With devices having more clever features all the time, the next big step has to be apps offering full voice control for the ultimate in hands-free use.
There’s no denying that you can already activate more gadgets than ever before with speech commands, but even advanced features like the iPhone’s Siri rely on cloud services and a decent internet connection.
New Google voice app
By simply talking to your device the new Google app lets you do things such as calling, texting, setting reminders and alarms.
Many of these features are available offline, so you can play music, change the volume, open different apps, dim your screen or switch modes like airplane and Bluetooth on or off with voice control, even when no connection is available.
YouTube
As Google owns YouTube you might expect a tie in here and there; indeed when you’re in the YouTube app and you enable Google to recognise when you say “Ok Google” from any screen, you can then select, play and skip videos all hands free.
Other apps
Voice commands also work with other apps that aren’t connected with Google products. A number of partner companies are already on-board, such as Shazam, and there are plenty of opportunities to find recipes, choose hotels or even book flights.
Marketing potential
The new voice app is still in its early days but anyone who has a forward-looking view of online marketing will be very excited about the possibilities it offers. Greater voice control will widen the scope within which future campaigns might operate.
Corrections
If the Google app transcribes incorrectly you simply tell it and spell out the correct word or phrase or suggest a replacement.
In a blog post that introduces the new features, Google invites users to “talk to the Google app as naturally as you would if it were human – it’s designed to understand conversation that way.”
Essentially the new app marks an important step along the road to making a wide range of Android devices fully voice-activated and voice-powered, and could mean that yet another digital revolution is already underway.
