iPhone App Reviews Blog

Google has been king of the hill when it comes to search for a long time now. But what happens when you’re already the best? You keep getting better by adding new features and products. Google Mobile with Voice Search is Google’s attempt to take mobile searching to the next level and, surprisingly, it has.

Before I get any further into this review, let me disclose that I have always had my doubts about voice based applications. I have played with some in the past and found them aggravating and relatively worthless. By the time they recognized what I was saying I could have typed the same words ten times over. Having said that, I’m quite surprised to find that I really like Google Mobile with Voice Search. It actually worked for me and it worked damn well too.

If you already have Google Mobile on your iPhone 3G then you’ll need to download the update from the iTunes store. I tried to download mine and ran into some kind of error message saying it couldn’t install the update. So I deleted Google Mobile totally from iTunes, synced my phone to get it off there and then downloaded it again. After that I synced it to my iPhone 3G without any problems.

Let your lips do the searching instead of your fingers.

When you first start Google Mobile with Voice Search you will immediately be able to start speaking into your iPhone 3G to do searches. Just click the Voice Search button in the upper right corner and then speak clearly into your iPhone 3G. Or simply hold your iPhone 3G up to your ear the way you would when making a phone call and then say the search term you’re looking for. Google Mobile will know and Voice Search will work automatically.

My initial experience is that the voice recognition software in Google Mobile is quite good. I didn’t have to calibrate it or anything like that. I simply started speaking. It worked very well for two word search terms but it stumbled when I tried saying “iPhone 3G Free Software Reviews Blog.” I don’t know if it’s just the length of this blog’s name or what but I wasn’t able to get it to come up.

However, the rest of the terms I used worked fine. My results came up and I could click to go to that page without a problem. Please note that you are not forced to use the Voice Search feature. If you decide that you don’t like it then simply clicked the Settings tab at the bottom of the screen and you can turn it off completely. I think you would be insane to do that but, hey, it’s your iPhone. Have at it if you want to.Heh, heh.

Note that you can customize Google Mobile even more. You can customize the Start screen, change Searchable Items, adjust SafeSearch and turn Screen Rotation on or off. There’s quite a lot of flexibility available for what would seem to be a simple app on the surface. Google has empowered the user to customize his or her search experience.

There’s also an Apps tab that lets you pull up a list of Google Apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Talk, Reader, Goog-411, News, Notebook, Photos, orkut, Translate, Maps, YouTube and Google Earth. Very nice for those who prefer to use Google’s services.

If you click out of Google Mobile with Voice Search and then click back into you will notice that a list of your previous searches is displayed. Makes it very convenient for you to backtrack without having to search again.

Google Mobile with Voice Search belongs in the “must-haves” category for iPhone 3G free apps. Snag your copy when you get a chance, you won’t regret it.

Application: Google Mobile With Voice Search
Download Link: iTunes Store
Price: Free
The Good: Lets you search Google by speaking into your iPhone. Voice recognition software works well and doesn’t need calibration.
The Bad: Google Mobile stumbled when I spoke a longer phrase and didn’t pull up the right search results. This may have had more to do with what I was searching for than anything else.
The Verdict: Google Mobile with Voice Search adds a whole new level of convenience to searching. Why type when you can speak? A must-have for all iPhone 3G owners.
Score: 5 out of 5

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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