Google's Voice-Enabled Search for iPhone Now Available

[firstapple]

Google's seems to have released an update to their Googile Mobile App, but it is not showing up in the App Store Yet. A quick search on Lifehacker . com will show this.

The comments say you must first delete it off the computer and redownload, and the app should then have the voice-recognition.

*Testing it Now*

Life Hacker (http://lifehacker.com/5091504/new-google-mobile-iphone-app-with-voice+recognition-now-available)

It works!!!

[MadDog31]

On my way!!!!! Been looking forward to this app big time for some reason.

EDIT: Very nice...is there a way to search contacts through it w/o it going to Google? I guess I need to play around with that some.

Overall a tremendous upgrade that makes searching a bit easier!

[MotionxxUSxx]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

it's freaking amazing. Best app yet.

[firstapple]

So far it works great! Amazing job Google... Best part is its free! Wonder why this is a quiet update so far...

* Looks like it is starting to show up in the App Store on my phone now as an update... *

[Warbrain]

It's great - showed it to my entire family and they were amazed at how well it picks up the words.

[Digipimp]

how do you search your own contacts?

[jhkaplan]

Runs pretty slow for me, even on WIFI, but awesome nonetheless.

[firstapple]

how do you search your own contacts?


I still haven't figured this one out yet... Anyone get contact search working yet?

[Stocktrader]

All I can say is WOW

[MBX]

I have the google mobile app installed but it says there are no updates in the app store!?!?

Why am i not getting the update?

[superstrikertwo]

You can't voice search for contacts but if you type a contact name into search it brings them up.

[firstapple]

I have the google mobile app installed but it says there are no updates in the app store!?!?

Why am i not getting the update?


Did you read my original post? It seems as though the update has not been "pushed" out yet... You have to uninstall and then redownload the Google Mobile App, and it will then automagically be there!

You can't voice search for contacts but if you type a contact name into search it brings them up.

This is how mine is working so far too, but it doesn't make much sense why voice wouldn't work for this...

[MBX]

Ok i deinstalled it and re-installed it and it's the new version now. Strange it didn't update it via updater.

I must say i'm not yet so impressed with it's accuracy at all. I've tested about 6 things so far (nothing too complicated) and the only thing it really understood was when i said "Google".

[Digipimp]

You can't voice search for contacts but if you type a contact name into search it brings them up.

i was excited about this but you cant even search with voice for contacts. on top of that in the video it shows one click calling the contact through the search but when i search i have to click the contact, which brings up the contact and then i have to click the number as well.

[MBX]

Oh no. I can't believe google still didn't implement safari in it's app like most of the cool apps outthere.

It still takes you to the external safari and if you want to access the other google tools.

[firstapple]

Oh no. I can't believe google still didn't implement safari in it's app like most of the cool apps outthere.

It still takes you to the external safari and if you want to access the other google tools.


I agree. This is very annoying, as when you are done in Safari you have to go back and open your Google app again. I believe Google will continue making great updates to this over time, as it is only at "version 0.1.414"

[MBX]

I agree. This is very annoying, as when you are done in Safari you have to go back and open your Google app again. I believe Google will continue making great updates to this over time, as it is only at "version 0.1.414"

Well i hope there will be enough people demanding this. Hopefully they do it for the next update.

[MBX]

Another annoying issue is that there's no way to hide search history unless to delete it everytime after you finished using it.

I wish it wouldn't show the search history when you start the app. What if someone else plays with my iphone and see's i've tested the voice-feature with "how big is my penis"?

[davidwarren]

Another annoying issue is that there's no way to hide search history unless to delete it everytime after you finished using it.

I wish it wouldn't show the search history when you start the app. What if someone else plays with my iphone and see's i've tested the voice-feature with "how big is my penis"?

is that available on the internet?

[firstapple]

Another annoying issue is that there's no way to hide search history unless to delete it everytime after you finished using it.

I wish it wouldn't show the search history when you start the app. What if someone else plays with my iphone and see's i've tested the voice-feature with "how big is my penis"?

Well you just said it in a public forum in a pretty popular thread for views, so I don't think it matters anymore if someone uses your phone and sees it.

You can however change it to open up on "Apps" instead in the settings menu. But your history is still saved when you click on the search tab.

[Eric Isaacson]

Just downloaded it. Thanks for the heads up. I don't know how much I'll use it but it looks cool.

[superstrikertwo]

Oh no. I can't believe google still didn't implement safari in it's app like most of the cool apps outthere.

It still takes you to the external safari and if you want to access the other google tools.

They should team with Firefox to make the browser.

[spyker3292]

Agh, couldn't understand my username. The spelling was right, but there was a space inbetween name and numbers. Screwed up everything! :D

Anyway, works great.

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/17/googles-voice-enabled-search-for-iphone-now-available/)

Lifehacker reports (http://lifehacker.com/5091504/new-google-mobile-iphone-app-with-voice+recognition-now-available) that Google's new Voice-Enabled Search application is now live in the App Store (sort of).

The new application is actually an update to Google's existing Google Mobile Application (http://appshopper.com/reference/google-mobile-app) that is already available in the App Store. The version update adds Voice-Enabled search which was widely reported (http://www.macrumors.com/iphone/2008/11/14/google-brining-voice-search-to-iphone/) last week. Users of the free application .... can place the phone to their ear and ask virtually any question, like “Where’s the nearest Starbucks?” or “How tall is Mount Everest?” The sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the Google search engine.While the new version has not yet propagated to the App Store's update notification service, when users download the application, they are given the new version. iPhone users who already have the Google Mobile Application installed will have to delete the application and re-download it to get the new version at this time.

App Store Link: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284815942&mt=8

Article Link: Google's Voice-Enabled Search for iPhone Now Available (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/11/17/googles-voice-enabled-search-for-iphone-now-available/)

[SnowLeopard2008]

Wow looking forward to it when I get back home. How is it working so far? Any issues or mistakes that the app makes?

[davidwarren]

I did the delete/add to get it, and now it shows up as an update, but also says installed so I can't get rid of the notice....

[archi17]

This should be very good if it works as expected. Downloading now...

[dissdnt]

Kinda works with common words, pretty nifty.

[plumbingandtech]

Works very well.

A must have front page iphone app.

