xGoogle has clearly been in the forefront of voice activated searching with its Android Operating System, and that lead just took at huge jump forward with the release today of a new Google Voice Search with Voice Actions. It is about as simple as it gets: Speak and it happens.
Speak any of these commands to perform a Voice Action on your phone:
- 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]
And of course, you can still conduct a Google search using your voice. It really helps to see this in action so watch the demo below.
Also released today is a new Google Search Widget. You can load the master widget on your screen, or you can load individual widgets each targeted at: All, Web, Apps, Contacts, Music, Dropbox, etc. In fact, you can quickly get a list of all the apps that this supports on YOUR phone and toggle the search on/off as needed. This makes it very easy and quick to find files or invoke apps, without having to directly open the app itself.
Both Voice Actions and the new Google search widget require Android 2.2 (Froyo), and will be pre-installed with the new Droid 2 phone from Motorola and Verizon. Voice Actions are currently available for U.S. English speakers.
If you have another phone with Android 2.2 (like the Nexus One, HTC Evo or the original Droid), you’ll need to download several app updates from Android Market to get all the latest goodness:
- Voice Search (this app includes Voice Actions)
- Google Search widget
- music apps (e.g. Pandora, Last.fm, Rdio, mSpot)
BTW, if you are running a custom ROM with Android 2.2, you may or may not be able to load these apps. It is possible to do so, but it requires the use of Root Explorer or Busybox and some mucking with rights and permissions yourself. Scan your favorite forums, like DroidForums.net, do a quick search, and you will likely find a work-around for your specific ROM. It worked for me.
To get started fast, scan the QR codes for these apps below.
Voice Search Search Widget
