I’m not sure about the state that you live in, but I happen to live in one that throws a pretty hefty fine at you for texting while driving. It’s something that I’m completely supportive of, by the way, as the habit is both amazingly stupid and hazardous to all involved. However, I don’t know about the people in your life but I happen to have a wife who texts me all the time. These texts, more often than not, seem to catch me when I’m on the road. To be fair, my wife texts me for valid reasons and it’s usually regarding something that needs an answer in a reasonable amount of time. On my rather long commutes, waiting until I get home is often too late for an adequate response. Pulling over is, of course, the proper thing to do but I am a lazy American and would rather keep driving.
Enter Dragon Dictation. Brought to us by Nuance Communications, Inc., Dragon Dictation is a voice recognition program that turns your voice into text that can then be brought into other applications on your iPhone/iPad. Many of the PC centric among us may already know of Nuance Communications popular program, Dragon Naturally Speaking. This iPad/iPhone application uses the same technology, this time to serve the needs of the mobile user.
The Dragon Dictation interface is amazingly simple. A big red record button is in the middle of your screen. Hit that record button and start speaking. A handy level meter is provided to show you just how loud you are talking and when you’ve finished, hit the stop button. The program quickly processes your voice and turns it into text.
Dragon Dictation then gives you three choices as to what you want to do with your newly created text. You can push “Email” and Dragon Dictation opens up your iPhone/iPad email application with the text already in there, ready for you to address and send. You can select “Text Message” and your SMS program opens, propagated once again with your text. The final choice is to simply copy your text to the Clipboard to be pasted into any application that utilizes the Cut, Copy and Paste feature.
So that’s what it’s supposed to do. The reality is that most of these voice recognition software programs are sketchy at best. When you use one of these voice to text programs, you really don’t have time to mess with a lot of editing, so making sure you get as close to 100% is ideal. Dragon Dictation, I’m happy to say, is one of the most accurate programs I’ve found in this category. That’s not to say that you’re not going to have to edit the occasional complicated phrase or two. The program, as you would imagine, has a keyboard button at that allows you to edit your text in order to accommodate this. However, after using Dragon Dictation for a few months now, I’m consistently surprised at how little I have to use it.
I, personally, find Dragon Dictation to be a must have for anyone who uses text as a basic means of personal/family communication. If you have an iPhone wielding teenager who’s driving, I can’t think of a more important tool for them to have when they travel. Anything that can be done to lessen the amount of texting and driving that is being done on the roads is a good thing and Dragon Dictation is one of the best. Not only is it a time saver but more than likely, it’s been a life saver too.
The best part is Dragon Dictation is a FREE application for the iPhone/iPhone and is also available for Blackberry phones as well. You don’t even have to think about this one. Go get it.
