lucstechblog

The great Dictator Part II

In the previous entry (click here) I showed you how you could speak into the microphone (or webcam) of your desktop computer and have your spoken words translated in written words by a Google Chrome add-in utility. A handy feature but there is more.

Fewer and fewer people seem to realise that the Andoid operating system on their phone is a Google product. So let's have a look.

On your phone open the notepad App. Tap on the first line of the App and the keyboard will appear. The screen will look like this:

Now lets have a close look on the bottom of the keyboard. There is a small icon there and it can be accessed by pressing it a bit longer as you would normally press on the keyboard.

The keyboard dissappears and a button appears.

Hey I am Dutch so don't nag about the screenshots. It's the contents that counts. So lets look at this screen. Next to the Google logo there is a small globe. Clicking that will give you the opportunity to change the language.

Pressing the Microphone button starts recording your spoken word and translate it into written words just like the Google Chrome application.

And there it is. My first test. I spoke the words and my phone translated it in written words. Neat !!!
There is just one small flaw. The APP wrote in the first and second line - om doorzoek - which should be -onderzoek-. But you can correct on the fly which I obviously did not do for reviewing purposes. Small errors are possible.

So when the dictation is finished a text file is put in your directory which can be uploaded to your computer using a cloud service (like described here)

Now isn't this just great. You can speak out your thoughts or handwritten notes or whatever information you have and Android will write it out and you can process it in your favorite textprocessor at home.

Beware however that is will only work if there is a wifi or data connection present. So this will cost some money or bandwidth if you do not have the right bundle with your provider. It will also work off-line but then the margin of errors will be bigger.
 
But there is more to come. It will get better. Really. Believe me !!!

This was the last entry before I go on a Holliday. So till next time, have fun.
Luc