'Dragon Dictation' Brings Voice Transcription to the iPhone

MacRumors · 02:16 PM

Nuance Communications today announced the release of Dragon Dictation [App Store, Free for a limited time], a new voice transcription application for the iPhone. The application, which relies on the Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition engine to transcribe voice input to text, allows users to easily send transcribed text to new e-mail or text messages or save it to the clipboard for pasting into other applications.

Quote:

With the Dragon Dictation App, spoken words are instantly transcribed using the world-renowned power of Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition, giving anyone the power to simply "say anything" up to five times faster than typing. Dragon Dictation allows users to speak anything from a one-line text message or status update for Facebook, to a multi-paragraph e-mail. For instance, simply say, "We should meet at the restaurant at 7 and then go to the movies. I'll pick up Scott in Cupertino after he gets off work. See you then." Users can start and stop as needed or just speak free form to capture a quick brainstorm idea or reminder. It's completely up to you.

The application works by transmitting spoken input to Nuance's central servers, where it is processed by the transcription algorithms and returned to the user's device. Consequently, the application does requires a data connection in order to function.

The application offers editing options including alternative suggestions for misinterpreted phrases and built-in keyboard functionality for manual editing of text. The application also offers voice corrections, allowing users to highlight a selected portion of text and replace it with newly-spoken phrases.

Several users have noted a potential privacy issue with Dragon Dictation, however, with a number of iTunes Store user reviews noting that the license agreement for the application reveals that data from users' lists of contacts will be sent to Nuance and stored on its servers.

Dragon Dictation is free for a limited time, and Nuance will in the near future be releasing Dragon Search, a second iPhone application allowing users to conduct voice searches of a number of sources including search engines, YouTube, Twitter, iTunes, and Wikipedia.

Article Link: 'Dragon Dictation' Brings Voice Transcription to the iPhone

Mac-Addict · Dec 8, 2009, 02:05 PM

Oh wow thats amazing, oh look, US only.

Nimiety · Dec 8, 2009, 02:05 PM

Sucks that it's only in the US store....

njl · Dec 8, 2009, 02:05 PM

supposedly, this application loads you contact list onto their server, so for those of you that have privacy in mind, be aware.

diamond.g · Dec 8, 2009, 02:06 PM

It appears to also require 3.1.

Vandam500 · Dec 8, 2009, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by njl

supposedly, this application loads you contact list onto their server, so for those of you that have privacy in mind, be aware.

Damn I installed it last night...guess it's too late for me? And why in the WORLD do they need to store our contacts list... A even better question, why did Apple approve this? Sigh

lightpeak · Dec 8, 2009, 02:12 PM

Have you ever done a Google search on the words "dragon naturally-speaking reviews"? It's spotty at best and expensive.

Maskusee · Dec 8, 2009, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by njl

supposedly, this application loads you contact list onto their server, so for those of you that have privacy in mind, be aware.

They say its only contacts names and not phone numbers or emails.

I don't have an issue with them having my contacts name, but if it's anything more than that, then yeah, it would be an issue for me.

skirmish · Dec 8, 2009, 02:13 PM

Damn... Yeah, what the first two replies said.

Maskusee · Dec 8, 2009, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lightpeak

Have you ever done a Google search on the words "dragon naturally-speaking reviews"? It's spotty at best and expensive.

Not sure about reviews for their software, but the iphone app is dead on.
Been playing with it for hours now, and i would say its about 95% for me.

decimortis · Dec 8, 2009, 02:14 PM

Damn. Got me all excited to download a free app, and I'm just a wee far too bit North...

pagansoul · Dec 8, 2009, 02:15 PM

This is great. It works really well. I have a very small contact list and tend to use nick names.

Schizoid · Dec 8, 2009, 02:17 PM

Can we use this for remote wipe?

"Computer, initiate auto-destruct sequence, authorization Picard 4-7 Alpha Tango."

HiVolt · Dec 8, 2009, 02:23 PM

Not available in the Canadian app-store. Lame.

I wonder what the reason for this is. It's not tied to any broadcast or print media that have country restrictions.

Someone should make a really kickass app and not make it available to the Americans. I wonder what the reaction would be.

macduke · Dec 8, 2009, 02:25 PM

This app is really amazing if there isn't a whole lot of background noise. I installed it yesterday and so far it's been solid. I have already placed it on the first page of my utilities section on my iPhone it's that good!!

creator2456 · Dec 8, 2009, 02:26 PM

Wonder why it ca't be used on a Touch with wifi. Would be great for emails and such.

hesshady · Dec 8, 2009, 02:27 PM

Yeah try saying naughty words. It censors you. FAIL for censorship

UngratefulNinja · Dec 8, 2009, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by creator2456

Wonder why it ca't be used on a Touch with wifi. Would be great for emails and such.

Is there a voice speaker on the touch? That might be why.

SirROM · Dec 8, 2009, 02:28 PM

Using it. Loving it.

'Nuf said!

notjustjay · Dec 8, 2009, 02:30 PM

I remember first playing with this technology back in 1999. The box came with a little microphone headset and everything. I was pretty impressed. I imagine that the engine has improved over the past decade.

I wonder how much horespower the recognition engine requires, and if we could have a version anytime soon that runs on your own phone instead of uploading it to the "cloud".

sososowhat · 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maskusee

They say its only contacts names and not phone numbers or emails.

I don't have an issue with them having my contacts name, but if it's anything more than that, then yeah, it would be an issue for me.

Read the "ACCEPT" text carefully. It's not only contacts but "SPEECH DATA" that are saved. That data includes transcripts of everything you ever dictate. They are very explicit that these transcripts may be available to the government upon subpoena. It says "speech data means the audio files, associated transcriptions and log files".