[kas23]

This app is awesome! By far the best and most useful app out there. It has improved by a mile over the last Google mobile app.

One thing I did notice was that Google Earth is on the "apps" tab. So, can we then delete the stand-alone GE app? Otherwise, its just taking up space.

It must be a full moon out tonight. CastCatcher was updated and Google Mobile App was updated in a very strange backdoor kinda way.

Update: I tired to delete my Google Earth and access it through my Google apps tab and could not. In order to view Google Earth through the apps tab, you need to have Google Earth installed on your phone.

[kjs862]

Wow, this is great. I can see myself using this when I'm driving or something like that.

Would be nice if they can use this to make phone calls now.

[plinx0r]

wow, just wow. i'm extremely impressed with this update. everything i've spoken so far has been perfectly interpreted. good stuff.

[lucasgladding]

It recognized my first voice search, then crashed immediately after displaying the list of results. It may simply be that the iPhone needs a restart from leaks from other applications - we'll see...

That said, the application looks great and I'm really liking the app icons.

[Saladinos]

Works really well.

I'd really like better integration with Google Apps though. For example, a native view for news instead of launching the page in the browser.

If it had native interfaces for the apps, it would instantly be a must-have application.

[mdwsta4]

DL'd it.... uh, I don't get it. so you basically use it to search the internet by your voice instead of typing? and that's about it? you can't voice speak your contacts, notes, find music, etc.
i guess it's an interesting idea, but what's the point really?
*deleted*

[chr1s60]

Only tested it a few times, but it worked really well.

[kas23]

DL'd it.... uh, I don't get it. so you basically use it to search the internet by your voice instead of typing? and that's about it? you can't voice speak your contacts, notes, find music, etc.
i guess it's an interesting idea, but what's the point really?
*deleted*

I get what you're saying. But, Jeez, if you have this type of attitude towards this app, then you have to have it for the entire iPhone, which is the epitome of form/glitz over function.

You'll see as Apple begins to allow more and more basic functions onto this phone, you will hear a lot of ooohs and ahhhhs, like people are being introduced to the wheel.

[ElectricBrain]

I did the delete/add to get it, and now it shows up as an update, but also says installed so I can't get rid of the notice....

I have the same problem.

I've tried completely uninstalling it but the update notification is still there.

[reinman78]

It's about time, been waiting since friday. I love this app.

[LastZion]

Amazing!!
Best app ever! and free

[MikeMayer]

Works decently.

[gdeusthewhizkid]

nice got it.....

why does so many people here have multiple ipods.... lol.. im still confused about that...

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Eh.... I'm not that impressed. I say Donkey Porn, I get Donkey Corn. That may seem like a minimal difference - but trust me - the results yielded are VERY different.

[thomasfxlt]

I just did 15 searches in a row, (some obscure stuff too) and it worked virtually flawlessly.

Try...."find a starbucks in (your town)..

it pulls up a map. Not bad.

[okrelayer]

keep the app held to your ear when you speak, and keep it there for a few seconds, you'll hear the strangest exercist voice you will ever hear. no lie

[mdwsta4]

ideally i would think an app like this would function in ways like say...
'john doe' and it would pull up john doe's contact info. or even better, 'email jane.' 'call jane at work', 'play pink floyd track mother' etc. you know, voice commands to do/find things on your phone.

i love the iphone because of how it simplifies certain tasks. i don't think this simplifies anything useful other than saying a website you want to visit. what's really the point of launching an app, typing in 'er' to find 'erin' in your contacts when you could have simply pulled up the phone book and done the same thing? and the fact you can't search anywhere else on your phone (unless i'm missing that) other than contacts, it's a pretty limiting app.

but what do i know.

I get what you're saying. But, Jeez, if you have this type of attitude towards this app, then you have to have it for the entire iPhone, which is the epitome of form/glitz over function.

You'll see as Apple begins to allow more and more basic functions onto this phone, you will hear a lot of ooohs and ahhhhs, like people are being introduced to the wheel.

[modernangel76]

So far the Voice enabled google app is really slow and crashes excessively. Much faster to just type out your searches.

[kajitox]

It is now showing up as an update.

Cheers.

[That70sGAdawg]

You'll see as Apple begins to allow more and more basic functions onto this phone, you will hear a lot of ooohs and ahhhhs, like people are being introduced to the wheel.[/QUOTE]

Well "spoken" !!

A great App...

[rikers_mailbox]

Overview and demo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3z7Tw1K17A) of the new Google.app posted on YouTube.

The voice recognition works quite well with my midwestern accent. This is incredible technology.

[spyker3292]

Is there a way to search maps without switching from standard search first?

[Telp]

Works Very well. Not perfect, but i am impressed.

[DocNYz]

I have the same problem.

I've tried completely uninstalling it but the update notification is still there.

If you leave the app store and then go back in, WITHOUT deleting the original program, the update now shows up and works, and the accuracy is impressive (I've tried some ridiculous questions).

[kas23]

I have the same problem.

I've tried completely uninstalling it but the update notification is still there.

You have to delete it manually on your iPhone and then re-install it using the app store on your iPhone. Don't install via iTunes and then sync through iTunes. That will get rid of it.

On a different note, I wonder if Google is going to start cozying up with Apple now.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081117/yahoo_ceo_change.html

This is likely going to cause M$ to land Yahoo at a third of the price they were initially offering. Wow, Yang really screwed the pooch on this one.

[firstapple]

The update has been pushed through to the AppStore on the phone now. So the update notification has disappeared on my phone.

[kas23]

Is there a way to search maps without switching from standard search first?

Have you tried tapping on the magnify glass on the left of the search field? You'll get more search options.

[Porksword]

I just checked my updates and Google Mobile came right up and downloaded quickly.

[slevit1]

It's working reasonably well for me. I was able to download it on the iPhone as an update from the older version. The voice recognition is pretty good, but not quite as consistent as I would like. Some words which I was sure it would mess up, such as "spherocytosis" it got right, but it messed up some much simpler requests. Unfortunately, not in the US, so can't try out location services. I'll update more detailed on the voice recognition when I get more time to play with it later.

[staccato83]

umm the voice recognition doesn't work too well for me. I watched the demo video on YouTube so I tried to use some of the questions that the kid asked in the video and I didn't get quite the same results.

