Google Voice Search Explained

Google Voice Search
Logo Size:80px
Developer:Google
Genre:Search by voice on your mobile phone and desktop PC
Language:Multilingual

Google Voice Search or Search by Voice is a Google product that allows users to use Google Search by speaking on a mobile phone or computer, i.e. have the device search for data upon entering information on what to search into the device by speaking.

Initially named as Voice Action which allowed one to give speech commands to an Android phone. Once only available for the U.S. English locale – commands were later recognizable and replied to in American, British, and Indian English; Filipino, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.[1]

In Android 4.1+ (Jelly Bean), it was merged with Google Now.

In August 2014, a new feature was added to Google Voice Search, allowing users to choose up to five languages and the app will automatically understand the spoken language.[2]

Google Voice Search on Google.com

On June 14, 2011, Google announced at its Inside Google Search event that it would start to roll out Voice Search on Google.com during the coming days.[3] [4]

Google rolled out the support, but only for the Google Chrome browser.

History

Google Voice Search was a tool from Google Labs that allowed someone to use their phone to make a Google query. After the user called (650) 623-6706, the number of Google Voice's search system, they would wait for the words Say your Search Keywords and then say the keywords. Next, they would either wait to have the page updated, or click on a link to bring up the search page the user requested. At the moment, both the demo of this service and the page have been shut down. Since the introduction of the service, products from Google, such as GOOG-411, Google Maps and Google Mobile App, have been developed to use speech recognition technology in various ways.

On October 30, 2012, Google released a new Google Search app for iOS, which featured an enhanced Google Voice Search function, similar to that of the Voice Search function found in Google's Android Jelly Bean and aimed to compete with Apple's own Siri voice assistant.[5] The new app has been compared favorably by reviewers to Siri and The Unofficial Apple Weblog's side-by-side comparison said that Google's Voice Search on iOS is "amazingly quick and relevant, and has more depth [than Siri]".[6] Of note is that as of May 2016 20% of search queries on mobile devices were done through voice with the number expected to grow.[7]

Supported languages

The following languages and variants are partially supported in Google Voice Search:[8]

Integration in other Google products

Google Maps with voice search

In the summer of 2008, Google added voice search to the BlackBerry Pearl version of Google Maps for mobile, allowing Pearl users to say their searches in addition to typing them. See http://www.google.com/mobile/blackberry/maps.html for more information.

Google Mobile App with voice search

The Google Mobile app for Blackberry and Nokia (Symbian) mobiles allows users to search Google by voice at the touch of a button by speaking their queries. See http://www.google.com/mobile/apple/app.html for more information. Google also introduced voice search to all "Google Experience" Android phones with the 1.1 platform update, which includes the functionality on board the built-in Google Search widget.

In November 2008, Google added voice search to Google Mobile App on iPhone. With a later update, Google announced Voice Search for iPod touch. It requires a third party microphone.On August 5, 2009, T-Mobile launched the MyTouch 3G with Google, which features one-touch Google Voice Search.

Google Voice Search in YouTube

Since March 2010, a beta-grade derivation of Google Voice Search is used on YouTube to provide optional automatic text caption annotations of videos in the case that annotations are not provided. This feature is geared to the hearing-impaired and, at present, is only available for use by English-speaking users.[23]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Introducing Voice Actions for Android in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain . September 16, 2011. Google Mobile Blog.
  2. Web site: Google Voice Search can now handle multiple languages with ease . Moon . Mariella . August 15, 2015 . engadget . AOL Tech . 2016-02-25.
  3. van Vliet, Wouter (Tue June 14, 2011) Blog on ilikealot.com about the announcement
  4. Google (Tue June 14, 2011) Official announcement
  5. Web site: Google Search App for iOS Updated with new Voice Search function. October 30, 2012. Engadget.
  6. Web site: Siri vs Google Voice Search - May the Best Robot Helper Win. November 1, 2012. TUAW.
  7. Web site: With New Products, Google Flexes Muscles to Competitors, Regulators. .
  8. Web site: Google Voice Search. December 4, 2016. techappsmedia.
  9. Web site: Voice Search arrives in 13 new languages. August 17, 2012. Google Blog.
  10. Web site: Voice Search in Russian, Polish, Czech and Turkish. October 21, 2010. Google Mobile Blog.
  11. Web site: Hvordan slår jeg dansk sprog til i Google Now (Google Nu)?. October 2, 2014.
  12. Web site: Word of Mouth: Introducing Voice Search for Indonesian, Malaysian and Latin American Spanish. March 30, 2011. Google Mobile Blog.
  13. Web site: Google Search by Voice in Filipino. July 15, 2013. Rappler.
  14. Web site: Salut! Willkommen! Benvenuto! ¡Bienvenido! Google Search by Voice in French, German, Italian and Spanish. June 9, 2010. Google Mobile Blog.
  15. Web site: Voice Search arrives in the Middle East. December 5, 2011. Google Mobile Blog.
  16. Web site: Teaching a Computer to Understand Japanese. December 15, 2009. Google Research Blog.
  17. Web site: "Annyeong Haseyo! "안녕하세요" to Google Search by Voice in Korean. June 22, 2010. Google Mobile Blog.
  18. Web site: Google Search by Voice Learns Mandarin Chinese. November 2, 2009. Google Research Blog.
  19. Web site: Ig-pay Atin-lay Oice-vay Earch-say. April 1, 2011. Google Research Blog.
  20. Web site: Type less, talk more. August 14, 2017. Google Blog.
  21. Web site: Google Launches Cantonese Voice Search in Hong Kong. December 2, 2010. Google Research Blog.
  22. Web site: Voice Search in Underrepresented Languages. November 9, 2010. Google Research Blog.
  23. News: YouTube adds video captions. Daily Telegraph. March 5, 2010. March 7, 2010 . London . Matt . Warman.

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