Showing posts with label voice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voice. Show all posts
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Moto Hint Bluetooth headset brings hands free voice operation for your phone
Along with the Moto X, Moto G, and the Moto 360, Motorola also announced the new Moto Hint. It is a tiny Bluetooth headset that plugs into your ear and is barely noticeable.
The main feature of the Moto Hint is being able to control your phone with your voice. Want to call someone, send a message, locate an address, update your Facebook status, or just check the weather? Just say “Ok Google” followed by your query the way you would in Google Now.
There are no buttons to press and the Moto Hint constantly listens to your voice to pick up the ‘Ok Google’ command. You don’t have to get your phone out for that or even look at your smartwatch. Your voice does the trick and the headset alerts you through the speaker.
The Moto Hint has audio pass through feature, that lets you hear the sounds around you as if nothing was plugged into your ear. When you pull it out your ear, it automatically switches off. Put it back in, and it switches on.
The Moto Hint has a talk time of ten hours. It comes in a special case that can also charge the device when you plug it in.
The Moto Hint is priced at $149.99 and will be available shortly.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
WhatsApp iPhone App Confirms Voice Calling Feature Launch Imminent
Voice calling, the one big feature missing from WhatsApps arsenal, is coming to the popular platform soon. Weve been hearing about this feature since February, when WhatsApp CEO Jan Kuom announced that the voice calling feature would be added to Android and iPhone first, followed by BlackBerry, Nokia and Microsoft platforms. Now, NDTV Gadgets has spotted a mention of the feature in WhatsApps iPhone app, which all but confirms that the feature is indeed nearing launch.
With the latest WhatsApp update that was released for iPhone on September 8, WhatsApp added several features such as improved location sharing and fast camera access. What the apps release notes do not mention is that it has added a pop-up, which requests access to the microphone every time the app is opened. As you can see in the screenshots above, this pop-up reads, "WhatsApp requires microphone access to send Voice Messages, record Videos with sound, make and receive Voice Calls."
This pop-up will appear only if users have not allowed WhatsApp access to the microphone. To see this, go to Settings > Privacy > Microphone > WhatsApp > flip the slider to Off. Now open WhatsApp to find mention of the voice calling feature.
Previously, WhatsApps voice calling feature was seen in Hindi translation requests and later in leaked images of the user interface for voice calling. However, this is the first time that mention of this feature has been spotted in the app itself.
With over 600 million active users, WhatsApp is the worlds most popular messaging app. It was acquired by Facebook earlier this year, in a deal reportedly worth $19 billion.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Google Now beats Siri and Cortana in voice search tests
Google Now edged out rivals like Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana in a recent comparison test.
A digital marketing firm claims Google Now returned more search results ‘enhanced with custom content’ than Siri and Cortana combined.
Consultants Stone Temple made 3086 queries in total to all three voice assistances. Google Now yielded a score of 1795 results with enhanced content, while Siri scored 908 and Cortana returned 630 ‘knowledge panels’
The queries were designed to answer specific questions rather than offer web results, according to Android Central, reporting on the comparison tests.
Google Now also scored highest for accuracy with 88 percent of questions properly addressed, while Siri and Cortana were correct 53 per cent and 40 per cent of the time respectively.
The study did not take into account how the respective assistants performed when it comes to making appointments via the app, or dictating words, only bringing the answers to specific questions.
Given Google’s status as global search overlord, we’d expect Google Now to come out on top in this department. While the tests are far from definitive, it still offers an interesting look at slice of a much larger pie.
Elsewhere today, Google Now got an update that’ll inform users when their bills are overdue. Thanks for nothing Google Now!
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A digital marketing firm claims Google Now returned more search results ‘enhanced with custom content’ than Siri and Cortana combined.
Consultants Stone Temple made 3086 queries in total to all three voice assistances. Google Now yielded a score of 1795 results with enhanced content, while Siri scored 908 and Cortana returned 630 ‘knowledge panels’
The queries were designed to answer specific questions rather than offer web results, according to Android Central, reporting on the comparison tests.
Google Now also scored highest for accuracy with 88 percent of questions properly addressed, while Siri and Cortana were correct 53 per cent and 40 per cent of the time respectively.
The study did not take into account how the respective assistants performed when it comes to making appointments via the app, or dictating words, only bringing the answers to specific questions.
Given Google’s status as global search overlord, we’d expect Google Now to come out on top in this department. While the tests are far from definitive, it still offers an interesting look at slice of a much larger pie.
Elsewhere today, Google Now got an update that’ll inform users when their bills are overdue. Thanks for nothing Google Now!
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