Our voice has more power than before

user-gravatar Headshot
Updated Jul 3, 2013

googleapp

I have never been a fan of voice-powered apps or features on phones.

My exact words when I’d see a commercial for Apple iPhone’s Siri would go something along the lines of “That’s just a total gimmick.” I mean it was funny that you could ask Siri a silly question and get an even sillier response in kind, but as far as usefulness on the road, I thought no way.

The fact they gave a name to their voice recognition system didn’t win any points with me either.

There’s also a certain, well super-nerdiness, that happens when you start talking to your phone. (It feels like talking to a communicator on Star Trek a la James T. Kirk.) You don’t just see people out on the street talking to their phones.

There’s another inherent problem I’ve always had with voice recognition software in the past: I have a pretty deep southern drawl. These types of software have never been very kind to folks of the Southern persuasion.

Even though I love being a first adopter when it comes to technology, I certainly didn’t want to adopt this kind of technology.

So, when I downloaded the Google App for my iPhone, I really thought that I would just use it for Google searches and Google searches alone.

But, I finally found a truly good, truly useful use for voice in an app.

For years, I have been typing in Google.com into my phone’s browser. Then, when the page comes up, I’d start typing my search term on a keyboard too small for my fingers. I’d mistype something of course.

It’s just a bad time all the way around. Well, it’s not “new” per se, but with the Google app, you can just tap the voice icon to speak your search term.

This isn’t magical perfection and no, it’s not perfect all the time. But, it’s really, amazingly good for me. It’s pretty good at getting the gist of what I want to search for a majority of the time.

Also, it can serve as a hands-free calculator if need be. You can ask it math questions, and it will spit out the answer.

Here’s the link to the app for iPhones.

Here’s the link if you need it from the Google Play Store.

Partner Insights
Information to advance your business from industry suppliers

Once you download and open the app, all you have to do is tap the “Voice” icon and start asking Google. Even if you don’t use voice for anything else on your phone, save yourself the time, effort, energy and frustration of typing your Google searches.

Use your voice.

If you want to see the app in action, check out the video below:

Showcase your workhorse
Add a photo of your rig to our Reader Rigs collection to share it with your peers and the world. Tell us the story behind the truck and your business to help build its story.
Submit Your Rig
Reader Rig Submission