For a number of years now, many phones have had some form of voice command system, letting you call someone on your contacts list, dial a number, play music, or check phone status just by speaking to your phone. However, the choice of functions you can perform has always been a bit limited. Well, Vlingo is here to change all that. With its sophisticated voice recognition system it adds a host of extra voice controlled features to a variety of different phones. So let's see if it's software worth shouting about.
Vlingo's abilities vary greatly across different phone platforms but its core functionality is to add voice control to those apps that the phone doesn't natively support. So where a BlackBerry lets you call a contact or dial a number, check signal/network/battery status, and have your own number read out, the BlackBerry Vlingo app adds the ability to search the web, update Twitter and Facebook status, dictate notes to yourself, open other apps, send text messages, and write emails. Similarly Nokia phones (or at least the N97 in particular) allow you to perform a wide variety of functions including calling a contact, changing the phone's profile, starting a text message or email, or opening any number of apps. What Vlingo adds is the ability to fully dictate a text message or email, update Facebook and Twitter, dictate notes to yourself, and search the web. The full list of supported devices and capabilities is listed below.
Currently the Samsung Jack is the only Windows Mobile device supported, while the BlackBerry version doesn't currently support the new Bold (as of 10/12/09, this is now supported), which is the only BlackBerry we have in the office at the moment. Today, then, we're going to take a closer look at the Nokia N97 and iPhone versions of the app. Incidentally, you can also gift someone the BlackBerry Plus version of Vlingo by following this link.
