iPhone Google Voice Search
November 16th, 2008, 9:22pm by JakeGoogle’s iPhone application looks top-notch. For some reason, Apple delayed releasing the software, but it should be due Monday. This is something Pyslent has been wanting for a long, long time. Looking forward to hearing Mike’s review. Really, this is the killer app that could end the smart phone game just as it got interesting. Of course, I’m sure this will be out on Android soon, and probably other platforms. I only found a few posts (1 2) about voice-recognition to control phones, but I know we had a long thread trying to guess what a real next-gen interface would look like. Take a scan through the portable tech archives to see if you can find it. I seem to remember wanting to select sounds by tapping out a beat. Oh, I remember when do-everything GPS devices were just a dream.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:27 am
I was checking for this all weekend, after it was in the NYT on Friday. I’m really hoping it’ll be better than the current Foogle app, which I’m not impressed by — they really didn’t leverage too much iPhone-ness into that app.
Also, not sure how well it’ll work on my non-3G phone, but I’ll give it a shot.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I should add that I’ve had a blog post brewing in my mind about non-typing interfaces into the iPhone, and how the platform is really leveraging the other ways of getting data into the phone and onto the network. Of course there’s location-based data from the GPS/Skyhook system. But increasingly, the microphone is being used (Shazam is truly incredible), and even the camera (for example, SnapTell Explorer, which IDs book cover photos from the camera and links to Amazon).
November 17th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I wonder if it would be illegal to use this type of app in the car without a hands-free headset (in California). Gotta be safer than trying to type your query while driving. Almost any other times, I think I would prefer to type. There’s something ironic about that.
November 17th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Why do you think they have a 14 year old kid doing the YouTube demo? I guess that represents the primary YouTube demographic, if not the iPhone user demographic.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:21 am
This seems even cooler than Google search with voice! Orb for your iPhone! How long before Apple pulls it, do you think? I think Orb has been working for the iPhone from the browser for a while now, streaming over the native Quicktime player, although a native app is cool.
November 18th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Yeah. Saw this yesterday, and had the same thought (about Apple pulling it). I’d give it a try except that (a) it costs $10, and from what I saw, the demo is useless, and (b) the server software only runs on PCs for now.
Sounds pretty cool, though.
And I thought the Google YouTube video was OK — it actually works as well as in the video, which is amazing. Weird thing is that you don’t need a demo, since it “just works.” Maybe the message is that even a punk 14 year-old can use it.
November 18th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
“(b) the server software only runs on PCs for now.”
As far as I know, that covers all the computer(s) we have access to that have TV tuners :). You could try it out with my MediaCenter, although I’m not sure it’s worth $10.
November 18th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I’d be much more interested in streaming content from files (recorded or downloaded) than live TV, since I don’t really ever watch live TV on my TV, either. From what I understand, Orb would let me do that, if it ran on a Mac, right?
All that being said, for me, right now, that capability isn’t worth $10 even if it worked perfectly and Apple were definitely going to keep it in the App Store.
But I know there are real TV people among us, for whom a mere 4 tuners aren’t sufficient…
November 20th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Summary of the review at The Apple Blog:
By the way, The Apple Blog has supplanted TUAW as the best source of Apple news around, IMHO. Its articles are a little longer and more in-depth, and there aren’t quite as many every day, but the quality is much better.