By now, I am sure all of you have seen the new iPhone 4S features and watched the demo videos. Sure, the faster processor and updated camera are awesome, but in my opinion, Siri is a game changer. No, it is not the first voice recognition solution, but it may be the first that truly interacts with its user. Well, despite my pushing the Mrs. to agree on my upgrading, I do not think it is in the budget at this moment. I even used the angle that I would give her my iPhone 4 and unlock the 3GS and use it like a Touch for the kids. She was even quite impressed with the Siri demo, but I think I will have to wait. I even had the old Siri app and noticed it no longer works. Doh! While searching for something similar I ran back across Vlingo which we have covered here at Gear Diary and noticed that the once Freemium application was now totally free. I won’t rehash the old reviews, but here is a quick look.
Vlingo for iPhone combines fast and accurate speech recognition technology with the intelligence to listen to what you say, and quickly connect you with people, businesses and activities so that you can get things done while on the go.
Vlingo features direct-SMS functionality (no pasting!), as well as easy integration with mapping, email and search functions. It even connects you to your third parties – like Facebook and Twitter.
As you can see, Vlingo has some similar qualities as Siri. (Well, at least the old Siri app) One thing different from the video I have found is that my messages actually load after speaking and I did not have to paste like the video showed. The application is not perfect, but it works extremely well. I’ve been using it for about 24 hours and keep learning new features and getting faster. I am anxious to test it on my bluetooth headset while I am driving. I like the fact that I can update Twitter and Facebook statuses and found the process to be simple and quick.
I understand that Siri on the iPhone 4S likely will be a ground breaking service. In fact, I may try to scratch up the funds for the upgrade mainly for that service. The demos look truly futuristic to me and I think it will change how we use all devices moving forward. In the mean time, Vlingo will fill this void and provide a formidable alternative that will work on current hardware. Since the app is now free, I say go try it for yourself. Learn to use it in the best way it suits you. Check out Vlingo here in the app store.
Any other solutions you know about or use, please post them in the comments. I’m ready to try them all!
Humpf…I actually paid for the email and SMS stuff a couple of months ago on Vlingo, based on a video they had on their website showing the voice interaction with a driver in a car. After paying for the functions, the app wouldn’t work for me like it did in their video, so I emailed them to ask why. I was told that the video is for Android devices, not iOS, but that they were working on improving the function within iOS.
The challenge with Vlingo on iOS, is that it still requires quite a number of taps to make anything happen, and so it doesn’t actually make driving any safer. I kept the app, thinking that I would keep talking to it to have it learn my voice, but there is so much correction to it, that you really have to do it when you aren’t intending to actually send anything that it says, so you can sit and correct it, and then it can learn from your corrections. Not bad, if you want to take the time to do that, but it just kind of got relegated to the unused apps, waiting for updates. Now learning that the stuff I paid for is free, but with no real improvement to the app yet isn’t exactly warming me up to it more.
You just hit right on the real reason the Siri integration is such a huge deal. Sure the AI aspect of it is huge but it is the fact that voice-to-text is now going to be baked into the OS that is huge. Dragon Dictation works beautifully and I use it all the time but once the text is created I have to tap/tap/tap to get it where I want it to go. To be able to use voice anywhere and everywhere there is a keyboard is a game changer.
Yes, Android fans, I know you can do it with Android already but I’m just talking iOS here. and for my platform of choice is will change everything.
I agree. I’m not going to be able to upgrade to the 4S just yet, so hopefully you’ll be able to let us all know if it actually works like we hope that it does. I’m mobile enough that it would be a big help, but I’m out of my contract in July, & I’d like to break away from AT&T, since their coverage at my home is so terrible. I’d like to be able to get the unlocked version, and then take it to Verizon. I know they’d probably want to flash it to theirs, but I’m hoping that it wouldn’t affect the unlocked GSM side if they did, so when I do travel I can use the GSM side.
The Siri looks awesome, I’m really looking forward to hearing how it actually works for people though, and if it’s as functional as it looks like it’s supposed to be. I’m also wondering if some jailbreak may be able to put the function on the 4. Siri is software, not hardware, so it should be theoretically possible.
Anyone know if it’s possible to use both radios at the same time? Contracted to a CDMA carrier and then also have a SIM for the GSM side and use 2 numbers? That would be so perfect for me.