By Amy Gilroy
We neglected to mention earlier that Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phones such as those from HTC Corporation (TPE:2498) and Samsung (SEO:005930) now have a voice assistant too, like the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone 4S and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android based phones, in the new Windows Phone update called Mango.
While not quite as robust as Apple’s Siri or Google’s Voice Actions, Mango’s “Speech” lets you dictate a text message and it will read back your texts to you. You can perform Internet searches by voice and switch apps by voice.
Users hold down the Windows-logo button and the Speech assistant pops up. There are four commands for voice: “Call,” “Text,” “Find,” and “Open.”
In a review of Mango Thursday in The New York Times, David Pogue compared Mango Speech to Siri, stating, “The recognition is nowhere near as good or as broad…But it’s great at understanding its Big Four commands: Call, Text, Find (on the Web) and Open (an app)…(On the iPhone, you can’t open apps by voice at all).”
You can see Mango Speech in action here.
Overall Mango (Windows Phone 7.5) fixes early complaints about Windows Phone software, such as a lack of copy and paste. Pogue calls it “gorgeous, classy, satisfying, fast and coherent. “
Amy Gilroy is the Editor of CEoutlook and a Contributing Author to Market Playground and Satellite Radio Playground.
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