Microsoft Voice Command Almost Here

PDA User writes "The new Microsoft Voice Command for Pocket PC isn't supposed to be out until the next Comdex, but someone inside the company posted details to Handango and Geekzone posted a preview. The application notifies users of appointments, and answer simple English questions. It does not have "Do you want fries with that?" in the vocabulary though."

Comments

Re:Uhhh...so?

[Mr_Silver]

But: Apple has had voice recognition built into the operating system for a *while* as part of their support for Assistive Devices and disabled users.

Bear in mind that this is Voice Recognition for a 400 mhz PocketPC handheld device and not some hulking great PowerMac with oddles of RAM and at least a Gigahertz processor.

It's not really that innovative--is it?

Maybe not, but still impressive given the limitation of your average PDA.

OS/2 had this feature for years

[killmister]

Seriously - I remember, that one of the OS/2 versions coming out atfer Warp3 - I guess the name was either OS/2 v.4 or Aurora had a voice recognition software included. And that was in late 90ties on intel486 hardware with 16MB of ram.

Fine that MS is going to catch up.

Re:I'm very afraid.

[asr_man]

ain't quite 100% yet...

And regular speech is?

FYI it's at 97%, give or take a couple. Good enough for TellMe to increase ATT's 800 automation rates from 15% to 70%. Good enough to automate cop cars. It's been a long time coming, and noisy environments are still a challenge, but it's fo real, now.

(Shamelss plug: the really good stuff is running on the engine from Nuance.)

This is for Pocket PC PDAs, NOT PCs!

[Jenova_Six]

Did no one read the article, or even the post? This is software for Pocket PCs. PDAs. Not desktop or laptop PCs.

It's specifically targeted at Pocket PC Phone Edition devices, but will also work on non-Phone Edition Pocket PCs. I've been testing this for a while on my Pocket PC Phone Edition 2003 device.

On the Phone Edition, the ability to call any one of your contacts at any one of their numbers (work, home, cell, etc.) by just speaking the command ("Call John Smith at work"), with no recognition or name training at all, is pretty darn cool. Add in a hands free headset, and you can interact with your Pocket PC Phone, including making calls, checking your appointments, and listing to WMP, all while never taking the device out of your pocket. Or better yet, while in the car, never taking your eyes from the road.

The software isn't meant for Joe Laptop user, and it doesn't replace simple interactions with your PDA (there's no way to create new items, for example), but for Phone Edition devices especially, it does add a lot of functionality and even safety. It's a lot faster for me to call someone by saying "Call so-and-so's cell" than by tapping through my Contacts until I find them, and then tapping the number I want to call. And if I'm driving, it's a lot safer for me to speak what I want than to futz around tapping on the screen.

Re:Sci fi?

[Aqua OS X]

Nah... this isn't SiFi.... this is just another feature MacOS has had for 10 years that windows is finally getting.