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Cactus Brings Free Voice Dialing To Your iPhone
Posted by Adam Pash at 7:00 AM on September 24, 2008
iPhone only: Considering that voice dialing has been a standard feature of even the cheapest phones for several years, the lack of any sort of hands-free voice dialing on the iPhone is frustrating. Cactus Voice Dialer is a free voice-dialing application based on an open-source speech recognition engine called PocketSphinx. Since it's speech recognition, there's no set up required. Just call a number by saying the contact's name and—if necessary—which number to call (e.g., "Adam Pash's mobile"). Cactus isn't the only voice dialing app available in the App Store, but it is currently the only free voice dialer as far as we can tell (VoiceDial, for example, is a whopping $US15). For as young as it is (and the lack of price tag), I'd say Cactus has a lot of promise. If only Apple would allow apps to tie to special buttons, like double-click home.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
Phoshi
Posted 7:29 AM 24/9/08
Voice dialing is a flawed concept.
It doesn't work when you need it - IE, you need speed, because when you recorded it, everything was quiet.
Phoshi
x3r0
Posted 7:23 AM 24/9/08
You have to also keep your finger directly on the "SPEAK" button inside the application while you speak...which also defeats the purpose if you have to touch an intangible button while talking. Given the button is quite large, you still shouldn't ever have to even think about looking at the phone for a voice dialing app.
Also, it's awfully inaccurate for me while trying it. Speaking naturally, it rarely works for me. It even rarely works when I dumb down my speaking for the app :\
Please! We need a good voice dial app. Such a shame it's a missing feature of this phone...suuuuuch a shame.
People are also complaining of instant crashes of the app even on the 2.1 software.
x3r0
hadees
Posted 7:09 AM 24/9/08
Great idea but doesn't it defeat the purpose if you have to click a button to launch it?
hadees
Eric
Posted 7:49 AM 24/9/08
So not only does this appear to be a failed attempt (albeit a heart-in-the-right-place one), but Apple hasn't (a) pulled it down or (b) copied it? I'm surprised.
Eric
scarymike23
Posted 7:47 AM 24/9/08
crashes on load 100% of the time for me (and a bunch of reviewers.)
scarymike23
Sam_Zebian
Posted 8:25 AM 24/9/08
I hope apple gets there act together an releases some everyday features for the iphone before the next one is released... I used to have a Tilt, and since I got my iphone 3g, I hardly use my bluetooth headset (and it was expensive- I bought the Jawbone II after upgrading from a Jawbone I) because of the lack of voice-dialing , I can't sync via bluetooth (or wifi, which the iphone is capable of), I can't even record videos without jailbreaking (which I did), and I can't tether at all unless I jailbreak, which I normally do because of jailbreaking. I can't even remove my battery, so I had to buy an external USB charger and additional iphone cable. No flash is a pain in the ass for some (although very few) sites I regularly visit. Also, the hold switch only mutes ringers, like SMS notifications and calls, but not apps, which is annoying if you use your phone in school like I do. It needs to have SMS in landscape mode too, the keyboard on the iphone in portrait is fine for basic typing and web browsing, but for SMS, it's annoying as hell, I txt so slow now. Most of all, the main feature I would like added is the frieken ability to COPY and PASTE! I don't even need cutting function really, but if you do that too, good job apple, you've just joined the ranks of WinMo, BB, Android and Symbian! I know some of these things require new hardware, but a lot can be done by software. I'm not an unhappy iphone owner, just a picky one that was spoiled with all of the features of a BASIC phone before getting an iphone. If the iphone was my 1st phone, then maybe I wouldn't mind as much.
Sam_Zebian
jgeezy
Posted 8:34 AM 24/9/08
not true...its not the only free one..i have Voice Dialer on my iphone and its free and works fine.
jgeezy
hippytyre
Posted 9:12 AM 24/9/08
@Sam_Zebian: You basically echoed everything I think of my girlfriends new iPhone. The first thing I noticed was the lack of copy/paste and found it really annoying. Great little phone though :D (Although not so little)
hippytyre
Adam Pash
Posted 8:56 AM 24/9/08
@Phoshi: That may still be true, but that's not how this app works. It's voice recognition, so you don't record anything. I'm sure noise is still a problem, though.