I asked "How big is a giant squid?" and I get "television transcripts." :rolleyes:

[ntrigue]

Wow. I said 'show me fire drink on youtube' and the first two link were exactly what i asked for. It turned 'fastlane' into 'last lane' though. It's worked for 19 of 20 things I asked!

[mikeinternet]

keep the app held to your ear when you speak, and keep it there for a few seconds, you'll hear the strangest exercist voice you will ever hear. no lie

Oh wow! That is scary. Haha.

[kyleb822]

This app is simply amazing! Google should develop more apps for the iPhone and maybe they can come up with a copy/paste solution or maybe a way to get video recording on this amazing phone!

[pilotkev1]

This technology is amazing, and really, really, really needs to be implemented in Phone, Mail, Maps, and other apps.

[rtdunham]

I just did 15 searches in a row, (some obscure stuff too) and it worked virtually flawlessly.

Try...."find a starbucks in (your town)..

it pulls up a map. Not bad.

I tried:
"find a honda dealer in saint petersburg florida..." twice, plus
"find a toyota dealer in saint petersburg florida..."
"find toyota in saint petersburg florida..."
"find a starbucks in saint petersburg florida..."

In each instance I got "working" and then "did not get that"

so not so good for me. fwiw, i was on edge, maybe 3G or wi-fi would have worked better. but the app doesn't specify that.

[MorganB]

Oh wow! That is scary. Haha.

Thats hysterical!

[boss1]

Like many here, I'm sure, I've seen a tried a ton of apps. Now I just toyed around with this one for about 10 minutes and it has already left me speechless... ok wrong choice of words. It's freakin great!

This free app just made my phone 2X more valuable and useful. :D

[kas23]

ideally i would think an app like this would function in ways like say...
'john doe' and it would pull up john doe's contact info. or even better, 'email jane.' 'call jane at work', 'play pink floyd track mother' etc. you know, voice commands to do/find things on your phone.

i love the iphone because of how it simplifies certain tasks. i don't think this simplifies anything useful other than saying a website you want to visit. what's really the point of launching an app, typing in 'er' to find 'erin' in your contacts when you could have simply pulled up the phone book and done the same thing? and the fact you can't search anywhere else on your phone (unless i'm missing that) other than contacts, it's a pretty limiting app.

but what do i know.

I understand. But, its a wonderful start and the potential is endless. This is more proof of what this phone can do, if a certain company would allow it. Once we can do voice commands to call contacts using this app, it will be much better (but I'm sure it already can).

[me2000]

Certainly not impressed.... the app froze. After trying to shut down the app like 5 times, it finally did.

[kas23]

Like many here, I'm sure, I've seen a tried a ton of apps. Now I just toyed around with this one for about 10 minutes and it has already left me speechless... ok wrong choice of words. It's freakin great!

This free app just made my phone 2X more valuable and useful. :D

I agree. It truly does leave you speechless. Now only if Google could take over the rest of the phone's software...oh, wait.

I think for the people having trouble using it, simplify your phrase. Instead of saying "find a starbucks in Dallas texas," say "starbucks Dallas."

And for the people looking for porn, remember, on the options is a SafeSearch function. I'm not sure if this function blocks results or what it thinks it hears.

[mekohler]

"instrument stores nyc" = princeton minnesota?

"music store new york city" = dmv new york city?

FAIL

[kas23]

Certainly not impressed.... the app froze. After trying to shut down the app like 5 times, it finally did.

Oh, that's just normal iPhone behavior for me. That type of behavior is definitely not unique to the Google Mobile App.

[rickdollar]

The first things I tried worked great and they were not super easy..It is a drag that it does not incorporate Safari within the app.

[retroneo]

Works moderately well with my Australian accent.

Pictures of Mount Hotham
300 US dollars in Australian Dollars
Pictures of Coca Cola
RMIT University

all worked no problems.

BLAZINGLY FAST. Surprisingly it's way faster than the demo video!! (on 3G)

[Surely]

umm the voice recognition doesn't work too well for me. I watched the demo video on YouTube so I tried to use some of the questions that the kid asked in the video and I didn't get quite the same results.

I asked "How big is a giant squid?" and I get "television transcripts." :rolleyes:

Tried it, worked for me just fine.

"instrument stores nyc" = princeton minnesota?

"music store new york city" = dmv new york city?

FAIL

I tried both of your searches and they worked perfectly the first time.


This app is fantastic. I'm very impressed. This just made my first page, and allowed me to delete the Google News app and the Translator app.

[Surely]

Fantastic. Works really well on wifi. Impressively accurate for me.

[Cleverboy]

Works really well. Agreed! This is just spectacular. I'm going to geek out and show my wife when she gets home from the late shift. I just finished showing off my iPhone to some friends tonight, and this makes it even more useful than before! I can really see myself using this in the future, and I'd just started to sour on the Google App.
I'd really like better integration with Google Apps though. For example, a native view for news instead of launching the page in the browser. If it had native interfaces for the apps, it would instantly be a must-have application. Here's my problem... I think I can SEE why they don't want to have the Google app come up in a web browser. --It's not supposed to duplicate Safari. The mini-webkit window is supposed to be there to give you quick access to results and stuff, but they're stopping show of giving you a full-on Safari experience. --For instance, if you went into Gmail, and a link in Gmail transferred you to another website. --When does Google know to leave the Gmail app? Maybe you don't want to be in the Gmail app for a particular link... how do you escape the Google App when you're using web apps that may or may not stay inside a Google domain? For instance, at one point I saw Google forward me to a raw IP address before the site was redirected.

I could see it being hard for Google to detect WHEN to stay inside the web app, and when to launch Safari if it doesn't decide immediate. --Google doesn't want to modify its websites simply to cater to such conditions across its suite of sites. Things just need to WORK. --To that end, the Google app needs to launch Safari at the earliest opportunity.

Notice... the Google webkit doesn't do "rotate". It also doesn't use the "pinch" actions on search results. It doesn't let you save an image, or email a link. The longer Google fails to launch Safari for the user, the more users will request that Google replicate Safari features. It's NOT the way its supposed to work.

~ CB

[SFStateStudent]

I like it! I'll take (5) please; one for each 3G iPhone...:D

[Randman]

For once, the hype seems to be well worth it.

