The updated Google Mobile iPhone app with voice search is out now and is a great little tool for on the go searching. The best part is the voice search feature. I searched for a few things and it seemed to work out well for me. I’ll admit I was in a quiet place where noise was not a factor. I’m sure the results in a noisy place could be quite different.
For my first search, I said “I used to be cooler.” What it heard was “It is to be cooler.” Not exactly what I wanted, but still there are probably some cool results for that. The next time I spoke very clearly and pronounced every word as if someone was trying to read my lips. This time after the little robot voice bee bops while searching, it found exactly what it was supposed to. It heard me correctly this time.
For the next voice test I said Maegan Cook, which sounds a lot like Megan Cook, so when it heard me it recognized what I said as Megan Cook. The Maegan Cook I was searching for is known for all of her zany YouTube video’s so I thought that might help the results show Maegan instead of Megan. Instead I got Megan Cook who as of right now is not a YouTube star. Megan is the way most people spell that name, so I was not surprised. I searched Maegan Cook one more time emphasizing the May sound but it still found Megan Cook.
Just for funzys I searched “Ahhhh Yeahhhhh.” In the rap scene this phrase is usually followed by “boyyyyyy.” I decided not to say the last part and keep it the elongated two words. Try as it may, it errored out, told me “Didn’t get that.”, and was not able to find this urban dictionary words in the search. I was not disappointed, though Google just lost a little street cred with me.
Over all I am pleased with the voice search feature and think this will come in handy for on-the-go searching when my hands are tied up with other things or driving. It is worth the free download.
