Gadgetory

voice dictation it's a crucial feature for some a novelty for others and some people don't even know it's built into their phone but it's an important enough feature that Google Microsoft and Apple have each built a version of it into their platforms so today we're gonna do an informal head ed comparison to see how they measure up I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is voice dictation showdown between iOS Android and Windows Phone now we're not talking about virtual assistants like Google now Siri or s voice here with this video we're just comparing how the different platforms deal with translating voice input to text like if you're dictating an email or a text message for this test we're using an early 2012 iPad running the latest version of iOS a Google Nexus 7 running the latest version of Android jelly bean and a Nokia Lumia 920 running the latest version of Windows Phone 8 all three are running on the same wireless network of the three only androids offering can run without a network connection both iOS and Windows Phone need connectivity for voice dictation to work all three of these platforms feature a key toggle on the keyboard to activate voice dictation down here on Android it is next to the space bar it's also located next to the space bar on iOS and on Windows Phone once you enter a text field the voice dictation button becomes illuminated down in the bottom row under the keyboard so we've got three blank emails ready here let's just try and hit these devices with a common sentence and see how it goes the PocketNow weekly podcast is the best podcast ever I think it often features brandon anton and me this is a shameless plug see how this goes as you can see i'm good and stop the dictation there sorry as you can see Android dictates is the only one which dictates live the other two devices need to talk to the network and let's see how they did first with Android no it's got some interesting capitalization on Pocket now for the record the N has not capitalized the way we do it but it's interesting that it recognized it as one word I think it often features Brendan Anton and main this is a shameless plug tailors ghost as you can see yes indeed all right well that's fine and what about this in iOS the pocket now weekly podcast is the best podcast ever I think it often features Brennan antenori this is a shameless plug it was good as you can see compared to Android a much more accurate result from iOS and on Windows Phone the pocket now weekly podcast is the best podcast ever I think it I think it often features Brendan Anton and me this is a shameless plug pretty good you get the idea with all three of these devices but as you can see not a lot going on in punctuation these are just kind of solid blocks of text so from a punctuation standpoint these platforms all handle it relatively similarly Windows Android and iOS do not add any punctuation Windows Phone tries to add a little bit of punctuation where it thinks it might be appropriate putting a period at the end of that sentence there so let's see what happens when we try to add some punctuation manually the pocket now weekly podcast is the best podcast ever , I think period it often features Brandon comma Anton comma and me period this is a shameless plug exclamation point as you can see Windows Phone opted not to let us finish a point which I'm going to address in a second but let's bring up Android Android here the pocket no offense Rebecca ever comma I think period and it doesn't get often really but there's the commas between Brennan and town on me and it didn't really get the end of the sentence there but the exclamation point is present how about iOS doc in our weekly podcast is the best podcast ever I think it often features Brennan and on me this is a plug our nice exclamation point is press so is the rest of it and windows found not exactly bringing the heat with the punctuation just putting in the words for commas and of irritating so since it is the punctuation problem child here let's ask Windows Phone a question it adds question marks in the simplest of scenarios but fails with anything more complex what do you want it's added a question mark automatically there but let's say we do this one wouldn't you rather go to the store no question mark on the end of that very obvious sentence so from a punctuation standpoint Windows Phone gets points for trying to interpret it organically but it fails in the execution iOS and Android are much more useful for punctuation Laden sentences even though inputting punctuation this way is pretty awkward still it's nice to have the option now let's test hang time or how long the app will allow you to wait in between phrases we saw this with Windows Phone just a second ago but let's try a sentence here where we're thinking about what to say make sure to buy a nexus 7 and iPad Mini and oh I don't know an HP ZD 8000 may be a less suitable example than the real world example we just showed but as you can see Windows Phone make sure to buy an extra 7 and I've had many and I'll I don't know not the best translation there as Android even got the HP brand name correct for that very old computer I'm telling somebody to buy and iOS well not quite as good at divining what I was trying to say but it definitely waited for me to complete this sentence so as you can see you better know what you want to say to does phone before you say it it has no patience for your dithering Apple and iOS give you much