From what version of Android is speech dictation become possible?

[douglerner]

I was helping a woman at a volunteer class last Sunday. She wanted to use LINE (a popular chat app here in Japan) on her Android phone. I set it up for her and we communicated just fine.

But she saw me dictate text into my iPhone and wanted to try it. However I couldn't find the standard "mike" icon by her keyboard.

Her Android version is 4.something (can't remember exactly what). Is it possible that the keyboards didn't include voice dictation for that version? Or do you think a different keyboard is needed? Any thoughts?

 

[douglerner]

Actually, I'm not seeing the mic on my Nexus 2013 right now either. Hmm...

 

[Rob]

First, downloading this app from Google:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.inputmethod.latin&hl=en

Dive into - Settings > Languages & Input - and see if you can find anything related to voice typing or speech to text.

Report back and let us know what you find!

 

[Hadron]

My very first Android, which came with 2.1, had some dictation capabilities. 4.x certainly does, but it may depend on the keyboard app, which in turn depends on either the manufacturer or what app the user has chosen. For sure SwiftKey (my current keyboard) has this, and has had for years.

You can usually also turn it off in the keyboard settings (first thing I do), in which case the key will disappear.