Mountain View (CA) – Google’s much anticipated voice search application has finally arrived at Apple’s AppStore. And after playing with the software for a few hours we have to say that we are deeply impressed. There is something unique and mind-changing about being able to pick up the handset, say "movie show times" and receive not only general search results, but information about movie show times at theaters in the area of your current geographical location.
 
Following a weekend of uncertainty and lots of speculation about growing tensions between Apple and Google, the companies released Google’s promised voice search iPhone application late on Monday. And as far as we can tell, the software works just as we were told: You pick up the handset, say a search query and the application returns search results in text. "Just hold the phone to your ear, wait for the beep, and say what you're looking for," wrote Dave Burke, Google mobile team engineer manager in a blog post. "That's it. Just talk."

Although it was believed that Google would release the software as a standalone application, the company updated its existing free iPhone application called Google Mobile App with two new features: “Voice Search” and “Search with My Location”. Google Mobile App is an iPhone-optimized front-end interface to common Google services, like search and maps. It can be used to start a Google search with a single click, get relevant search and URL suggestions during typing, access past searches and display nearby business suggestions on a map.

If you have ever worked with speech recognition software before, then you know how much time can go into training an application to reduce the error rate of recognized words and phrases. Voice Search does not need any training. The software uses the iPhone’s accelerometer sensor to detect when a user moves the handset close to the ear and automatically switches to "listening mode" (which can be triggered manually as well, simply by tapping the microphone icon.) Users can also bring up the virtual keyboard to modify the search terms by double tapping the search box.

Search with the “My Location” feature allows you to perform a local search without having to specify where you are. The feature works in tandem with geolocation features of the handset to deliver results tailored to your current location. For example, if you pick up the handset and say "restaurants", "weather", or "movie show times" you will get corresponding information that is relevant to your current geographical information displayed on a map. To make this feature work, the “Location Services” option in the iPhone Settings needs to be enabled – and users are required to agree that Google Mobile App can tap into your location data.

So far, we have discovered only two drawbacks. First, when you click on any search result, the application opens a link in Safari. This goes against the idea of searching in a single application, because you have to quit Safari and open Google Mobile App to perform another search. We would love to see an app built into the web browser so that we can perform searches and follow links on a results page - all from within the application.

Second, you can't voice-search contacts in your address book, which is understandable since the speech recognition feature does not run within the application, but on Google servers. Also, we have to mention that Voice Search is currently only available to U.S. users. iPhone users who do not have an iTunes Store account that is authorized through a credit card issued in the U.S. will not be able to download the application until Google releases versions for other markets.

Overall, this is one of the most useful iPhone applications available today. It seems as if Google has found a way to remove the experimental character from voice recognition and finally come up with a solution that can be used on an everyday basis. A feature like this on a cellphone would have been considered science-fiction just one year ago.

It seems that, despite all rumors, Apple and Google are still buddies. But we do have to say that we are a bit surprised that this feature was introduced on the iPhone first and not on Google’s own G1 Android phone sold by T-Mobile.
 

LOVE THE APP!!

Nov 18, 2008 11:03     

I dowloaded this app and it is amazing ive been throwing curve balls at it yet it doent fail epically.. YAY!!! I give it a 10/10
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limited use

Nov 18, 2008 11:48     

The ap works as advertised for movie show times and restaurants, but fails miserably when you try to look up anything with a proper name. "Choate School class of 74" got me St Joseph's school, and on the next try, 1574! Five tries saying "abrahamson.net" yielded some close results, but a couple of completely off-the-wall ones.
David report abuse vote down vote up Votes: -1

Geophysicist

Nov 18, 2008 14:39     

I'm Canadian but I'm currently in the Republic of Congo for work. I was able to download and use the voice search without a hitch. Are you sure it's only U.S. customers?
Luc report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Question..

Nov 19, 2008 12:19     

Was it going to be free prior to Apple missing the release date? Or is this Google's way of saying 'screw you Apple, we'll give it away for free so you don't get a percentage of the sales, because we don't need the money and you made us look bad by missing our advertised release date'? Either way, Google kicks ass.
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