Microsoft Voice Command Released. Any good?

Edge155 · 11-03-03, 01:06 PM

Microsoft Voice Command was released today.

It's available for 40 bucks at handango.com

I'm thinking of buying it. Anyone know if its any good?

jasoraso · 11-04-03, 02:40 PM

I too am interested in this product. Unfortunately, it looks like the contacts feature is only really useful if you have a pocket pc phone.

For those of us without a pocket pc phone, I think this program could have been much better if instead of not only saying "show John Doe" and it shows John Doe's info, you could say "Tell me John Doe's cell phone" and it would read John Doe's cell number out loud.

I think the most common use I would use it for would be when I wanted to look up a contacts phone number while driving in the car.

Anybody bought this program yet that can tell me if it will do what I want it to?

TallStv · 11-04-03, 10:02 PM

I purchased it. It's ok, it's version 1.0. I figure why not play with it, I'm sure they'll update it soon enough.

Most commands appear to work, but like all programs need to learn the nuances of it. Click the voice command button (I made mine the envelope) and say "Show Monica" and my wife's contact info appears. I just wish my wife was this obedient!! Click voice command and say "Start Jawbreaker" and the game starts...

xek · 11-05-03, 09:26 AM

I was looking at that too. Sounded pretty kewl.

guinness · 11-05-03, 04:43 PM

It's pretty neat, it's accurate for me about 90-95% of the time, but needs more features. If I wasn't getting it free for beta testing it, I wouldn't pay $40 for it. The technology is great, but VC is just lacking in some areas.

Ted Mozer · 11-09-03, 04:36 PM

Had to have it. I'm addicted to gadgets and toys (and besides I wanted to be the first at work tomorrow to show it off).....

First impressions: Pretty amazing! Not perfect (or maybe I'm not that good with interacting with it yet), but pretty damn good for something you do not have to train!

What it does, more than anything, is to give you a taste of a function that could be VERY useful!! If other software could be modified to work with whatever hooks are there, that would be outstanding. I can just imagine talling Mapopolis that I was to navigate from my present GPS position to an address in my contact list or a favorite location I have saved in Mapopolis or, even, a location/address I dictate.

Right off the bat, the first improvement I would make is to have become active with a voice command (such as "VC ON") instead of having to push a button to activate. The more hands free, the better........

If anyone comes across a forum (Microsoft or otherwise) dedicated to MS Voice Command, please post.

Handy · 11-10-03, 11:56 AM

Does this thing slow down your Axim a lot when it's turned on? If so, that would be a good reason that you couldn't turn it on with a voice command. In order for it to recognize the voice command to turn itself on, it would already have to be on, in effect.

That means it would be chewing up CPU cycles and RAM all the time, analyzing sound input just in case you happened to say 'VC On'. I doubt that the Axim would run well with that application running perpetually in the background.

I would guess that to make this thing work really well without having an impact on other applications, it would need to be built into hardware using a dedicated chip. Maybe the next generation will do something like that

skippytrk · 11-10-03, 06:49 PM

I have been nothing but pleased with this application. I wish it had more functions, but for what it does, it does really well. The little app has definitly earned it's keep and makes life on the road much easier.

I haven't noticed any decrease in performance either.