Saturday, August 27, 2016

APPS SPECIAL .....Voice typing on smartphones : From Google keyboard to ListNote, 4 top apps to know

Voice typing on smartphones : From Google keyboard to ListNote, 4 top apps to know

Ishaan Gera takes a stock of the apps that can really help you with those long documents and lengthy blog posts. Reviews have been voice typed using the respective apps.

While phones and tablets have become primary devices for many, typing is still a pain on these devices. Though one can easily chat on mobile or write a paragraph or two, it gets difficult if you have to write more than a tweet or a few WhatsApp messages. But technology has an answer for our typing woes as well; people are getting attuned to the idea of talking to their phones with help of voice assistants. Voice typing has also a come a long way and there are few apps that can enhance your blogging experience. Ishaan Gera takes a stock of the apps that can really help you with those long documents and lengthy blog posts. Reviews have been voice typed using the respective apps.

Google Keyboard
Although mobile phones come quipped with a keyboard, one can always download Google’s offering which allows for voice typing. The voice typing feature can be used with any app, one can even use it for WhatsApp or Twitter or with MS Word, but the best feature is the way it picks up Indian names. Although not accurate as others when it comes to typing out paragraphs, Google does better than others in terms of picking up on Indian names. One of the drawbacks of the Keyboard is that you will have to tap the screen again for it to get active and Google may commit a lot of mistakes if your diction is not
clear or if there is a lot of noise around you. Also, while Google will pick up punctuation marks like comma, exclamation and question mark, it gets difficult to get it to change paragraph or add a full stop.

Speechnotes—Speech to Text
Speechnotes, unlike Google, is a notepad with voice typing feature. While the app lacks integration with any other app like Google, it has a send feature where one can select the message and copy it to mail or Twitter or any messaging app on the phone. It is very convenient in terms of writing long texts as the voice typing feature doesn’t go off on its own. Also Speechnotes offers a very simple, plain and easy to use design. The app has a few punctuation marks in a panel which add to the convenience. But despite being responsive, Speechnotes commits more mistakes than Google. It can pick up Indian names but lacks the accuracy of other softwares. Also, it has the same problem as Google in terms of punctuation.

ListNote Speech-to-Text Notes
Much like Speechnotes, ListNote offers the same kind of experience on a notepad, but the user interface is very cumbersome and one can easily get irritated with the process of creating a new note. While it has the punctuation problem of the other two, it does not offer a one click panel like Speechnotes which makes it more difficult to use having to switch between the keyboard and the voice typing. But ListNote offers more in terms of accuracy than Google or Speechnotes. It can easily understand Indian accents and would not have a problem in typing even in noisy environments. Moreover, the microphone stays on till you don’t close the note thus saving the trouble of tapping the screen again and again. Although ads are not much of an irritant, one can always go for the Pro feature which is available for less than R300.

Dragon NaturallySpeaking
If you are a professional who has to indulge in typing out long documents, Dragon is hands down the best software available for your PC, Mac or mobile. Offered by Nuance, Dragon is available as separate software for each. For PC, one can choose the home version which sells for around R6,000. It also has a much more expensive premium version with more advanced features and legal and medical versions which provide legal and medical glossary. Dragon is not just a voice typing software; one can also control Windows with the help of certain commands available in the tutorial. Nuance also has a mobile app called Dragon Anywhere, which is available for an annual subscription of $150. The software is the best in the offering in terms of accuracy, clarity and diction. It does not have the punctuation problem like other. While it cannot pick on Indian words, Dragon has a learning feature unlike other apps where one can train it to type out any word or name.

By: Ishaan Gera

http://www.financialexpress.com/industry/tech/talking-it-out/353291/

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