[danbirchall]

It doesn't quite get things sometimes.

"Find a McDonalds in Hilo" became "Finite Donald Zero" and then "China McDonalds in Hilo."

"Find an Arby's in Hilo" became "Signs of Rabies in Hilo."

[thejakill]

didn't work well enough to bother with. gimmick factor = high, usefullness = low

[theotherguy]

"Find an Arby's in Hilo" became "Signs of Rabies in Hilo."

I think it found it.

[DreamPod]

ideally i would think an app like this would function in ways like say...
'john doe' and it would pull up john doe's contact info. or even better, 'email jane.' 'call jane at work', 'play pink floyd track mother' etc. you know, voice commands to do/find things on your phone.

i love the iphone because of how it simplifies certain tasks. i don't think this simplifies anything useful other than saying a website you want to visit. what's really the point of launching an app, typing in 'er' to find 'erin' in your contacts when you could have simply pulled up the phone book and done the same thing? and the fact you can't search anywhere else on your phone (unless i'm missing that) other than contacts, it's a pretty limiting app.

but what do i know.

Apparently you don't know what the app is for:
Get the most advanced Google search experience for your iPhone
Google search - not "contacts search" or "iphone search" or "voice command". It's for searching the web. It's a voice-activated Google search bar, that can also do searches based on your current location. It also has some other little features they implemented, to make it more useful, but those are just little side-features. It can't do voice-search for your contacts because people's names are what it seems worst at understanding, particularly last names.

[ciscored]

you know it just dawned on me... they're gonna put this into gmail, we will no longer have to type our emails, and just think if android really is the beginning of an operating system.....

[8CoreWhore]

Got it, it's great - one problem so far: When I click on "Get Directions" from a search result, it launches the map app, inserts the destination into the "End" field - but it leaves the "Start" field empty. It drops a pins for my current location, but it doesn't use that info for "Start". Anyone else? Any suggestions?:o

[8CoreWhore]

Another annoying issue is that there's no way to hide search history unless to delete it everytime after you finished using it.

I wish it wouldn't show the search history when you start the app. What if someone else plays with my iphone and see's i've tested the voice-feature with "how big is my penis"?
-
You can set it so it doesn't save your searches: Settings -> Searchable Items - > (turn off) Previous Searches

[Andrew07]

sweet!

[britabroad]

i don't get it. i've deleted and installed 3 times and it's still the old version. anyone got a clue?

[ny3ranger]

I agree. This is very annoying, as when you are done in Safari you have to go back and open your Google app again. I believe Google will continue making great updates to this over time, as it is only at "version 0.1.414"


You are incorrect sir. Its version 0.1.414 BETA as with all things google. Why do they not get that beta sign off.

[8CoreWhore]

i don't get it. i've deleted and installed 3 times and it's still the old version. anyone got a clue?
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=284815942&mt=8

[ny3ranger]

i don't get it. i've deleted and installed 3 times and it's still the old version. anyone got a clue?

You are probably uninstalling the wrong application. Not google earth. The other google that comes up when you search.

[nagromme]

Well, my accent is pretty generic, but the results I'm getting are hilarious at best. I recommend one or two word searches.

I do like the goofy chattering sound effect in the background though :)

[SilvorX]

I find the feature neat, but it got alot of it wrong, especially since I was trying to see if it worked with French names (ie former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien), and didn't work.

[whis]

doesn't work very good with an australian accent ha ha :D

[ajnicho]

If you live in a little city called Liverpool, UK then it wont work for you. Doesn't understand scouse.

[archurban]

even Google has brilliant technology, app can't recognize local accent well because it is made for damn americans.

[PatrickRS]

This is the game changer. Wow.

For those of you bummed over the recognition rate... I used to work in a lab where a speech recognition project was on-going. They had T-shirts made up with the following two phrases written on the front / back...

It's hard to wreck a nice beach.
It's hard to recognize speech.

Try saying each of these out loud a couple times to see what this kind of software is up against.

[kcmac]

Crazy Cool. I love it.

[gregdig]

even Google has brilliant technology, app can't recognize local accent well because it is made for damn americans.

Damn Americans? It says your location is San Francisco.

[johnnyjibbs]

It's not showing for me here in the UK. New features listed for the Google Mobile App on the UK store are "Now with My Location" :mad:

[markm49uk]

I can't get it to bring back a correct search result even speaking in my best Queens English.

Am sure it's great if you are North American but I hope they do some work on recognising the rest of the English speaking world ;)

[cenetti]

I can't get it work with '600'

"20 multiply 600" registers " 20 multiply consultant"

and 6 is "sex" for some fked up reason

every thing else works perfectly....

[cal6n]

doesn't work very good with an australian accent ha ha :D

If you live in a little city called Liverpool, UK then it wont work for you. Doesn't understand scouse.

I can't get it to bring back a correct search result even speaking in my best Queens English.

Am sure it's great if you are North American but I hope they do some work on recognising the rest of the English speaking world ;)

Softy southern English accents are a no-no as well.

"bus times in Brighton" is interpreted as "Busta Rhymes on abortion"

:rolleyes:

[joejoejoe]

so fun using this. now google has a place on my main screen.

one thing i wish it did: when I say "where's the nearest starbucks?" it would be EXCELLENT if it would just bounce to google maps and just show me... this would knock current nav systems out of the park!!!

if google could accomplish this + turn by turn... wow.

[page3]

Try...."find a starbucks in (your town)..
Mine found 'south park' :eek:

[Poppysdad1]

The voice search it utterly useless and does not work at all if you speak in a clear clean English accent. We all have to speak like North Americans to get any sort of joy from it apparently. How very useful. What a shame an application that uses the English language for searching doesn't actually recognise anything said when spoken in actual English.

[whis]

reminds me of living in canada and trying to top up a rogers pre paid cell phone balance... oh the joys of trying to put on a fake canadian accent so that the voice recognition software would understand me ha ha ha my friends and I got very good at saying yeeeeerrrrsss ;)

[Veri]

Dragon engine or NiH syndrome?

Oh: "One of the engineers helping to create Google's voice-recognition services was a co-founder of Nuance, Mike Cohen." Business as usual...

[koobcamuk]

Softy southern English accents are a no-no as well.