At first I found this shocking - and I didn't press "ACCEPT". On second thought, this is exactly the same as using Gmail, etc. which have records of all your emails. I'm still wrestling with it, but I think I'm ok with it.

Sedulous · Dec 8, 2009, 02:32 PM

I'm going no where near it. My contacts trust me not to sell them out for an app.

ChazUK · Dec 8, 2009, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hesshady

Yeah try saying naughty words. It censors you. FAIL for censorship

Censorship?

What kind of useless ****ing ****s censor things?
It's a ****ing joke. What a load of ****.
<ahem>

Cleverboy · Dec 8, 2009, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirROM

Using it. Loving it.
'Nuf said!

Agreed. You'd never know from many of the comments, but this is ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT. Now. How much will they eventually charge for it? Who knows, but I'll tell you... Jott... they're screwed. I will be canceling my $4 monthly subscription immediately. This is VERY quick and doesn't leave me with the impression I'm being run through Mechanical Turk.

~ CB

iNtrigued · Dec 8, 2009, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maskusee

They say its only contacts names and not phone numbers or emails.

I don't have an issue with them having my contacts name, but if it's anything more than that, then yeah, it would be an issue for me.

Hey guys, perhaps the contacts name will be used for future voice dial or something for iPod users or for people that don't own a 3GS....??

who knows............

Dec 8, 2009, 02:05 PM	#2
Mac-Addict macrumors 65816 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: London	Oh wow thats amazing, oh look, US only. __________________ -
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:05 PM	#3
Nimiety macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2006	Sucks that it's only in the US store.... __________________ Mac Cube ; Mac Mini x 2 ; 13" MacBook ; 15" MacBook Pro Apple TV 40G ; Apple TV 160G ; Time Capsule 1T ; Airport Express 16G iPhone 3G ; 32G iPhone 3GS ; 4G iPod Nano
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:05 PM	#4
njl macrumors regular Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: SAT	supposedly, this application loads you contact list onto their server, so for those of you that have privacy in mind, be aware. __________________ 13" MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz, iPhone 3g, 13" MacBook (Mid 2006), iPod Touch, 128lbs Rottie with FW800 connection to his butt
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:14 PM	#11
decimortis macrumors regular Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Here	Le sigh... Damn. Got me all excited to download a free app, and I'm just a wee far too bit North... __________________ MacBook Air: 1.6GHz/4GB RAM/128GB/Mac OS X 10.8.2 iPhone 4S: Black 64GB iPad 4: Black 16GB WiFi
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:15 PM	#12
pagansoul macrumors 6502a Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Earth	This is great. It works really well. I have a very small contact list and tend to use nick names. __________________ ipod 20GB (before color), ipod 80GB, iphone 8GB Edge, 3GS, 4 and iphone 5, Macbook Pro 15" 2.53, MacPro 2.6, TV 120GB, ATV2, (v5) Nano 16GB, iPad3 64HD, 2011 mini & the last iMac 27".
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:06 PM	#5
diamond.g macrumors 603 Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Virginia	It appears to also require 3.1.
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:12 PM	#7
lightpeak Banned Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: BC, Canada	Have you ever done a Google search on the words "dragon naturally-speaking reviews"? It's spotty at best and expensive.
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:13 PM	#9
skirmish macrumors newbie Join Date: Jun 2007	Damn... Yeah, what the first two replies said.
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:17 PM	#13
Schizoid macrumors 6502a Join Date: May 2008 Location: UK	Can we use this for remote wipe? "Computer, initiate auto-destruct sequence, authorization Picard 4-7 Alpha Tango."
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:23 PM	#14
HiVolt macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Toronto, Canada	Not available in the Canadian app-store. Lame. I wonder what the reason for this is. It's not tied to any broadcast or print media that have country restrictions. Someone should make a really kickass app and not make it available to the Americans. I wonder what the reaction would be. __________________ \| iPhone5 64GB Unlocked & JB'd \| iPad4 32GB LTE JB'd \| '09 Mac Mini C2D 2.26GHz, 8GB RAM, 160GB HD \| QNAP TS-869 Pro 8x3TB WD Red \| QNAP TS-419P II 4x2TB WD Green \|
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:25 PM	#15
macduke macrumors 68020 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Columbia, MO	This app is really amazing if there isn't a whole lot of background noise. I installed it yesterday and so far it's been solid. I have already placed it on the first page of my utilities section on my iPhone it's that good!! __________________ MacBook Pro R-Type / Quad 2.6GHz Core i7 / 2880×1800 / 16GB / 512GB SSD Canon 7D w/grip / 24-105L / 100-400L / Pro9000 MkII Printer 64GB iPhone 5 / 32GB iPad 2 / 8GB iPhone
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:26 PM	#16
creator2456 macrumors 68000 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Chicago	Wonder why it ca't be used on a Touch with wifi. Would be great for emails and such. __________________ I have stuff...but I am also lazy. Buy some of my stuff!!!
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:27 PM	#17
hesshady macrumors newbie Join Date: Feb 2005	Don't Curse Yeah try saying naughty words. It censors you. FAIL for censorship
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:28 PM	#19
SirROM macrumors member Join Date: May 2006	Wow! Using it. Loving it. 'Nuf said!
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:30 PM	#20
notjustjay macrumors 603 Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Canada, eh?	I remember first playing with this technology back in 1999. The box came with a little microphone headset and everything. I was pretty impressed. I imagine that the engine has improved over the past decade. I wonder how much horespower the recognition engine requires, and if we could have a version anytime soon that runs on your own phone instead of uploading it to the "cloud". __________________ .
	0

Dec 8, 2009, 02:32 PM	#22
Sedulous macrumors 65816 Join Date: Dec 2002	I'm going no where near it. My contacts trust me not to sell them out for an app.
	0

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