Stupid Galaxy S3 lacks actual voice dialing.

[acx]

First, I agree that I consider this to be an obvious feature that is missing. I actually sold my Samsung Galaxy S2 because I thought the voice activated functionality was lacking.

Beyond driving, I like voice dialing for when I'm cycling and I actually use it a fair bit walking around because I have a company-required passcode on my phone and unlocking my phone and then calling is more work than just telling the phone "call home".

As far as voice look-up systems being complex, the Motorola RAZR -released in 2003 - has voice dialing. A lot of ancient-looking Nokia's - including my wifes phone - have voice dialing. It doesn't require a lot of memory - the RAZR shipped with 16MB of RAM - and it doesn't require a lot of processing power.

Then there's the whole distraction thing... I've never understood why talking to someone over the phone using the bluetooth system in your car is more distracting than talking to someone sitting in the passengers seat or in the backseat. There are distracted driver studies for cell phone users, but are there distracted driver studies comparing that to a live person in the car? I personally have never understood how it's more distracting to talk to someone using a car's bluetooth setup than someone sitting in the backseat.

To me, voice activated dialing, and voice activated music ("play songs by Adele") are required features - for me - for a phone. I cycling ~120-180 miles per week, usually with an earbud in one ear, riding to and from work. I use voice commands all the time on my bicycle. I was really disappointed with the voice command system on the Galaxy S2, and I tried literally a dozen apps, and posted a thread on this forum asking for suggestions, and then I ported the Galaxy S3 voice command system to my S2, wasn't happy with that either and then I gave up. I've always hoped that Google's "project majel" works really well.

Well, hopefully when you're talking to the other person in your car the other guy is also half keeping an eye on the road. So 2 people paying half attention would equal 1 person full attention?

 

[pm]

I definitely share the same view on not wanting to look like an idiot. I use Siri a ton at home or in non-crowded areas. But if I'm in a room with others I don't.

The way that I dress, the way that I look... I'm a nerd anyway. People thinking I'm weird for talking to my phone is the least of my worries.

 

[ponyo]

http://www.google.com/mobile/voice-actions/

You have to push the voice icon but it works fine. If I say "call wife", it will call her.

 

[pm]

http://www.google.com/mobile/voice-actions/

You have to push the voice icon but it works fine. If I say "call wife", it will call her.

Right, but will it do it when you don't have a data connection? Because that was the OP's concern - that these only work where you have data.

 

[ponyo]

Right, but will it do it when you don't have a data connection? Because that was the OP's concern - that these only work where you have data.

Yes, I just tried it with no data. I turned off mobile data so that I only had voice and it worked fine.

EDIT: Voice action working without data is new Jelly Bean feature. It worked with my Galaxy Nexus since I'm running Jelly Bean but it wouldn't work for OP. Sorry, I just learned this now. http://androidheadlines.com/2012/06/featured-the-top-5-features-in-android-4-1-jelly-bean.html

 

[CZroe]

Back in 2008, I was similarly annoyed when my iPhone 3G didn't support any kind of voice dialing but it still did voice-dialing just fine with my Parrot SK4000 motorcycle Bluetooth kit.

The Parrot kits use Bluetooth's Phonebook Access Profile to sync with the phone's contact list and then use their own hardware for voice recognition. Hands-Free Profile allows the headset to dial a specific number, so the whole thing works flawlessly.

Parrot makes car kits too. Also, I've seen Motorola headsets that add voice functions (my mother has a Motorola one).

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Can't google Voice Search do it?

But I really hate it when people make excuses. Well I don't use it. But millions do. Same with the Facebook app. I don't care if AT is anti-Facebook. There's half a billion people on it, and when the app sucks on Android, it's a negative.

Anyway, OP might have to wait til JB to get full voice stuff offline?

BTW when did the iPhone get voice actions? Like for calling people? I feel like this is a year 2000 feature or something, or at least more recently even with dumb phones.

 

[s44]

Can't google Voice Search do it?

I think this may have been one of the features stripped out of it because of the patent BS. Gotta wait for Google Now.

 

[Ichinisan]

First, I agree that I consider this to be an obvious feature that is missing. I actually sold my Samsung Galaxy S2 because I thought the voice activated functionality was lacking.

Beyond driving, I like voice dialing for when I'm cycling and I actually use it a fair bit walking around because I have a company-required passcode on my phone and unlocking my phone and then calling is more work than just telling the phone "call home".

