Techs & Trends
Speaker dependent vs. speaker independent voice dialing
What prompts this query is this: I have been using my trusty LG VX7000 for something going on five years. This phone is bullet proof and has as much technology as I need and WANT except for email access. I LOVE the speaker dependent voice dialing feature. I have some 20 tagged numbers wherein I previously recorded a single name. The phone operates thus: push a single hot button on the side, a pleasant female voice asks "name please", I say "John", the voice says "calling [John]" where John is the previously recorded name, in my voice, tagged to an entry in my phone contact list. It then dials that number WITHOUT FAIL, except occasionally when I'm in a noisy room with a lot of people talking in the background and I have to repeat things - basically going to a quieter environment.
Well, I felt it was time to upgrade. Got an LG Rumor2, which has speaker INDEPENDENT voice dialing. The functionality of this feature sucks. I don't know if it's the technology or the phone, but number one, I hate having to say a contact's last name, first name, and type of phone number (cell, home, or work), which is the way I organize the 100 names in my contact directory, and number two, it virtually never gets it right. The prompts keep asking over and over for the contact because the technology is not adequate to match my spoken words with an alphabetically entered entry in my directory. Not to mention the menu is absurd, which is a whole other issue. I might as well dial the number, which is what I end up doing anyway. (I'm returning this phone, btw).
So, I've searched and searched and practically no cell phone company continues to make a phone with speaker dependent voice dialing, and practically no cell service company supports these anymore. Is the industry dropping an excellent and functioning technology for one that does not work?
I will add, I hope LG and others continue, or will commence anew, to offer phones with speaker dependent voice dialing, and that cell service companies support such phones.
The real critical question I have is, is there a phone out there that meets my criteria (flip, speaker dependent voice dialing, email access/retrieval, camera - is that asking too much?), supported by one of the "main stream" cell servivce companies? I've been all over phonescoop and cell company stores and websites to no avail.
Sorry for the LONG question. Hope someone can help.
Replies


