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Voice control rant

M

matttye

Android Expert
Could Samsung have fluffed up voice control any more?

1) It's impossible to change which app opens up when you double press home, or when you press a button on a hands free kit, so we have to put up with the many problems in the built-in Vlingo app.

2) You need a network connection to use it (seriously, which genius thought this was good app design?!) which means that half of the time it's unusable whilst driving.. it's harder to maintain a decent connection at 70mph. Even when it works it tends to be slow as hell.

3) When I dial a number it sometimes uses the phone's speaker phone and sometimes uses my connected bluetooth headset. There seems to be absolutely no reason why it picks one or the other, it's purely random.

4) It pauses music as soon as it's opened.. which means I can't listen to Spotify when the app is in the foreground. This renders the wake up command practically useless as I can't have the app in the foreground whilst listening to music.

5) The voice recognition is poor with my accent (Lincolnshire - nothing fancy or too hard to understand!). The most up to date version of Vlingo seems to be much better, but as Samsung chose not to let s change which app opens I can't use this.

Bearing in mind what an epic phone the Galaxy S2 is I feel really let down by the crappy voice control implementation. :( If anyone has any suggestions to solve any of the issues I've mentioned app please do share :p
 
ha, yeah.. agreed. i don really use voice control much but whenever i do, vlingo never did it for me, so its frozen, double tap deactivated :D and i use google voice actions whenever i do need voice control, i find it works better than vlingo, although it does need a network connection too. again i agree its dumb, coz even though some features like web search needs a connection, sending a text message doesnt :D
 
Great to hear others find this SGII voice command system is simply flaky.
As a power user of bluetooth headset for work and or driving I find actually holding a phone simply prehistoric.
My old Nokia worked well, then my Samsung Omnia7 proved bomb proof re voice command (Albeit phone calls only) It simply never missed and time from speak to call made was exceptionally quick. I could hear others as clearly as if they were there with me but sadly they found my sound over modulated until I eventually worked out the HANDSET volume rocker needed to be used to ensure volume was as low as possible, then they were happy.
Sadly the Android (Vlingo) voice application is nothing short of flaky and unreliable.
I could leave the W7 phone in my pocket and just make and receive calls with the headset whilst having clear and concise control / feedback.
When driving with the Galaxy, the phone must be on the dash to be viewed so you can be sure the correct contact is being called. Voice is typically on the headset but can be from the handset randomly until call is connected. Voice feedback to headset may or may not announce the caller before dialling and typically sound is announced after the voice is part way into sentence.
Often Vlingo says, "Sorry, I didn't catch that, Please try again" It repeats it 2 or three times in succession then it waits for you to talk but just leaves the main menu on screen so you are never really sure it is listening.
I have invested hundreds of $$ into headsets on the last 2 Samsung Phones without resolve to these issues but figured if the handset struggles with control, what hope with a bluetooth?
iphone 4s with Siri looks state of the art and Android behaves 4 years or MORE behind.
Cmon team, get it happening Please as otherwise the GSII is very good indeed.
 
APE said:
Siri looks state of the art
Click to expand...

Looks can be decieving I've tried it as have others on here when and if it works it does not always work that well especially if you have an accent.

I use the top gear app from market with my bluetooth and it works like a dream I can call txt reply etc at ease with no problems.

Try Voice Actions on the market its like siri and works better still can be better tho
 
Riche101 said:
Looks can be decieving I've tried it as have others on here when and if it works it does not always work that well especially if you have an accent.

I use the top gear app from market with my bluetooth and it works like a dream I can call txt reply etc at ease with no problems.

Try Voice Actions on the market its like siri and works better still can be better tho
Click to expand...

The problem is when I press the action button on my hands free kit the phone launches voice commands, there's no way of changing it to launch another app from what I can see.

Voice actions is better but some things don't seem to work, such as setting an alarm or running an app.
 
setting an alarm does work, but its added to a calendar event, not the clock app, try it, set one for 5 minutes time, open the calendar (say open calendar), you'll see the event on todays tab.

opening apps is a bit flakey still, but say open 'clock', or open 'calendar' etc and it does do it, also open 'youtube' works and open 'file expert'.
 
I've always wondered why they need a data connection when using the voice control feature. Even in iOS devices. Not sure about Siri though.
 
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