Your little personal assistant, Edwin

"Help me find the nearest Japanese food restaurant"

*Searching...*...*Google maps opens and shows the nearest Japanese restaurant*

"What is today's weather for Honolulu, Hawaii?"

"The weather for today is 80 degrees Fahrenheit, partly cloudy with the chance of rain."

Speech-to-action/speech is one of the up and coming technologies found today. The future is definitely here!

Edwin, Speech-to-Speech by neureau is one of the first apps I ever downloaded onto my phone. This is probably one of the coolest apps on the Android Market right now. If you ever wanted a virtual personal assistant on your phone, this is it! This app shows what your Android powered phone is truly capable of.

Edwin is packed with various voice commands and actions. Click on the microphone icon, say something, then your wish is Edwin's command. With a simple interface and high speech recognition accuracy, this app is a bargain for the low price of FREE! This app definitely holds it's own against the new Google Voice Search and Vlingo. Definitely a great app to show off to friends. The QR code is posted below =)

Some of the various commands are:

-Search services (Are you looking for reviews about the latest video game or are shopping for lingerie for your girlfriends? Edwin assists you in your searching needs. Edwin also uses Wolfram Alpha, a popular knowledge engine)

-Dialing capabilities (If your hands are busy, just use Edwin to dial a friend by using your voice)

-Date and Time (Ask Edwin what time is it in Norway or ask him what time is it in France)

-Application launcher (It doesn't open all applications but it can launch Gmail, your camera and a few other apps)

-Hardware controlling (Enable your bluetooth or turn off your 3G)

-Weather (Ask what's the weather in Seoul, Korea)

-Map search (If you're looking for the nearest hotel or Italian food restaurant)

-GPS location services

-Dictionary and spell checks (I told Edwin to spell "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and amazing he spelled it accurately.)

-Math and conversions (Edwin can solve math problems and do conversions i.e. kilograms to pounds.)

-Translation services (Edwin can speak and translate French, Spanish, Italian, and German)

-Messaging commands (One of the coolest options is the ability to tweet, text, or email friends by just stating their name and your message)

Overall this app is pretty nifty. I've had this app since I bought my phone back in June. I also find it quite accurate. It recognizes my voice about 85% of the time. I am sure accuracy will improve with updates. I do wish there was a widget though but perhaps that's in the future. Also there are several "easter eggs" found throughout the app. Ask it, "What is the meaning of life? Tell Edwin, "I love you." Ask Edwin, "How are you?" Tell him that you're bored. Think of anything random and ask Edwin. It'll put a nice smile on your face. There are a few nice surprises =) The fact that it's free makes it noteworthy.

Edwin, Speech-to-Speech for Android on AppBrain

Try this app out. Definitely worth looking into. Also I'll be doing a post about Vlingo and will eventually do a comparo. Stay tuned!

Accidental butt dialing is a thing of the past!

Call Confirm by 7bit is an app that should be stock on our Android phones. I find this app particularly useful in situations when you're looking through your phone book. If you have an HTC phone, a slight touch in your phone book will automatically start dialing your contact. I found myself on numerous occasions browsing through contacts and accidentally dialing friends. 

Call Confirm eliminates this problem. This simple app flashes a dialog box asking if you really want to call your contact. It also prevents racking up a high phone bill if you butt dial like me. I have heard of a couple cases where friends would go over their minute limits. Various options are present in this app such as an option to show the photo and name of your contact (I disable it to improve performance) . If you are using bluetooth, there is an option to bypass this dialog box. You can also bypass it if your screen is locked.  The QR code is posted below =)

Overall, I have not experienced any changes in battery life. It is also very easy to use. Best of all: it's free!! Who knew such a simple app could be so useful.

QR code for Call Confirm app

Call Confirm for Android on AppBrain

First post

I'll be writing blogs about Android apps I've used. I believe this will be a beneficial way to help support developers of these great apps. If you have any questions about the apps, let me know =) Hope you enjoy my blog.