I believe it was last Friday morning when I started seeing the fevered buzz about the imminent release of the updated version Google Mobile App for the iPhone with Voice Search and every other news/rumor site on the interweb had embedded the above YouTube video from Google. I quickly lost count of how many of the bloggers were prognosticating that it should be out ANY MINUTE NOW. So like the dutiful geek that I have become, at any opportunity I could find throughout the day Friday, I checked the Updates tab in the App Store with heightened anticipation of the arrival of the magical application. With somewhat reduced anticipation, I did my hourly checks of the App Store through the day and into the evening on Saturday. By Sunday, I was in a somewhat lessened state of enthusiasm as I made my somewhat more irregular checks of the App Store. I think I only checked twice or thrice on Monday, so diminished were my hopes of seeing the mythical App from Mountain View any time soon.
Finally, shortly after I awoke on Tuesday morning, the App appeared on the Updates tab. I sleepily stabbed at the Install button three or four times before I was successful, punched in my password and waited with baited breath as it installed itself on my iPhone. I clicked the App’s icon to launch it and pondered what to ask the new Oracle I held in the palm of my hand. I brought it to my ear as I had been instructed in the video and when I heard the beep, I spoke, “local restaurants that serve breakfast.” (At 6:15 in the morning, what else would one ask? Food is the second thing that occurs to those of us of a certain age upon waking, and I had already attended to the first thing.) I lowered my hand to watch the screen, which had the sine wave representation of my voice query, the word “Working” above it and the white “rolling caterpillar” below it. After a moment, the caterpillar stopped rolling, “Finished” replaced “Working” and I had my results. Unfortunately, my question had be interpreted once it reached Google’s cloud as “stones that serve breakfast.” Certainly not nearly as dramatic as I had been hoping.
I tried a few more questions and these were actually returned correctly. I suppose I may have been less fully awake than I had thought I was and had slurred or mumbled more than I usually do. Perhaps, this new app just needs to get used my Southern Indiana drawl; I mean, even after 8 years, Lynda still has trouble with it. Still, with further use, it seem to adapt and returned flawless results as I tested it throughout the morning. Still, it wasn’t as bad as the early iterations of the Newtons from Apple.
Among the other nice things in the new release is the fact that the app utilizes Location Services, so when you ask it a question, you receive results pertinent to your location. So, when you ask it to find the nearest Starbucks or sushi bar — to use the examples from Apple’s iPhone ads — you get the ones closest to where you and your iPhone happen to be standing. Likewise, movie listings will reflect what is playing at your local 50-screen ultramegacineplex — which this week would be 15 screens of Quantum of Solace, 15 screens of Madagascar 2, 15 more screens of Role Models and 5 screens of High School Musical XV. Of course, you can still type in your query, but then what sort of self-respecting geek would you be? Also, the updated app now keeps a history of your searches for quick access if you have to come back for another look.
Another new feature they added, unrelated to searches is the App tab at the bottom on the main page to give you access to other Google services like GMail, Calendar, Docs and even Google Earth. There is an Edit button to let you organize the apps in a way that is more conducive to the way you work with them. As a long-time Mac user, I like being able to change things to suit the way I work, which is something that I have always found lacking when I work with PCs unless I want to jump through 47 hoops first to do it. It is nice that Google has imbued the app with this Mac-like touch. I am sure Goodle is working hard to bring a version of this app to other mobile platforms, but I am glad they brought it to the iPhone first.
This works with both generations of the iPhone and the iPod Touch
I already get enough strange looks when I am talking on the iPhone as I am either using my Shure SE210
Ok, I guess it is time to answer the implied question as to whether this app was worth all the hype of the previous four days that while I was talking to Lynda, I had likened being akin to either the Second Coming or the sudden, unexpected discovery of intelligent life in the marbled halls of Washington, DC? Probably not, but it does usher in a new era of voice control on mobile devices and this is what was leading several of the tech pundits last Friday to label the Google Mobile App as the Killer Application for the iPhone. Again, we’ll just have to see how that shakes out. I can tell you that it despite my first query’s less than optimal result, the Voice Search feature is probably better than 95% accurate and will hopefully get even better as they refine their algorithms up in the cloud. Certainly, it is a good bargain since it is free for the downloading. So go ahead and try it out, it is a valuable tool, even on the iPod Touch
This posting marks the first time I have written the majority of an article on my iPhone rather than on my MacBook Pro and using the WordPress Mobile app on the iPhone to do minor edits. Hopefully, I will try this again in the not too distant future, as it could be most convenient to use on the road, especially for shorter postings.
Tags: Apple Computer, Gadgets, Google, iPhone
