Voice Software for Portable Devices

A new application gives users a new way to interact with a Pocket PC: they give it commands by voice, and it provides an audio response where appropriate. Released in Nov. 2003, Voice Command is the first consumer product released by Microsoft’s Automotive Business Unit and is meant to make driving safer when using a Pocket PC.

Voice Command is not a voice recognition product-it cannot be used for dictation-but it can be used to launch applications (it recognizes the names of applications displayed in the Programs menu), perform certain Outlook functions (such as looking up contacts and appointments), and play music with the Windows Media Player. Voice Command also allows users with Pocket PC Voice Edition to place phone calls by stating the name of a contact or dictating a phone number. At this point, there are no plans to make APIs available so that third-party software will work with Voice Command.

Based on technology developed by Microsoft Research, Voice Command has two main strengths. First, it requires no voice training and can be used by multiple speakers-even those with fairly heavy accents. Second, the software understands many different commands for the same function, offering flexibility seldom seen in more familiar voice-controlled applications, such as telephone voice-mail systems. For example, a user can say “What’s my next appointment?” or “What’s my calendar?” and Voice Command will read back a list of meetings in either case.