As far as voice look-up systems being complex, the Motorola RAZR -released in 2003 - has voice dialing. A lot of ancient-looking Nokia's - including my wifes phone - have voice dialing. It doesn't require a lot of memory - the RAZR shipped with 16MB of RAM - and it doesn't require a lot of processing power.

Then there's the whole distraction thing... I've never understood why talking to someone over the phone using the bluetooth system in your car is more distracting than talking to someone sitting in the passengers seat or in the backseat. There are distracted driver studies for cell phone users, but are there distracted driver studies comparing that to a live person in the car? I personally have never understood how it's more distracting to talk to someone using a car's bluetooth setup than someone sitting in the backseat.

To me, voice activated dialing, and voice activated music ("play songs by Adele") are required features - for me - for a phone. I cycling ~120-180 miles per week, usually with an earbud in one ear, riding to and from work. I use voice commands all the time on my bicycle. I was really disappointed with the voice command system on the Galaxy S2, and I tried literally a dozen apps, and posted a thread on this forum asking for suggestions, and then I ported the Galaxy S3 voice command system to my S2, wasn't happy with that either and then I gave up. I've always hoped that Google's "project majel" works really well.

My RAZR V3 required me to waste precious storage space (non-expandable) to record each name so voice dialing would work. My previous phone (Samsung VGA1000) did not require me to record anything...and did a *much* better job of selecting the right contact.

 

[Ichinisan]

Yeah the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 do not require cell phone service for voice dialing or voice music commands, but the iPhone 4S (with Siri) does require cell phone service to do the same thing.

You have the option to turn-off Siri and function the same way as the 3GS and iPhone 4.

 

[mikegg]

I think this may have been one of the features stripped out of it because of the patent BS. Gotta wait for Google Now.

Google now sucks on my Galaxy Nexus. If I say "call ----", it doesn't call. It just displays "did you mean ----". That's it. It doesn't talk back which means I have to look at the screen.

Google Now is not even close to Siri right now.

 

[ponyo]

Google now sucks on my Galaxy Nexus. If I say "call ----", it doesn't call. It just displays "did you mean ----". That's it. It doesn't talk back which means I have to look at the screen.

Google Now is not even close to Siri right now.

It works for me. If I say call "X", it calls X.

I think you have it backwards. Siri is not even close to Google Now. Google Now is far more useful. I love the realtime commute traffic report it provides me without asking. That is brilliant.

 

[TuxDave]

The way that I dress, the way that I look... I'm a nerd anyway. People thinking I'm weird for talking to my phone is the least of my worries.

Hey now, I'm still living my delusion that I'm a stylish and cool engineer. Don't make me give that up.

 

[TuxDave]

It works for me. If I say call "X", it calls X.

I think you have it backwards. Siri is not even close to Google Now. Google Now is far more useful. I love the realtime commute traffic report it provides me without asking. That is brilliant.

Google Now still needs some work. Going purely on my best friend's experience with it, he summarizes two pitfalls with it.

1) Google Now doesn't have much of a personality (mostly for entertainment value).
2) He tried a lot of varied questions and most of the time it feeds your request straight to Google and stop right there. That seems to be the default behavior of requests that it doesn't understand. Since the Google search engine is pretty damn good, most of the time at the top is what you needed anyways but you kind of go from a "personal assistant that talks back with you" to "just a better way to do a Google search".

He showed me and I agree.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Google Now still needs some work. Going purely on my best friend's experience with it, he summarizes two pitfalls with it.

1) Google Now doesn't have much of a personality (mostly for entertainment value).
2) He tried a lot of varied questions and most of the time it feeds your request straight to Google and stop right there. That seems to be the default behavior of requests that it doesn't understand. Since the Google search engine is pretty damn good, most of the time at the top is what you needed anyways but you kind of go from a "personal assistant that talks back with you" to "just a better way to do a Google search".

He showed me and I agree.

Several people I know who are iPhone, iPad, and Mac users just got Nexus 7's and they all thought Google Now was vastly superior compared to Siri. Not to mention Google Now's voice sounds far less mechanical and annoying than Siri's.

 

[WelshBloke]

Google Now still needs some work. Going purely on my best friend's experience with it, he summarizes two pitfalls with it.

1) Google Now doesn't have much of a personality (mostly for entertainment value).
2) He tried a lot of varied questions and most of the time it feeds your request straight to Google and stop right there. That seems to be the default behavior of requests that it doesn't understand. Since the Google search engine is pretty damn good, most of the time at the top is what you needed anyways but you kind of go from a "personal assistant that talks back with you" to "just a better way to do a Google search".