Adam Pash
Adam Pash
Posted 8:55 AM 24/9/08
@jgeezy: Where is that in the app store? Link?
Adam Pash
loyaleagle
Posted 11:08 AM 24/9/08
It worked surprisingly well for me. It is a bit of a silly app which is why I gave it only 2 stars, but it's not altogether useless and I can see how it could be used for quick contact navigation.
But yes we need a native app....
Oh and thanks for the link Adam! We love you guys over at MakeUseOf!
loyaleagle
daftary
Posted 11:06 AM 24/9/08
i used a free voice dialing app called SpeechCloud voice dialer which was pretty accurate. But it stopped working after the 2.1 iphone update. The latest version apparently works with 2.1 but is no longer free.
daftary
x3r0
Posted 11:33 AM 24/9/08
@x3r0: Obvious typo..."You CAN'T get a crap load of iPhones to test your app on."
x3r0
x3r0
Posted 11:31 AM 24/9/08
Alright, I'd like to comment again on the app.
I emailed the developer of the application after I downloaded it tried it out, and received an email response in less than an hour.
He informed me he's working hard to release an update that only some users are experiencing. The problem with the SDK and the App Store is that you can't beta test! You can't give your friends copies of the app to test it out to make sure it runs. You can get a crap load of iPhones to test your app on. If it works on yours, you release it! This is not a developers fault...it's Apples! Now he didn't say that, but that's my opinion.
He said he's working fervently to get that issue resolved, and he said he have some very good plans to increase the accuracy of the app. It's the first release. I also sent him a feature request asking to make it recognize when you start speaking instead of having to touch the screen.
This is one of the few developers I've seen to respond to my emails so quickly. I'm excited to see what he has in store, and I'll be keeping a close eye on this app to see where it goes.
x3r0
jdoree
Posted 11:50 PM 24/9/08
@jgeezy: I have Voice Dialer as well and got it for free. However, last time I saw it in the store it wasn't free anymore. Now I don't see it there at all.
It works fairly well but still, the idea of voice dialing is that it should be quick and easy. Having to find an app, start it up, press a button and then say who you want to call makes it almost pointless.
C'mon Apple, get yer heads out and build this feature in fer %#@* sakes! (after you add copy/paste of course)
jdoree
jdoree
Posted 2:28 AM 25/9/08
@Adam Pash: Actually this app is still in the app store but as daftary correctly points out it's called SpeechCloud Voice Dialer. It's not free anymore; now listed as $4.99
jdoree
Deadhacker
Posted 2:57 AM 25/9/08
Now if the iPhone were not tied to AT&T, I'd get one. Voice dialing is the main obstacle to acceptance of the hardware, for me; but if it's choice between AT&T and no cell phone, I'll do without the phone. Mind you, I don't like Verizon much, either, but I get cell service in lots of places where my friends who have AT&T can't even get a signal, so I'll stick with Verizon until AT&T's commercials ("more bars in more places," isn't it?) are true. Right now, they strike me as outright lies.
Deadhacker
Onouris
Posted 9:02 AM 25/9/08
Several? My Nokia 3310 from WAAAAAY back when had voice dialling.
Onouris
Gix0r
Posted 7:54 AM 24/9/08
Haven't tried it out yet, but I agree it seems to defeat the purpose of voice dialing. I guess it's better than scrolling through a huge list of contacts. Yet another feature the iPhone stupidly lacks. Good thing my last phone didn't have it, so I never got used to it...
Gix0r
Gix0r
Posted 7:51 AM 24/9/08
I guess this would be better than scrolling through a list of huge contacts. Yet another seemingly obvious feature the iPhone lacks. Good thing my last phone didn't have it, so I never got used to it...
Gix0r
Gix0r
Posted 7:48 AM 24/9/08
I haven't tried this yet, but I agree that it seems to defeat the purpose of voice dialing. I guess it's better than scrolling through a huge list of contacts though. Another one of the seemingly obvious features the iPhone sorely needs. Good thing my last phone didn't have it either, so I never got used to it :P
Gix0r