"bus times in Brighton" is interpreted as "Busta Rhymes on abortion"

:rolleyes:

Will be trying my non-regional dialect (though southern) accent later tonight. Will be annoyed if this only works for ameerikans.

The voice search it utterly useless and does not work at all if you speak in a clear clean English accent. We all have to speak like North Americans to get any sort of joy from it apparently. How very useful. What a shame an application that uses the English language for searching doesn't actually recognise anything said when spoken in actual English.

This is what I was afraid of. Bastardisation. Or Bastardization ;)

[andreab35]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

I have to admit, this is pretty neat!
I have a little keyboard lag with the app, but that's ok.
I'll be trying it put more later on in the day.
Good job Google for a nice app! :)

[ausdan]

Hi everyone, I can't seem to find the update in the Australian App Store. Has it not been released here yet?

Thanks,

Danny

[Freebart]

Does anyone know if this service works with a Bluetooth headset? On the Mac, iListen and Macspeech Dictate don't work well (at all?) with Bluetooth because of the limited sampling rate of 8Khz.

[EVH]

Does anyone know if this service works with a Bluetooth headset? On the Mac, iListen and Macspeech Dictate don't work well (at all?) with Bluetooth because of the limited sampling rate of 8Khz.

That sampling rate would be more than enough for speech :confused:

The voice search it utterly useless and does not work at all if you speak in a clear clean English accent. We all have to speak like North Americans to get any sort of joy from it apparently. How very useful. What a shame an application that uses the English language for searching doesn't actually recognise anything said when spoken in actual English.

I spoke normally (welsh accent), did roughly 10 searches and all but 1 were spot-on.

To give it credit, it failed on "F you" and came up with "book review" which is fuuny, but otherwise I tried some single character searches e.g. WWE and it worked flawlessly.

Recommended to show off to friends :)

[chas0001]

I can get it to work pretty well. Shame that I have to put on an American accent to do so. I hope they release a UK English Version soon.

[holo2015]

it doesnt like me. it hasnt even figured out a single search. keeps telling me "didn't get that."

arg. seems like it should be pretty cool tho..
:rolleyes:

[colinmack]

it doesnt like me. it hasnt even figured out a single search. keeps telling me "didn't get that."

arg. seems like it should be pretty cool tho..
:rolleyes:

Same with me - with all the posts I was beginning to think I was the only one.

It works a full 0% of the time - all it says is "Didn't get that." after everything, I don't think it's getting the voice input at all. Have tried 20-30 searches, talked at it from all different angles, tried both holding it to my ear and pressing the button...nothing, nada, zip. Tried rebooting the phone as well just in case the install was flaky.

Any thoughts? I recall with some previous voice-input apps (Shazam, voice recorder), they seem to not work as well, I chalked it up to them being buggy.

Do I possibly have a flaky phone (works fine for phone calls), or is there some mystery setting or test?

Thanks...!

[TonyHoyle]

lol. I said 'Nearest Starbucks' and it searched for 'Jewish Temples'.

'Fred' searched for 'Crips' (!)

'Linux' searched for 'Minix' - Andrew Tanenbaum would love that one.. :p

OTOH it did get supercalifragilisticexpialidochus!

Interesting toy but typing is faster and more likely to get results that you actually want... I don't know how to do an american accent (saying 'do not misunderestinate me'* and 'nukiller' didn't seem to work..)

* Or, in google speak, 'juno misunderestimate mi' :p

[akpace]

Just downloaded it, can't wait to try it out, will report back later.

[mccldwll]

I can't get it to bring back a correct search result even speaking in my best Queens English.

Am sure it's great if you are North American but I hope they do some work on recognising the rest of the English speaking world ;)

Try this for 5 minutes:

"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."

Then retry a search.

[mccldwll]

Anyone who doesn't recognize this as game changing technology, even if not perfect at the moment, has got to be a troll.

[sterlingindigo]

-mazing!

[chas0001]

Same with me - with all the posts I was beginning to think I was the only one.

It works a full 0% of the time - all it says is "Didn't get that." after everything, I don't think it's getting the voice input at all. Have tried 20-30 searches, talked at it from all different angles, tried both holding it to my ear and pressing the button...nothing, nada, zip. Tried rebooting the phone as well just in case the install was flaky.

Any thoughts? I recall with some previous voice-input apps (Shazam, voice recorder), they seem to not work as well, I chalked it up to them being buggy.

Do I possibly have a flaky phone (works fine for phone calls), or is there some mystery setting or test?

Thanks...!

How strange. I just tried it on my 2G iPhone and it worked 100% correctly

I tried:

How old is Julia Roberts
apple dot com
picture of tom jones
where is osama bin laden
Where does Barack Obama live
receipe cheesecake
map iran
how rich is bill gates
bbc dot co dot uk

Perhaps you need a more generic American accent. I am English.

[TonyHoyle]

Anyone who doesn't recognize this as game changing technology, even if not perfect at the moment, has got to be a troll.

All it does is prove that voice recognition is years away from being practical. This kind of stuff has been done before many times, with similar results.

Whilst it's fun to get completely random results by talking to your phone to call it 'game changing' is silly.

Now if it worked on the contact list (and could be limited to that) at least it would be useful - but other phones have had that functionality for years (hell even my car has it)... still not 'game changing'.

[bubba*nix]

Ugh. The voice recognition is horrible. It hasn't yet gotten anything right even if I disable my southern accent.

[mccldwll]

All it does is prove that voice recognition is years away from being practical. This kind of stuff has been done before many times, with similar results.

Whilst it's fun to get completely random results by talking to your phone to call it 'game changing' is silly.

Now if it worked on the contact list (and could be limited to that) at least it would be useful - but other phones have had that functionality for years (hell even my car has it)... still not 'game changing'.

Sometimes you have to outsmart the software. From your previous post, try just "Starbucks." It will use your location. And "Linux software." Creating more context improves the recognition.

[pauld]

Softy southern English accents are a no-no as well.

"bus times in Brighton" is interpreted as "Busta Rhymes on abortion"

:rolleyes:


Ha!
So what was the outcome?
I'm guessing "pro choice"?

