Google just announced the launch of Voice Actions for Android, a series of spoken commands that users speak to perform tasks on their phone.
Noting that “the most natural way of interacting with a phone remains what it always has been” (speaking), Google hopes to streamline interaction with the mobile devices that seem to do everything for us, like play music, call contacts, search the Web, etc.
iPhone users have had this ability (in limited fashion) since June 2009, when the iPhone 3GS launched with Voice Control as an exclusive feature for making phone calls and controlling the iPod entirely with voice commands. Similarly, Android already has voice control for Google searches.
- send text to [contact] [message]
- listen to [artist/song/album]
- call [business]
- call [contact]
- send email to [contact] [message]
- go to [website]
- note to self [note]
- navigate to [location/business name]
- directions to [location/business name]
- map of [location]
Maybe Apple doesn’t think the feature is as effective or groundbreaking as Google does. But then, it was Google that recently revealed that 25% of queries on Android 2.0 devices in the US are being made via search.
