Google adds voice search to iPhone, a few days late
Published: 20 November, 2008
Google grabbed headlines last week when it released its anticipated voice-enabled search for the iPhone, but then the application failed to turn up in the App Store for several days. It is now there though, and can be downloaded for free under the name Google Mobile App 0.3.142, either directly to the iPhone or via iTunes.
After launching the application, users just need to wait for a tone, then speak normally into the iPhone with their search words and phrases. In tests, these were recognized correctly about 80% of the time - not bad for a speech recognition function, but potentially still quite annoying, especially in a noisy environment.
The new version also adds Google's 'Search with My Location' enhancement, which was announced in September and uses the handset's GPS location awareness features to narrow searches.
However, UK testers found that the voice recognition software apparently has problems with non-American accents, with a search for 'iPhone' throwing up a range of wrong answers, such as Einstein.
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