longer listening times comparatively on the radio it's noisy as heck in here I sure wish I were in a quiet country home with only cats for company wait that's not true at all Android well Android wants to curse that's interesting fairly accurate iOS says well iOS has a really hard time dealing with any kind of background noise apparently and Windows Phone yeah Windows Phone didn't wait for us to finish I'm not surprised had enough of this me too that's enough of that calamity of course noise cancellation depends as much on your hardware's noise cancellation features as on the software so of course your mileage will vary in that respect next what we want to do is a quick context and syntax test with various forms of words in the same sentence we're talking about there there your your things like that so whether the weather be cold or whether the weather be hot will be together whatever the weather whether we like it or not well Android thought that maybe some of those weathers might be applicable in some circumstances it didn't get them all right but it definitely tried its best with that difficult tongue twister what about iOS iOS got the grammar perfectly on the weather weather test and Windows Phone which surprisingly let us finish Windows Phone also scoring perfectly on that interpretive test let's try another if you're going to bring your umbrella there your clothes will be better protected than their clothes will there's that first year the second your third your and they're the only thing you got wrong was the then and their confusion and can we correct that and yes it gives us the option to correct it very good job Android how about iOS well very nice it didn't get clubs and it didn't get there but we can do the tap to autocorrect and we can change it to them that's very pretty good performance they're not quite as nice but acceptable with a few Corrections and windows phone windows phone also mistaking my them then for them and we can very quickly do an autocorrect there and also asking a question at the end but overall not too bad all these devices do know a little bit better than some humans about the importance of then then your your there there etc and finally we'd like to see what happens when I slur my words a bit dropping the careful diction that some of you like and some detest will also mix in a proper name again to mess things up so first with proper diction Jaime Rivera hosts the PocketNow daily a once a day program about technology you should watch well let's see if Android got high mais name it did not I mean hi Matt Rivera host the pocket not daily once the day program about technology you should watch alright so not too bad hi may being a difficult name to pronounce apparently for voice dictation but it's an easy fix hi i OS however knows who Jaime Rivera is no wonder it's his favorite platform host the pocket now daily a once a day a program about technology you should watch very nice and what about Windows Phone Windows Phone turning our friend Jaime into an Australian hi mate Rivera hosts the pocket na daily I wanted a program about technology you should watch ok so there that is let's see what happens when we put in a whole lot less effort Jaime Rivera hosts the pocket now daily a once a day program about technology you should watch hi Mara there's a hosta talk about daily I wanted a program about technology you should watch obviously less accuracy there as I slurred just a little bit and sounded like a dejected teenager I mean Rivera posts the pocket now delay one said one today program okay so iOS also losing some accuracy there but not too much and Windows Phone hi am I right how is the packing now Delia wanted a program about technology you should watch all three platforms having some difficulty with that slurred speech so the moral of the story speak clearly when you are dictating so as always which platforms are best at a specific task depends on the task here though the differences are pretty stark if you know what you want to say and you can make it brief Windows Phone is just okay it doesn't get punctuation well at all even though it tries harder at interpreting your punctuation without you having to come right out and say it and it will cut you off if you stop for a breath which is very frustrating it's easily the most frustrating and least capable of the bunch but it does do a couple things well Android and iOS are the clear winners here they're smart adaptable and useful with very little functionality differences between them the biggest difference is androids ability to function off network that won't matter for some but if you're a frequent flyer who likes to annoy his seat mates by dictating long letters on an airplane or if you like verbally composing email drafts while waiting for a train in the subway Android is definitely the way to go and in terms of raw ability it comes out on top in this informal head-to-head that's going to do it for our informal voice dictation showdown if you liked the video throw us a thumbs up here if you have a comment you want to leave some feedback do so on the post at pocketnow.com follow us on twitter pocket now tweet is the official account you can follow me on twitter i'm at captain two phones it's captain the number two phones make sure and stay tuned for a lot more video and editorial content on iOS Android Windows Phone every mobile device there is in the days and weeks ahead once again thank you so much for watching and we'll see you next time