy to see why. Personal assistant apps using voice recognition technology have become very popular over the last few months.
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