iOS 5 with Nuance Speech Recognition Enabled in Carrier Testing

[MacRumors]

Voice input in Android​

According to 9to5Mac, Apple has seeded certain mobile carriers with a "near-final" build of iOS 5. Most notably, these builds are different from the developer seeds we have seen so far, with the enabling of Nuance's Speech to Text as a system-wide service:

According to a source testing the feature, it works almost identically (video above) to the Android operating system's speech-to-text feature. It's also very polished, quick, and accurate said the source - which is obvious for being an Apple product but also is indicative of the product being nearly complete.

We'd previously reported on the microphone button that appears next to the spacebar hidden in the depths of iOS 5. This presumably allows users to dictate rather than type. Android has a similar system already implemented, as seen in the video above.

Reports of Apple's ongoing negotiations with Nuance date as far back as May, with some claiming it was still coming in iOS 5. iOS 5 is due for public release "this fall".

If all true, Apple must be planning on launching their Nuance dictation system alongside the public release of iOS 5. Apple is widely expected to hold a media event sometime this month.

Article Link: iOS 5 with Nuance Speech Recognition Enabled in Carrier Testing

 

[Gunny011]

Hopefully this will be released near the end of september! Cannot wait to use iOS 5 + iCloud

 

[TaterToT]

Would love to have this... hopefully it'll be included in the iOS 5 GM version.

 

[bb426]

I think this is going to be the (one of the) big advertisement hit(s) for the iPhone 5, which magnifies the thought of an external redesign. Maybe I'll finally start talking to my iPhone.

I already see the commercials...

 

[DavidLeblond]

Surely such a big feature would be one they want to beta test in the beta builds, right?

I don't buy it.

 

[hobo.hopkins]

I can't wait! This can only benefit consumers. If it is good enough, I can imagine that this technology would make the phone even easier to use for business customers (if they dislike the "soft" keyboard).

 

[wackymacky]

I thought that this was a given from what we have already heard?

 

[Cougarcat]

I thought that this was a given from what we have already heard?

It's a given that it's buried in the beta, but this is the first sign that it will be an enabled feature in the final version.

 

[finder39]

Maybe the next release will have it if carriers are seeing it

 

[jmcrutch]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm predicting that invitations to the media event will go out tomorrow. Media event will be next week and phone on sale 2 weeks later.

 

[shuckit]

This will be useful

 

[ghettochris]

It would be sweet if the phone could listen and respond, so you could say "iphone where are you" when you lose it under clothes or whatever, and it would respond "over here"

 

[crisss1205]

What I want to know is how does this work? Is it going to require a internet connection like Android or will it be all device/local based?

 

[Mr. Pezman]

Of course we really don't know how many more builds we will see before the Gold Master!!

 

[DavidLeblond]

Also: If this does come true, it'll most probably be iPhone 5 only. Again, they would have put it in the beta otherwise.

 

[Mr. Pezman]

What I want to know is how does this work? Is it going to require a internet connection like Android or will it be all device/local based?

My guess would be Internet / 3G required like the Dragon App.

 

[chrmjenkins]

Surely such a big feature would be one they want to beta test in the beta builds, right?

I don't buy it.

iPhone 5 only. /trollApple

 

[jaseone]

Surely such a big feature would be one they want to beta test in the beta builds, right?

I don't buy it.

The beta builds are solely to test API level features so developers can ensure their apps work in the new version they are not for developers to test iOS features.

 

[LoganCircle]

Does anyone know how far in advance of the iPhone 4 that carriers received training on iOS4?

 

[autrefois]

According to a source testing the feature [...] It's also very polished, quick, and accurate said the source - which is obvious for being an Apple product

Polished, quick, and accurate...Apparently, 9to5Mac's source has never used MobileMe.

But seriously, for now sounds like great news and a huge plus for the iPhone. It will be interesting to learn all the details of how it will be implemented.

 

[T-Will]

It would be sweet if the phone could listen and respond, so you could say "iphone where are you" when you lose it under clothes or whatever, and it would respond "over here"

This comment wins the thread.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I'm fairly certain it'll require an internet connection. The nuance system requires a lot more processing power than even the A5 has and it's speech library would be massive for an iOS app.

 

[Nicolas4ever]

What I want to know is how does this work? Is it going to require a internet connection like Android or will it be all device/local based?

It will require interent connection.Think all the commands available.it would very well take some GBs if it was locally

 

[DavidLeblond]

The beta builds are solely to test API level features so developers can ensure their apps work in the new version they are not for developers to test iOS features.

There are plenty of non-API specific new features in the betas. And system-wide voice recognition would certainly affect some apps. Surely there are at least some NSNotifications tied to it.

 

[emwgradstudent]

Surely such a big feature would be one they want to beta test in the beta builds, right?

I don't buy it.

I think it is very possible. The whole cycle of betas is off this year due to the late release of the iPhone 5.

I think we will have a media event in the next two weeks, followed by the GM release to developers with all features, then the release in early October. This would follow Apple's usual pattern. Except it used to be iOS event, WWDC, then release.