.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Microsoft Voice Command for Pocket PC talks back and keeps you safe
.AUTHOR Tim Hillebrand
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Microsoft Voice Command for Pocket PC helps you take control of your Pocket PC through speech. The question is: does it work? You’ll have to read this review by Tim Hillebrand to find out.
It seems I’m always talking to Hank, my Pocket PC, scolding him for this, asking him for that. But he is as responsive as a stump.
Well, Hank just had a brain infusion with Microsoft Voice Command. Not only can I order him around, but he can also talk back. I can tell him to play my favorite music, shuffle it, or to play a particular genre. I can tell him to launch any program in the Start menu and up it pops. I can ask for my appointments or to display a particular contact. Voice command is a simple to use, interactive method of bossing around your Pocket PC out loud.
While Voice Command works fine on 2003 Pocket PCs, it was intended more for Pocket PC phone users. This makes for a much safer driving environment since most people use a phone while driving.
The commands are simple, intuitive, and easy to remember. To make a phone call, simply say, "Call Contact Name." The program will respond with, "Call Contact Name at home, work, or mobile." You respond with the appropriate location, and the program will say, "Call Contact Name at work. Is that correct." You say, "Yes" or "Correct."
To save time, simply say, "Call Contact Name at Work." The number is dialed and you may begin speaking when the call is answered. What could be simpler? To make driving even safer, Pocket PC Phones have a speaker phone feature, making calling totally hands free. I don’t know about you, but this makes me feel a lot safer in traffic. Now all I have to worry about is other drivers who do not have the advantage of Voice Command.
Speaking of driving, nothing makes driving more pleasurable than listening to some good music or to an audio book. Voice Command is again at your service by merely calling up what you’d like to listen to Windows Media Player. Just say, "Play Name of Tune." You can even tell it to play all your music and to shuffle it. Or you can play a particular type of music such as rock or classical.
I am particularly fond of how Voice Command functions as an application launcher with the ability to invoke any program in the Start menu. This can be a handy time-saver. I only wish it had more depth to it for such things as editing or reading text aloud. But, I suppose there are other programs that do fulfill this wish. All you have to do is say, "Start Application Name," or "Open Application Name," and it happens, as if by magic.
By default the Menu button turns the program on, but you can program any button for this task, should you wish to change it. This is an important feature, for if the program were running all the time in standby mode, your casual conversation might invoke unwanted responses.
The voice recognition ability of the program is excellent and it is set to filter out background noise so that it functions well in automobiles and on trains and planes and in other background noise intense places such as factories.
.BREAK_EMAIL Tap here and you’ll learn even more.
To illustrate how simple the program is to use, Table A contains a list of the easy to learn and use commands.
.BEGIN_TAB_TABLE A Microsoft Voice Command command set
.TAB_TABLE_WIDTH 20% 80%
.TAB_TABLE_HEADER Type Command
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Phone Commands Call Contact Name
Call Contact Name at home, work, mobile, cell, home two, work two
Call contact name on car phone, pager, assistant phone, radio phone
Dial 555-213-2222 or eight-hundred 555-2222
Show contact name
Redial
Callback
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Calendar Commands What are my meetings (appointments)?
What’s my schedule (calendar)?
What are my meetings (appointments) tomorrow?
What’s my calendar (schedule) tomorrow?
What’s my next meeting (appointment)?
Start Calendar
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Windows Media Player Commands Play media (music)
Play everything (album, album name, artist, artist name, genre, genre name)
Play album by artist name
Pause
Stop
Play
Next, Next track
Previous, previous track
Shuffle on, Shuffle off
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Application Launcher Start application name
Open application name
.END_TAB_TABLE
And what if you suddenly turn stumplike as Hank used to be and can’t remember a command? All you have to do is scream, "Help," or "What can I say." The program will respond with a list of commands.
What can I say? This program works, and it works well. It really has no learning curve for the user nor for the program itself. I tested it with several individuals, and it worked equally well for everyone. As long as the program works so well, why does it not have greater depth for such things as editing?
I hope that future versions will pay attention to other common tasks and operations and incorporate appropriate commands into the program. At first I had a little difficulty understanding what the voice was saying to me, but once I got used to it, we were fine together. You do have a choice of voices, by the way.
.H1 Microsoft Voice Command now available in retail outlets
Increased consumer demand has now driven Microsoft Voice Command to the shelves of retail outlets. Previously it was only available for download on Handango.com where it is, of course still available. Actually, this is a significant event, for it is the first time that Microsoft has made a Pocket PC product available in retail stores.
For a boxed version of this best-selling voice-controlled software, you may visit any of these new retail partners: CompUSA, Fry’s, Amazon, Microcenter, J&R, MobilePlanet, CRW and distributors Ingram Micro and Tech Data.
In addition to Voice Command, the new Entertainment PocketPak is also now available in the retail stores mentioned above. Entertainment Pocket Pac features ten popular Pocket PC game titles, and is perfect for "in-between" times while on the go. It costs $29.95 or three bucks a game, which I suppose isn’t too steep overall.
Table B shows the games Microsoft Entertainment PocketPak includes.
.BEGIN_TAB_TABLE B PocketPak programs
.TAB_TABLE_WIDTH 20% 80%
.TAB_TABLE_HEADER Game Description
.TAB_TABLE_ROW BlackJack Lose your shirt playing BlackJack on your Pocket PC.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Chess The classic game of chess.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Cinco Cinco is a word game where you try to guess a word by matching letters in other words.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW FreeCell The Solitaire card game that’s become a desktop favorite.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Hearts A card game where all hearts and the Queen of Spades are to be avoided. It’s also infrared-play enabled.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Minesweeper Find the mines before they find you.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Reversi An ancient Chinese tile game — the person with the most tiles when the board is full wins. Infrared-play enabled.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Sink the Ships Fill a grid with ships, then hunt out your opponents. Also infrared-play enabled.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Space Defense Stop the incoming lasers before they destroy your outposts.
.TAB_TABLE_ROW Taipei Tile matching game — remove all the tiles to get a fortune.
.END_TAB_TABLE
If you haven’t tried Voice Command, you owe it to yourself to establish a more intimate relationship with your pocket companion and to get on speaking terms with it. I think you will come to agree with me that not having Voice Command on your Pocket PC is like having candy without chocolate.
.RATING 4
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on Voice Command, visit http://www.pocketpc.com.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO Timothy S. Hillebrand, Ph.D., a retired archaeologist, runs a data processing business from his home office, and enjoys writing, his Japanese garden, and his recumbent bike. A longtime PDA enthusiast, he takes great pleasure in lecturing on eBooks and electronic publishing, and telling librarians that eBooks rule and treebooks drool.
