Voice Control was one of the new features I was the most keen to see on the new iPhone 3GS. As I’ve mentioned before – in my Day 1 impressions post about the 3GS – I find it more than a little disappointing so far.
It’s not that it performs badly at what it does. I’ve had pretty good results most of the time when using it. There have been times when it has failed to recognize a command I’ve given, but they’ve been a pretty low percentage, and may well be due to me speaking too quickly or similar.
What disappoints me about Voice Control on the 3GS is that it is so limited in its scope. You can only control two things with it – making phone calls and music on the iPod app. Sure, there are a good few commands for both the phone and the iPod app, and they’re very handy ones to make use of – but I can’t help thinking about how much more it could do.
This is one of those very rare areas where Windows Mobile had a better solution, although admittedly it was not a built-in part of the OS and it was not a free app. Voice Command on WinMo did things like opening applications, letting you review calendar appointments, and interact with your contacts as well. It could even do things like tell you your current remaining battery level, or toggle airplane mode on or off.
All of those things should be do-able via the 3GS’ Voice Control. And the other huge miss for me is Spotlight search. Just about everyone I come in contact with lists Spotlight as one of their favorite features of the 3.0 OS, and it would be super cool to be able to kick off searches with the voice control app.
Another huge plus would be if Voice Control could be used to work with some of those frequently needed services settings for the iPhone, that are just not easy enough to access on a non-jailbroken iPhone. I would love to be able to say ‘Turn On 3G’ or ‘Turn Off 3G’ when desired. Same for Location Services, Bluetooth, and so on.
I really hope that some or all of these features will be added to a future update of Voice Control.
What do you all think of Voice Control so far? What other things would you like to see it be able to control?
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{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
That's a little bit a "glass is half empty" view. I think it's pretty cool that I can control iPod and phone just with a pinch of the headset microphone. I agree, it could do more, but I'm not sure why I should want contact and calendar information via voice control rather than just looking on the screen.
Anyway, the technology is there and I'm sure Apple will do more with it as the upgrades come in.
Oliver – it may well be a glass half empty sort of attitude, but when you've seen the glass 3/4 full years back on what I consider an inferior mobile OS, you maybe expect a bit more. The reason you might want contact and calendar info via voice control rather than via looking at the screen would be the same as it is for iPod music or dialing actions – convenience and usefulness when driving. Not having to take your eyes off the road to check an upcoming appointment time would be just one quick example.
Voice Control was one of the features I was least looking forward to and it has far surpassed my expectation and I find it very useful. Funny how perspective / expectations shapes our opinions.
It also seems pretty clear that Apple has big plans for voice control and we will see many improvements over the next couple of years.
LIke a lot of things Apple does, they start small and focused and slowly (well, it often feels like slowly) and deliberately improve the technology / product to make it reach their vision.
sfmitch – I agree a lot of this is about perspective and expectations. Having used Voice Command years back, mine are higher.
I do hope you're right that Apple will steadily improve this feature, and feel reasonably optimistic that they will.
I hate the fact that you have to push the home button to activate it! Why can't apple just name the "voice" Jane or something And everytime you say "Jane" you activate the voice control! Just like in the space movies lol….I also agree that voice control should be used for other things…
Because it won't know the difference between it's trigger command and the same word used in conversation.
I find Voice Control to be of limited use as well. Not useless, but of limited use.
For me, the biggest omission is not being able to request an individual song.
If I were Apple, I wouldn't make it that way either. In order to trigger voice control with voice, you must have the voice recognition program actively running on background, doing the "sound analysis" continuously all the time, which will drain the battery before you even realize it.
The thing you've seen in space movies, it has virtually unlimited power supply.
To Patrick: The title of this post is kind of misleading. Something like "Voice Control of iPhone 3GS – A good start, but still a long way to go" might sound more just.
tuananh – Sorry but I don't think the title is misleading. It implies that I find the voice control app disappointing, which I absolutely do, even though others disagree and have different expectations and feelings.
I love it. It's great and can only get better. So far there's no more that I need to do with it that what it does now. I don't have to look down to control the phone while driving which is a plus. Couple this with the fact that I have a bluetooth-enabled car stereo that's paired with the iPhone so everything is wireless and easily controlled.
Well it would be cool if you can choose to name the voice command watever you want, i'm pretty sure apple can come up with a unique name for the voice command so you can trigger it. It's not a big deal
I disagree with the trying to make it do everything. It is hard enough to remember the proper commands to do the few features it has. By increase it's repeitoire, it would make it even harder. Personally, voice dialing is #1, and ipod control #2 while I am driving. I must admit it would be nice to turn 3G, wifi, Bluetooth, Location services, etc on and off without digging through menus.
Steve – I just don't see expanding its command base as being so difficult. Again, if a Windows Mobile app could handle a much, much wider range of commands years ago, on much, much lower specced hardware, I don't see that as an issue. Voice Command worked quite well, so the sorts of things I'm saying I'd like to see are eminently do-able in my view – as they have actually been done – and on much weaker hardware and an OS I think was inferior as well.
