Voice recognition and phone calls

[austhorpe]

Evening everyone!

I did have a look if people have asked this before so sory if they have :-)

I was just wondering, the TT is equipped with voice recognition, and they say you can make phone calls with the TT so its hands free and safe.

Thing is whenever i try making a call, pressing the screen to get to the phone book and then hitting dial e.t.c i feel like i will crash everytine!!

When I answer calls its good, I have it on auto answer and it works well.

Guess what I am asking is cant TT make it so we can dial numbers using voice recognition???

Example "Mobile - call - home"

This to me seems a good idea, am i just been stupid!? Probably!

[DennisN]

You're not being stupid, merely too clever for TomTom to catch on.

I have suggested they could run the whole thing from voice recognition -
First, they need to add a small utility for voice familiarisation so that they understand you.
Then, they have a start up command, e.g. "Tom Tom Menu"
Then, all menu items become a numbered list for you to choose 1, 2, 3, 4 etc. It all follows on from there, piece of cake.

BUT they've achieved "Voice Recognition" now, so they're off on another one - HD traffic is the latest I think. They still haven't fixed any of their half-baked ideas, so why should they do it for VR? I wonder what the next move is after they've half completed HD Traffic?

Sad, innit? As my dear old granny used to say - "They've spoilt the Satnav for a ha'porth o' tar" and she went to her grave in 1961 knowing it was still true.
_________________
Dennis

If it tastes good - it's fattening.

Two of them are obesiting!!

[GPS_fan]

Sadly, the voice recognition problems aren't exclusive to TT.

My brother-in-law has a Nokia phone (not sure which model, but it's a recent acquisition) and it recognises some names in the address book OK, BUT when he tries phoning his wife it just seems to randomly dial any entry in the address book.
_________________
Andy
PocketGPSWorld.com supports Help for Heroes - Read here

[DennisN]

[GPS_fan]

[shadamehr]

Explanation (but NOT an excuse), for the latest Nokia Phone Voice Recognition issue...

Previously, as per Dennis's phone, if it even has voice dialling at all (I think it does as it happens Dennis, even if you never knew), what you had to do, was RECORD your OWN voice tag, for each entry you wanted to be able to voice dial.

This was laborious in terms of setting it up, BUT much more reliable in terms of accuracy, as you could record the tag, the way you actually speak (I can just see the aaaaaaaaard northerners slang now Dennis ** EDIT: Though never understood the signature, if you are from near Bristol?).

The problem with this approach however, despite it's then accuracy, was two-fold...

Firstly, it took preparation time to actually set it all up - lots of it, if you wanted to set lots up!

Secondly, it was, as they say "Voice Dependant" - that is to say, if Dennis set the tags up, I couldn't then use MY voice, to call people on his phone (could be said this is a good thing, but in real terms it means that if you wish to loan or pass on your phone to someone else, you are right back at square one).

So newest Nokias (not sure if this means your mate's phone too), now have Voice Independent Voice Dialling. That is, they DON'T need to have tags recorded beforehand, and can be used by ANY person. This is how they can even "Say Caller Name" as the ringtone instead - but read below for why this sounds terrible in real terms.

PROBLEM though...?

It works TERRIBLE... You can listen to what the phone THINKS the tag should be spoken like first - but if you do so, you will soon find that a lot of the tags sound like Robbie the Robot on LSD Underwater Backwards with a Dennis Northern Twang (no offence to Dennis there mind you!).

Seriously - for simple names, it works, and works quite decent. But for anything more involved, it is bordering on the ridiculous, in terms of a) what they sound like, and thus b) how you are meant to say them back.

Do I even dare say this however... BUT, TomToms are also Voice Independent, yet whether you would think it or not, are actually a million miles better than new Nokia phones in terms of recognising tags etc.

That's also because the actual Computer Voice feedback is ALSO much less robotic than anything I have ever heard before it.

Listen to your Computer Voice on TomTom say "turn left, Railway Street", then listen to a new Nokia play it's own interpretation of a contact's voice tag in your phone, and you will then understand EXACTLY what I mean.

There - did I just actually admit TT have got something much better than anyone else?

Grins.

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