“Tellme” more about voice-activated mobile phone search
By Joyce Chang
You may already be familiar with voice commands for mobile phones, such as telling your phone to speed dial someone, but how about “voice search”? Microsoft and Yahoo’s recent unveiling of voice-activated Internet search capabilities on mobile phones has me wondering whether this will be the next standard feature on phones.
Microsoft’s Tellme subsidiary launched an application for BlackBerry this week that allows users to simply push the “talk button” on their phones and speak commands into their phones to search for businesses, check traffic and movie times, etc., according to an Associated Press article.
GPS technology delivers search results that are tailored to the user’s current location. Right now, the application only works on newer BlackBerry models, but versions are planned for Apple’s iPhone, among other devices.
Yahoo launched a similar mobile search system, oneSearch 2.0, earlier this month that also works with certain BlackBerry models.
Similar voice command technology such as Microsoft Sync already lets drivers control phones, music players and other devices through voice commands, but users need to be in Ford, Lincoln or Mercury car models. Also, Tellme has been offering voice-recognition service for nearly a year, but it’s been a bit more complicated, as users had to first call or text a 1-800 number in order to access the services.
Voice command technology acknowledges the difficulty of driving or multitasking on-the-go while also trying to navigate through complicated cell phone menus or features. Although Team LoJo’s driving tour would not require users to scroll through menus or conduct Internet searches while driving, since audio tour segments would be triggered by the user’s GPS location, our team indirectly considered this issue.
We discussed what type of content to provide while tour participants are driving or otherwise occupied. I guess the objective is to ensure tour participants are continuously engaged, while also not overwhelming them or otherwise distracting them when they have to concentrate on driving.
Tellme is hoping to add other voice-activated functions, including voice dialing and text message dictation, according to the article.
Watch a voice-recognition mobile search demonstration from this year’s Consumer Electronics Show:
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