Reviewed by Prasad Naik. Converts spoken words into text Very poor voice detection, no option to directly send text to other applications without copying to clipboard first.
Dragon Dictation is a free speech to text converter for the iPhone. It has been developed by Nuance, the same people who are responsible for making the PC software - Dragon Naturally Speaking. The purpose of the iPhone app is simple; Instead of typing, you open the application and then press the record button. You then speak clearly what you want to be converted into text. The application then uploads your voice file on to their servers using either GPRS/EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi connection. The servers then convert the voice into text, which is then sent to your device. You then copy the text to your clipboard using the copy-paste function that was debuted in iPhone OS 3.0 and use it elsewhere, such as in your Twitter or Facebook application. You can even send it as an SMS from the application itself. What sounds great on paper however turned out to be really bad when it came to practical usage. The application is probably tuned for American accents (or maybe robots, I'm not sure), but when it cam to recognizing voices of us Indian humans the applications failed spectacularly. Unless you speak painfully slow and enunciate each and every word as clearly as possible using simple, uncomplicated words, the application would just give back random text. I also let others use the application to see if it was just my voice that the application had problem recognizing. But the app failed to work well with others as well. Also, note that none of the people who used it had a pronounced accent, which means, if you have one don't even bother using this app. The accuracy of the application goes down even further in noisy environments. The application has a built-in keyboard, so if there are a couple of mistakes in the converted text you can correct them with it. Unfortunately, the text that we got was usually so wrong that it was better to just go to the respective application where we were going to paste the text and type there instead. A feature in application uploads all your contacts on to Nuance's servers. So when you say a name that is in your phonebook, it is easier for the application to convert it into text. The voice files that you upload also remain with Nuance, which they use to further refine the applications conversion process. All your contacts and voice messages are secure with them though and according to Nuance, "all data is stored in secure data centers according to stringent privacy and security standards". Even if your text does come out accurately, there is the hassle of copying the text to your clipboard on the iPhone and then pasting it in the application you want. There should have been a way to directly upload the text to these services through the Dictation app itself. Overall, unless the applications improves by leaps and bounds and manages to convert at least 99% of what is spoken to text, and has the ability to send out messages to different social networking sites from within its interface, I don't think I would ever use this applications. In its current state the applications is just plain bad. The one star rating that I've given here is actually for the laughs that the application generated in the office by displaying utterly hilarious text messages that bore no resemblance to what we had said. Also, even if the app manages to do all that I've stated above, I don't think I would use it anyway because I am not comfortable speaking out messages to my phone in front others (or even when I'm alone). Typing is still the best option for me. Information transmitted by this e-mail is proprietary to MphasiS, its associated companies and/ or its customers and is intended for use only by the individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged, confidential or exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you are not the intended recipient or it appears that this mail has been forwarded to you without proper authority, you are notified that any use or dissemination of this information in any manner is strictly prohibited. In such cases, please notify us immediately at mailmas...@mphasis.com and delete this mail from your records. To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
