OT:Suggestion for google (rant)

can you introduce a checkbox "ignore content from fuckwits" ?

I'm trying to get Mrs Android phone to speak SMS messages[1] like (embarrassingly) my Windows phone does. Sadly googling for "Android TTS for SMS" throws up loads of posts from people asking how they can speak their texts to their phone (Speech To Text), using TTS.

Grrrrr.....

[1]Have installed Handcent, which everyone seems to agree is the app to do this. Unfortunately I can't see how. Posting on droidforums - despite 400+ views has yet to prompt an answer.
Reply to
Jethro_uk
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A normal google search for [Android "text to speech" SMS] seems to do reasonable well with the double qutes, but a play search is better

Reply to
Andy Burns

Cheers ! Although I stand by my original assertion ;)

Reply to
Jethro_uk

I am so far out of the loop on phones, can I ask whether they do speech recognition for texts?

I think there have been voice commands for ages, but free speech recognition is a lot harder ofc.

Reply to
GB

Would not searching on google play make more sense?

Reply to
John Rumm

Yes, Android lets me prod the microphone icon on-screen, then I can say e.g.

"Send text to Fred Bloggs, Sorry, I'm running late see you in half an hour"

or whatever, and it picks Fred from the phone book (without having had to train it with his name) and prepares a text ready to hit send.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Ah, you'd think

Anyway, found part of the answer. But unless I am going crazy, it seems Android will simply not work properly with the BT handsfree headsets I have - it seems it needs headsets with A2DP working.

Even my windows phone works perfectly with my JabraBT150

I am currently alternating between fuming and disbelief

Reply to
Jethro_uk

Does the text actually read "Sorry, I'm running late see you in half an hour" ? I have quite good speech recognition software on my PC, and it's not always accurate.

Reply to
GB

Usually yes, it does have the occasional humorous misunderstanding, but it doesn't blindly send it, the voice recognition is done by Google's servers rather than being restricted to the horsepower of a phone.

Reply to
Andy Burns

My Samsung Galaxy S2 does it. Pretty well, but not perfect.

Reply to
Bob Eager

Ah, that's clever. Do you have to do a period of training of the software to your voice?

Reply to
GB

No, just tell it you'll be speaking British English, and whether or not to include rude words.

Reply to
Andy Burns

Have you tried pairing with both modes? If its the Jabra I am thinking of it will pair differently if you held down one of the buttons when you put it into pairing mode, not that I recall which button.

Reply to
dennis

The speech recognition software that I use is nowhere near perfect, even though I use it in a quiet environment. I cannot begin to imagine what utter rubbish it would produce somewhere noisy, and of course people tend to use their mobile phones in less than perfect surroundings for dictation purposes. So I take my hat off to Google for sorting this out.

Reply to
GB

No, the BT150 only has one mode.

I have posted on the Wildfire S forum, but no replies as of yet. I simply refuse to believe that Windows Phone can work perfectly with bluetooth, while android struggles, but right now, that seems to be the case.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

You can get more grunt in a car. No power or heat limitations to speak of.

My car only does preprogrammed commands for various things, but it does them accurately without any training.

Reply to
Bob Eager

As Andy said earlier, "the voice recognition is done by Google's servers rather than being restricted to the horsepower of a phone".

Reply to
Alan Braggins

Just a followup, for anyone vaguely interested.

Seems android and bluetooth are a right old state. On the basis that my useless Windows Phone's voice control works flawlessly, the android state of affairs is positively cringeworthy.

I have tried out about 15 apps, which claim to be able to drive the audio through the bluetooth. None did. A lot of googling reveals that android seems to want the A2DP device profile in it's headsets to get audio (as opposed to phone calls) to them. I would accept this, if it wasn't for the fact that the headset I use with my Windows Phones doesn't have A2DP. Yet it picks up the phones audio (certainly the voice prompts).

Finally I stumbled on "Voice Control" - a paid for app, which has a test version available, so you can test it works with your setup before you buy. I have set it up for the Mrs to try. Early signs are promising, although it's a battery hog.

Funny - I'd happily shell out £10, maybe £20 for a tool which looks like it *might* be useful. But £1.29 for an app - oh no, I have to trial it first !

Reply to
Jethro_uk

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