Further cementing Google Maps Mobile as one of the most useful free mobile applications ever, Google has added Voice search to its repertoire. It’s an experimental feature at this point, so it’s only on select handsets; if you’re using a Blackberry Pearl 8110, 8120, or 8130 – go update!
The new feature seems pretty easy to use: hold the left soft key, say your search, release the left soft key, and off it goes. It utilizes the same speech recognition engine used by 1-800-GOOG-411, which (based off my past experiences with it) is a good thing. Still, typing still works fine, allowing you to fall back on your thumbs be it that your environment just doesn’t mesh well with voice recognition.
While I’d be a bit surprised to see this feature make it into the generalized J2ME version of the application, we’ll probably see it to roll out to other big-name platforms as Google works out the kinks.
Pearl users can grab the update at http://www.google.com/gmm
[Via BGR]
*Yawn*
Windows Live has been doing this for months. It works far better than keying in search queries while driving, and I already consider it an indispensable feature.
If Google Maps starting offering turn-by-turn routing like Windows Live does, then MAYBE it could compete. Otherwise, the only thing I see going for it is that it’s got the Google reputation backing it.
How about Google crawling GeoGraffiti’s Voice Mark messages and embedding them as location specific community advice that can be played back in a hands-free audio manner?