[kas23]

This is a pretty cool app, but people have to realize that the iPhone is a gadget. It has a high novelty factor. Yes, it probably would be more practical to type your search in, but the iPhone is not always about what is practical. A lot of people on here use the car analogy. The iPhone is like a Ferrari. It looks beautiful and has a lot of wow factor. But if you are looking for 100% practicality, your probably best off with a Honda Accord.

On a different note, after playing around with this for about an hour, my iPhone became very sick. I could even get through a song on iTunes without it crashing. And Safari was entirely unusable. Even the home screen was crashing. It's seems better now, but I think I know why this was happening. Google was opening a new Safari window for each search. So, my phone was basically trying to function with 6-7 Safari windows open. And when Safari is closed, it really isn't closed. My phone has been acting a lot better since I re-opened Safari and closed all the windows.

[OrangeCuse44]

Why would this bring up a Safari search when I ask to find the nearest Starbucks instead of Maps? Makes no sense.

[macbookairapple]

So this is the app people couldn't get through 2 days without having? :rolleyes:

[Loopy65]

I can't get it to bring back a correct search result even speaking in my best Queens English.

Am sure it's great if you are North American but I hope they do some work on recognising the rest of the English speaking world ;)

Rather irritatingly it does 'warn' on the settings screen that it works best with North American English .. I played around with it and couldn't get it to understand even the most basic words and I don't have a particularly strong accent it's just 'UK' lol ..

Will be a great App if they can ever do a version for UK english .. not sure what the chances of that are!

Loopy

[markm49uk]

Try this for 5 minutes:

"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain."

Then retry a search.

Just tried 'Hull City football' and got 'Hope Haiti'

I give up.

[morespce54]

...and 6 is "sex" for some fked up reason
every thing else works perfectly....

Well, that's good to know... I guess... ;)

[imacdaddy]

I guess the voice search is only for web searches while to search your contacts is through typing?

[grs]

I tried, among many others, a search for "de Havilland Dash 8," which Google Mobile got right on the second try. That seems like a pretty good test of its voice recognition to me. Every time a search yielded the wrong results, it worked on the second try if I enunciated a little more slowly and clearly.

I can't really fault it for not recognizing the many variations of British English. I have a hard time understanding Brits myself sometimes. As for Australian English, bear in mind that when an Aussie says "bison," he's talking about where you wash your hands. You can't expect voice recognition software to recognize your speech if you use the wrong vowels. :)

GRS

[iSimx]

installed it, I've tried so many times and it still doesn't understand my voice lol.... :(

[megfilmworks]

I love this app... When you are walking to a meeting, it's a hassle to stop and type out a search or map fix.... It has been very fast on wifi and 3g.
2 tips; talk normally (don't shout) and separate your words.

[TwiceNightly]

A big factor in it recognising my strong London accent was holding the phone to my ear.

I wasn't doing this at first and it was hopeless, when I started putting it to my ear (it does a little beep when you do so you know when to start) it gets it right a fair amount of the time.

[jayducharme]

Freakin' amazing! I've stumped the app a few times, but I'm really impressed with its accuracy. The simpler the phrase, the more accurate the result. ("Flower pictures" instead of "pictures of flowers.") And speaking slowly and clearly doesn't hurt. I also found it seems to work better if I don't pull the phone away until I hear the beep indicating my voice was registered.

I spoke the name of my college (not an easy one to decipher) and it immediately found it and pulled up a Google map. Their recognition technology really impresses me.

That said, I'm not sure how often I'd use it (outside of impressing non-iPhone users). Typing really isn't that much effort for me. One thing I was concerned about was that since Google Mobile has to open Safari separately, some of Google's functionality would be reduced, namely the ability to return to the search page quickly and explore other search results. But I was surprised to discover that the app loads the search results into Safari, and then opens the result you've clicked on in a separate window. So from within Safari you can return to the results page without having to re-open Google Mobile. But as someone else pointed out, you can end up with a lot of Safari windows open unless you keep closing them.

Overall though, this app is a pretty incredible achievement.

[markm49uk]

A big factor in it recognising my strong London accent was holding the phone to my ear.

I wasn't doing this at first and it was hopeless, when I started putting it to my ear (it does a little beep when you do so you know when to start) it gets it right a fair amount of the time.

Must just be my Yorkshire accent then as I cannot get one single result correct whether it's to my ear or not.

Ah well.

[Tampa Tom]

I always seem to fat finger my typing. This is a queick and fiarly accurate way to conduct searches. I used it many time this morning and feel it has increased the usability factor of my iPhone by at least 25%. Great app. Now whn I want Jenna Jamison pictures I can do it one-handed.:D

[Tampa Tom]

I always seem to fat finger my typing. This is a queick and fiarly accurate way to conduct searches. I used it many time this morning and feel it has increased the usability factor of my iPhone by at least 25%. Great app. Now whn I want Jenna Jamison pictures I can do it one-handed.:D

See...I fat finger on a regular keyboard.;)

[SoGood]

Still a little buggy as it crashed out twice when trying out the various features on the new version.

[IrI]

Crashes EVERY time I enable Voice Search on my 1st Gen iPhone. Poor.

[tiiim]

It's not showing for me here in the UK. New features listed for the Google Mobile App on the UK store are "Now with My Location" :mad:


Same here, when you install no voice search option? Im guessing the UK version has no voice search yet.. shame.:rolleyes:

[jhartung]

I spoke the name of my college (not an easy one to decipher) and it immediately found it and pulled up a Google map.


Did a map really just pull up? Or did you have to click on the Map in the pull-down (with the little magnifying glass) and then click search nearby? Cuz that's how it works for me, and that's too many steps. It should have a setting where it just automatically goes to a map, as that's the main reason I'd want to use this

[halhiker]

I thought this would be cool but it's not. Taking my kid to school today I tried to call up the name of his school "Gerald Ford Elementary School" and not one time did I get the right hit. Sometimes it came up 404 school, others coral ridge school.

It asked to used location services so I thought it might pull up something local but no luck.

I asked where is walmart and it pulled up the general walmart page. No help there.

If they can get it to work with maps it may be of some use but I don't plan on websurfing while driving and anytime I want to look something up I can type it in more accurately.

But it's Google so I guess I should expect to be in perpetual beta.

[fabsgwu]

Crashes EVERY time I enable Voice Search on my 1st Gen iPhone. Poor.