He showed me and I agree.

Funny how ones perspective can change things.

Neither of those sounds like pitfalls to me, they sound like what I'd like the app to do.

 

[ControlD]

Google now sucks on my Galaxy Nexus. If I say "call ----", it doesn't call. It just displays "did you mean ----". That's it. It doesn't talk back which means I have to look at the screen.

Google Now is not even close to Siri right now.

That has pretty much been my experience with Siri as well. If there is any background noise present (such as road noise in my car) Siri has about a 50% success rate for me. I finally just turned it off. I very rarely call people when driving anyhow so it isn't a huge loss but seeing how Siri was the killer feature for the 4S it is pretty disappointing.

 

[Raduque]

Pattern matching databases are huge. Do you want your phone's limited memory filled with voice pattern matching databases, or your MP3's and cute lolcat video clips instead?

MP3s and lolcats plz!
:awe:

I personally don't use voice commands, but if I HAVE to make a call while driving, my phone is in my LoS (dash mount, near the steering wheel) so I can easily dial while watching the road. It's more distracting to operate a radio than my phone.

 

[ponyo]

Google Now still needs some work. Going purely on my best friend's experience with it, he summarizes two pitfalls with it.

1) Google Now doesn't have much of a personality (mostly for entertainment value).
2) He tried a lot of varied questions and most of the time it feeds your request straight to Google and stop right there. That seems to be the default behavior of requests that it doesn't understand. Since the Google search engine is pretty damn good, most of the time at the top is what you needed anyways but you kind of go from a "personal assistant that talks back with you" to "just a better way to do a Google search".

He showed me and I agree.

Of course Google Now needs more work. Both Siri and Google Now are still primitive and early alpha/beta products.

Google Now is not really about talking back to you. It's about getting you the information you ask or thinking about asking. Which is logical considering Google has the best search engine and knows lot of your habits. Stuff like traffic report and estimation of arrival based on traffic flow is very useful to me. And I don't even have to ask. Google Now displays it based on the time and my location. I had dentist appointment listed on my calendar and Google Now alerted me I needed to leave if I wanted to make the appointment in time by gauging the realtime traffic flow to the dentist office with navigation. I didn't even set reminder or ask. That is what makes Google Now brilliant and useful. I'm not going to ask my phone stuff for entertainment. If it can predict and tell me stuff based on the data it has, that is more useful to me. And if I want to search or ask something, there's not better search engine than Google.

 

[TuxDave]

Several people I know who are iPhone, iPad, and Mac users just got Nexus 7's and they all thought Google Now was vastly superior compared to Siri. Not to mention Google Now's voice sounds far less mechanical and annoying than Siri's.

I guess different group different tastes. I go to lunch with 5 coworkers, all android users (who give me crap all the time) and they all didn't think Google Now was all that great. But then again, they didn't think Siri was useful either. If anything they were looking for entertainment value and didn't get it.

I do agree on the voice synthesis. Google Now sounds amazing.

 

[zerocool84]

Can't google Voice Search do it?

But I really hate it when people make excuses. Well I don't use it. But millions do. Same with the Facebook app. I don't care if AT is anti-Facebook. There's half a billion people on it, and when the app sucks on Android, it's a negative.

Anyway, OP might have to wait til JB to get full voice stuff offline?

BTW when did the iPhone get voice actions? Like for calling people? I feel like this is a year 2000 feature or something, or at least more recently even with dumb phones.

The Nexus S on ICS works fine with Voice Commands without a data connection. It's the newer voice regocnition systems like Siri that need data like PM said but the even newer Google Now works without a data connection for everything too.

 

[gorcorps]

The Nexus S on ICS works fine with Voice Commands without a data connection. It's the newer voice regocnition systems like Siri that need data like PM said but the even newer Google Now works without a data connection for everything too.

That's not true for most of it. I'm on JB with Google now and it phones home with most commands, but it will let you use "call X" without network. That's the only thing I've found that'll work without data, even "text X" doesn't work.

 

[Leon]

I think this may have been one of the features stripped out of it because of the patent BS. Gotta wait for Google Now.

Works fine here. Tap voice icon, then say "Call" followed by the name in your contacts. You do need a data network to make a call this way.

 

[DCal430]

Anyone know if 4.1 update for S3 will include Google Now?

 

[Oyeve]

Anyone know if 4.1 update for S3 will include Google Now?

I believe it will. I look forward to this as the S stuff is really really really slow. I pretty much disable all of it. Especially S-Voice.