(I wouldn't consider writing an Ars article on my iPhone by typing, but I might give it a go with Dragon Dictation in a pinch.) Just be sure to speak clearly, don't curse, and for all but the simplest of messages, be prepared for some cleaning up afterwards. If you have trouble typing with the iPhone's on-screen keyboard, or need to input more than a line or two, Dragon Dictation can certainly speed up the process. But if you have a tendency toward "colorful idioms," as Spock might say, Andy Ihnatko discovered that Dragon Dictation doesn't pass the "Carlin test." Nuance most likely made this concession-converting vowels in some words to asterisks-to earn the app a "4+" rating in the App Store. We should also note that during our brief testing we didn't encounter any issues with words being censored. If only for sending quick, simple e-mails, Dragon Dictation is worth a download. Making a shopping list for a cocktail party didn't fare as well as more simple messages. While it can save you from futzing with the keyboard while doing other things-one beta tester admitted to using it to type texts while driving-copying to the clipboard, quitting Dragon Dictation, launching another app, pasting, etc., can quickly suck your attention away from other tasks at hand. Whereas we were easily able to quickly train NaturallySpeaking to recognize "Ars Technica," we had no such luck with Dragon Dictation-"ours technical" was the best it managed after several attempts.Īdditionally, it would be nice if the app could be configured to send transcribed text automatically to other popular apps, such as Tweetie or Facebook. However, even after manually correcting words, it doesn't appear that the corrections are incorporated into the recognition engine. We suspect that the compression needed to quickly send the recorded speech to Nuance's servers caused some of the accuracy issues. The app is pretty simple, and some quick testing showed that the recognition engine is fairly accurate. Tapping the record button will let you speak more words for additional transcription. Tapping on the keyboard icon brings up the standard iPhone keyboard for further editing needs. The resulting text can be edited by tapping on a word-Dragon Dictation will offer alternate transcriptions or to delete the word. Dragon Dictation has a spartan interface for recording speech, which is then sent to Nuance's servers for recognition. Though it relies on the same high-regarded engine that powers Dragon NaturallySpeaking and MacSpeech Dictate, it doesn't have nearly the same accuracy nor the built-in correction and editing controls. It promises a 500 percent speed increase over typing on the iPhone's soft keyboard, but doesn't yet deliver the speed and accuracy of comparable desktop apps. Dragon Dictation for iPhone will then let you send the transcribed text as an SMS message or e-mail, or copy the text to paste in other apps. A company called Nuance, known for its speech recognition software, has released an iPhone app that will transcribe your speech into editable text.
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