I suggest deleting and re-downloading (through iTunes), then sync. Clears up most issues, I have a 2.5G iPhone, and have no problems with the Google voice app (hint: It's probably you)

[TIMT57]

I checked my update this morning and the Google update was there downloaded it is awesome spoke the name of where I live brought uo a map I tapped the map it asked if I wanted google map tapped yes brought up the map:D

[cenetti]

I think the best part of this app is the "bidi bada budu biliili buluuubabbaba bibibibiii" voice while it's working.....it's funny:D

[boss1]

Now all Google needs to do is create a medium size database of Sound Files that automatically play on your iPhone after you do a voice search.


You pick up the phone and ask for the "current weather in <location>"
Google returns and audio file that says "fifty three degrees, party cloudy"


other uses will emerge... weather is just an example.

[Plasmali]

It would be nice to see the voice input work with the new ipod touch, as it has a mic in, through compatible headphones.

[izibo]

Crashes EVERY time I enable Voice Search on my 1st Gen iPhone. Poor.

I suggest deleting and re-downloading (through iTunes), then sync. Clears up most issues, I have a 2.5G iPhone, and have no problems with the Google voice app (hint: It's probably you)

Hint: It's doing that for me (16GB 3G) and a bunch of other people. It's probably not just him.

[japeurotrash]

The government could have a voice print of every single person in the country.
I can think of many ways that could be used in a nefarious manner.

[Big-TDI-Guy]

My friend - that technology has existed for some time.

Google didn't bring it about. ;)

[odelay]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5F136 Safari/525.20)

this app is hilarious. I just tried "wales cheap holidays" and it gave results for "whale chipolatas"!!! :-D

[globalwidget]

Got it, it's great - one problem so far: When I click on "Get Directions" from a search result, it launches the map app, inserts the destination into the "End" field - but it leaves the "Start" field empty. It drops a pins for my current location, but it doesn't use that info for "Start". Anyone else? Any suggestions?:o

I agree, this is annoying. It takes 5 finger steps instead of the one (or zero) it should take.

Currently:
Say "Hopleaf Chicago".
Press the magnifying glass.
Press Maps option.
Choose 'Hopleaf' map marker.
Press 'Directions' in Maps.
Press 'Route'.

Should be:
Say "Hopleaf Chicago".
Press the 'Directions' link from the search that appears.

Even better:
Say "directions to Hopleaf, Chicago"
It brings up Map with directions from current location.

They have said in their press releases that this is just the beginning so let's hope. Pretty good for right out of the gate though. Certainly easier than trying to type while driving or even walking.

[MisterK]

I think this thing is great. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out next. It's been working quite well for me. It got about 7 searches right before it got one wrong.

[TerryJ]

Hint: It's doing that for me (16GB 3G) and a bunch of other people. It's probably not just him.
I noticed that the app crashes when I have Wi-Fi enabled, but the app works fine when I have Wi-Fi off (and use either 3G or Edge.)

-Terry

[shk718]

the best part is after you stop speaking and the phone is looking up the results you hear this "person" mumbling. its toooo funny!!!

[colinmack]

How strange. I just tried it on my 2G iPhone and it worked 100% correctly

I tried:

How old is Julia Roberts
apple dot com
picture of tom jones
where is osama bin laden
Where does Barack Obama live
receipe cheesecake
map iran
how rich is bill gates
bbc dot co dot uk

Perhaps you need a more generic American accent. I am English.

I'm Canadian so not an accent issue - in my case, the application simply does not register any voice whatsoever.

So it's not that the accuracy is off - there is simply no voice input at all, it's as if my mic was disabled.

[milani]

Works great, although not so good for Google searching while in class! :D And I'm Canadian and I had no problems - besides, Americans have accents, not Canadians! :p

[Big-TDI-Guy]

Works great, although not so good for Google searching while in class! :D And I'm Canadian and I had no problems - besides, Americans have accents, not Canadians! :p

It's the Americans that have the accents??? Wow. Well hows abooot that!

[PatrickRS]

It's the Americans that have the accents??? Wow. Well hows abooot that!

No, no, he's right! I've never done a "big warrshhload of laundry" or stood on the "ruff" of my house.

Yep, this can get ugly... ;)

[superstrikertwo]

No, no, he's right! I've never done a "big warrshhload of laundry" or stood on the "ruff" of my house.

Yep, this can get ugly... ;)

Who says that? I've never heard anyone say either of those seriously anyway.

[Big-TDI-Guy]

No, no, he's right! I've never done a "big warrshhload of laundry" or stood on the "ruff" of my house.

Yep, this can get ugly... ;)

Dude, what ahh ya talkin about? That stuff is retaadad.

This is how we talk:

Dude, I had too many beeahs and lobsta with gaalick sauce. I was wicked wasted and couldn't paak or drive my caa. The T doesn't take quatahs anymore, so I got a ride from this wiked pissa friend of mine. I almost baafed in is car, so he dropped me off at Woosta and I had to walk home.

[Robertjn2000]

Works great!

Hope I have my iPhone with me if i'm ever in the "cash cab".

[kas23]

It's the Americans that have the accents??? Wow. Well hows abooot that!

Hey guys, everyone has a particular accent. It's just when your around it all day, you tend to not think it is an accent. To Brits or others that speak English, Americans do indeed have an accent.

[MacFly123]

This app is pissing me off! Every time I hold it up to my ear it won't beep, it sit there waiting and trying over and over. What a piece, fix your app Google! :mad:

[johnnyjibbs]

Hang on a minute - both you Americans and Canadians have accents! ;)

I realised why I couldn't find the features in my version - on the UK App Store, there is no mention of the voice features and it is turned off by default. This, presumably, is Google recognising that it just simply doesn't work for UK accents! :D

I tried one - the obligatory "where's the nearest Starbucks?"

Search results came back for "Williams House"

:p

Never mind, no voice recgonition app has ever worked in the UK because of the system requirements: "requires North American accent" :D:o


Still, stop the slating. It's obviously going to get better with time, and - don't forget - it's a new feature for a free app. So it's not like you've wasted anything for it not working...