Google Mobile app got it right. Voice Google Search automatically activates when you bring the phone to your ear. (just like it goes dark..) I was hoping the home screen would do that for Voice Command for the phones contacts.. Funny thing is that googlemobile app is supposed to work with Contacts, but so far it is not finding my contacts on my iphone (even though it accurately recognizes the name)
Oh – great point – that would be very cool if Voice Control could activate after a quick home button hold plus move to your ear. Not on every move to the ear because that would get confusing / annoying when taking / making a call. I see same issue with Google Mobile and Contacts search by the way – odd – it recognizes a name perfectly and is set for 'iPhone and web' in terms of where to search, but only shows me web links, nothing from Address Book.
Can Voice Control work through bluetooth? ie: press your call button on the bluetooth headset and Voice Control turns on for you?
K
I'm not positive on this one – others may have better answers. My understanding is that it requires a BT headset that is capable of voice control. I've tried testing with a Plantronics 520 and cannot make it work – but I rarely use a BT headset, so could easily be wrong.
I don't think it's supported in this context yet. Truthfully, Voice Control, at this stage, is just a mediocre first attempt (slightly better than a proof of concept) with very limited capability. I don't imagine Voice Control, in its current incarnation, is anywhere near where Apple would like it to be. I think they needed to release it with a reduced feature set for testing and to get the 3GS out the door, knowing they could always improve the software later.
I agree completely on the stage its at – and hope the improvements will come along relatively fast.
I agree completely on the stage it's at – and hope the improvements will come along relatively fast.
I can't get mine to function by pushing headset button. If anyone knows how to make it work this way, let me know. Very disappointing so far. My five year old Nokia could do it, why not the iPhone?
Voice Control does not work through bluetooth yet; only by holding down the home button. As previously discussed in this thread, Voice Control is very limited in its first debut. However, the soon to be released 3.1 will add this functionality (and hopefully, better accuracy).
you have to hold the button on your headset down for the same amount of time you would hold the home button. that simple. it took me an 8th of a second to figure it out
That should not be the way it works. Pretty much EVERY cellphone with bluetooth supports this regardless of whichever bluetooth headset you use. Press a button on the headset, give command (or voice tag) and the number dials or your prompted to select which to dial by voice.
K
@ patrickj
I think you're asking too much. Do other cell phone voice recognition programs do what you asking on your "wish list"
I think its a great feature, I listen to my iPod alot and its usefulness for that program is a huge plus. I think iPhone user have just become more and more spoiled. They finally (Apple) deliver and no sooner than that, pundits already have another list of 10 things it should do. You hold revolutionary technology in your pocket every day, stop complaining and enjoy the features or better yet, just buy a new one until they get it right "according to you", each year
Simone – "do other cell phone voice recognition programs do what you asking on your "wish list"'
Yes.
As stated in the post, Voice Command has been doing much more than Voice Control, for many years, and on what I consider a vastly inferior mobile OS. It lets you open apps, check calendar appointments, interact with contacts etc.
I'm hardly one who fails to recognize and admire the revolutionary, and just plain effective, elements of the iPhone – but I'll also happily point out places where it does not yet measure up.
Microsoft Voice Commander and Cyberon Voice Dial / Command lets you do these on Windows CE phones. The Cyberon even lets you add voice tag (Record a tag for each contact) – if you have two contacts – Joe Smith – you add a voice tag of "Joey" to the first one and "JS" to the second one and press the blue tooth headset button and say "Call Joey" or "Call JS" to call the appropriate person.
I wish some one would come up with an app that will bring that functionality to Iphone 3G S, if not Apple firmware. There's money to be made…..
Problem is, I don't think Apple will allow 3rd party devs to create apps in this category.
anyone here knows how to deactivate voice control?
its too noisy even ur talking to someomen else
I don't know of a way to do that – but I've never turned it on without wanting to. Are you finding that you turn it on accidentally?
Ummmm. Am I retarded. Where is Voice Control? I can't find it anywhere, even with a search on Spotlight.
It won't show up in a Spotlight search. You invoke it by holding down the Home button for around 3 seconds, even if the iPhone is in sleep mode.
Also, you know that it only runs on the iPhone 3GS, right?
it dials too fast… you need to be able to click cancel..but it is already dialing… and if you hit cancel, it doesn't have a try again button… you have to open the whole thing again. Also, it would be nice if it listed the multiple numbers (mobile etc) so you could just click it….
I feel like there's just about enough time to hit Cancel, though what would be far better IMO is if you could simply say 'Cancel' when it is offering to dial a wrong contact, or when you just change your mind on a call.
I love what voice control does so far. I'm bummed because the "No" and "Cancel" commands used to work for me and have suddenly stopped. Hard reset doesn't help. Hope the update makes it more reliable. One of the biggies for me is being able to record a voice memo. That will be nice.
I've never seen anything to indicate a recording ability being added to Voice Control, and there's already a separate Voice Memos app. Is that what you were meaning?
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