I find it interesting that Google shows so much interest in iPhone to get this out before Android. Unless they've got a perfect Android version waiting in the wings... :D ;)

[kas23]

Hang on a minute - both you Americans and Canadians have accents! ;)

I realised why I couldn't find the features in my version - on the UK App Store, there is no mention of the voice features and it is turned off by default. This, presumably, is Google recognising that it just simply doesn't work for UK accents! :D

I tried one - the obligatory "where's the nearest Starbucks?"

Search results came back for "Williams House"

:p

Never mind, no voice recgonition app has ever worked in the UK because of the system requirements: "requires North American accent" :D:o


Still, stop the slating. It's obviously going to get better with time, and - don't forget - it's a new feature for a free app. So it's not like you've wasted anything for it not working...

I find it interesting that Google shows so much interest in iPhone to get this out before Android. Unless they've got a perfect Android version waiting in the wings... :D ;)

This reminds me when I was in Ireland one time. My wife and I decided to visit this one very old fort in Kinsale (love that little town!) - Charles Fort. While there, one of the fort volunteers was giving a talk about the history of the fort. My wife and I sat through a 60 minute long lecture and probably were able to understand about 10% of it. Man, that was one extremely heavy Irish accent.

[BergerFan]

Like voice dialing, I see this as nothing more than a gimmick, imo. :D

[99X]

All it does is crash on me. download it and play. Crash. turn it on. Crash. Reinstall it. crash. reboot the iphone. Crash. Sync with itunes. crash.

This is lame - make your damn iphone apps work already.

[Habakuk]

Im guessing the UK version has no voice search yet.. shame.:rolleyes:

Even the German-language version has voice search. And it does understand my "gas station", "hair dresser" and the inferior coffee shop very well. Here some screenshots:

[Big-TDI-Guy]

This reminds me when I was in Ireland one time. My wife and I decided to visit this one very old fort in Kinsale (love that little town!) - Charles Fort. While there, one of the fort volunteers was giving a talk about the history of the fort. My wife and I sat through a 60 minute long lecture and probably were able to understand about 10% of it. Man, that was one extremely heavy Irish accent.

That's what you get for not watching the movie Snatch.

"Do ya like dikez?"
"What?"
"Dikez, I said do ya like dikez?"
"Oooooh. D O G S, yeah, I like D O G S."
:D

[davidwarren]

That's what you get for not watching the movie Snatch.

"Do ya like dikez?"
"What?"
"Dikez, I said do ya like dikez?"
"Oooooh. D O G S, yeah, I like D O G S."
:D

I thought it was more like dags than dikez.

[koobcamuk]

My English accent works

[kas23]

That's what you get for not watching the movie Snatch.

"Do ya like dikez?"
"What?"
"Dikez, I said do ya like dikez?"
"Oooooh. D O G S, yeah, I like D O G S."
:D

I saw Snatch. There should have been subtitles for that movie. I only understood about 25% of the stuff they were saying.

[colinmack]

I'm Canadian so not an accent issue - in my case, the application simply does not register any voice whatsoever.

So it's not that the accuracy is off - there is simply no voice input at all, it's as if my mic was disabled.

Any thoughts on what I can do to fix this?

It is as if my audio input is muted, no audio/voice makes it into this app (or Voice Recorder, or Shazam, or any other audio-input app). It's not that it's quiet or the audio isn't understood - it is simply silent and muted.

Has anybody experienced this and worked out a solution? I would rather not have to exchange my phone due to a hardware problem, and given that the phone works perfectly, I have to guess it's software-related.

Thanks...

[BergerFan]

That's what you get for not watching the movie Snatch.

"Do ya like dikez?"
"What?"
"Dikez, I said do ya like dikez?"
"Oooooh. D O G S, yeah, I like D O G S."
:DDikez? WTF?
Mickey: "Dags. De ye loik dags?"
Tommy: "Oooh DOGS. Yeah I like 'dags'. I like caravans more."

Sorry 'bout that, Lol. Snatch rules. :D

[orrelse44]

I saw Snatch. There should have been subtitles for that movie. I only understood about 25% of the stuff they were saying.



The DVD did. The "languages" section even had a specific one just for the "pikeys". Anytime a pikey spoke, subtitles came on.

[mknawabi]

I'm really surprised at how well this function works.

[Big-TDI-Guy]

The DVD did. The "languages" section even had a specific one just for the "pikeys". Anytime a pikey spoke, subtitles came on.

Subtitles for that? Aww common, that just takes all the fun out of the movie.

Plus, you just feel proud of yourself when you finally understand what they're saying. ;)

[Cleverboy]

I'm really surprised at how well this function works. Indeed. My wife and I were relaxing last night, and she couldn't remember the person who did the Disney song "You'll be in my heart". So, I "told" the phone "you'll be in my heart lyrics", and the answer was there after a second of mulling it over. Beats wailing my thumbs on the virtual keyboard anyday. Painless.

~ CB

[colinmack]

On the off-chance anyone else is having the same problem of zero audio/mic input, I did some digging and trial/error and worked out the following:

- a reboot didn't help
- a reinstall of the app didn't help
- a reset didn't help
- wasn't just specific to this app, Shazam/VoiceNotes had no mic input either

The only way I could get it to work was to plug in the external headphones, and it then worked with the headset mic - from there, after unplugging the headset it worked with the built-in mic once or twice, but after that it was still dead with the built-in mic. Only thing I can think is that the jack is confused about whether the headset is plugged in, so something may be flaky with my phone.

If anyone else has had similar issues and sorted out a more specific fix, please let me know - otherwise this may help someone cut down their troubleshooting time...

[terp26]

anyone else VM screwed up now from this app? Everytime I go to listen to a voicemail by my ear, the volume goes off.

[MrCrowbar]

I love the mumbling when it's searching :D

[kas23]

New Google Mobile App update now available. It may seem snappier, but other than that, I see nothing new. Still no Google Latitudes - I wonder what ever happened to that project? They must have realized it would suck without background processes. Anyways, I wonder if there are any Easter eggs like last time? And what's "Ninja"?

[ajnicho]

New Google Mobile App update now available. It may seem snappier, but other than that, I see nothing new. Still no Google Latitudes - I wonder what ever happened to that project? They must have realized it would suck without background processes. Anyways, I wonder if there are any Easter eggs like last time? And what's "Ninja"?

What's new is that us English iPhone users no longer have to put on a dodgy american accent to use it.