Dragon Dictation for iPhone - Physical Keyboards Are Becoming Obsolete

Dragon Dictation for iPhone – Physical Keyboards Are Becoming Obsolete

by Bill French on 17/12/09 at 7:00 pm

Bill French is an information architect specializing in Internet applications. He is also the co-founder of MyST Technology Partners and Senior Editor for iPhoneCTO.

Almost every article I write is at least partially developed, if not almost fully written with assisted voice recognition from Dragon Naturally Speaking. The new Dragon Dictation app for iPhone will increase my reliance on this method of content development and high-velocity messaging. This app provides near-flawless transcription execution in a simple application that serves only one purpose – to capture your voice as text and send it on its way. I’m happy to report it is very accurate and the transcribing process is fast.

I’ve also tested this app in high–noise areas (such as Starbucks) and with surprisingly good performance with the standard iPhone hands-free ear plugs. An occasional error in transcription will creep in when the grinders or blenders are running, but it’s not so significant that even with quick editing, the ROI on speaking far surpasses typing on the iPhone (of course), but typing on a full-featured notebook keyboard as well.

While there’s no way to use Dragon Dictation in iPhone apps such as Documents-To-Go or QuickOffice , the Dragon Dictation app provides a real-time editing environment that allows you to build your content, edit on-the-fly, and add more voice-generated text to the end or inserted in the body. This is a key requirement because most of us struggle with end-to-end diction; we need to think, read, edit, and compose in a free-form manner.

Transcribing Meetings and The Future of Tools Like This

Of course, it can’t identify the different people in the meeting, but I have a hunch that’s next. Imagine starting a meeting and asking each person to introduce themselves to the iPhone “transcriber” which then imprints their voice to a name. Dragon Dictation then goes about the task of transcribing the meeting. When the meeting is over, the Dragon app formats the text by inserting the names of each person it heard with the text they said. If this feature isn’t on the planning board for Dragon Dictation, I’ll print and eat this article.

The Keyboard Is Going Away

Dragon Dictation is a significant step forward in the continuing shift that will draw humans away from clunky keyboards (physical or virtual). I’ve previously written about the coming obsolescence of physical keyboards (“Who Says iPhone Needs a Keyboard? That’s so 2004”); Dragon Diction is yet additional evidence my predictions are holding.

Pros

Free (for a limited time)
Accurate (I’m amazed it works as well as it does)
Real-time speak-transcribe-edit ability
Transcribing speed is very fast; you can speak at your normal gate
Options to send transcribed text to email, text message, or clipboard

Cons

No integration with apps such as Docs-to-Go or QuickOffice
Although not required, experience with Dragon Speaking Naturally will produce better results
There’s not enough time in the day to figure out all the different ways this product can positively impact your business

Recommended? Absolutely – it can only get better.

View Comments to “Dragon Dictation for iPhone – Physical Keyboards Are Becoming Obsolete”

Rob Bell

Dec 17th, 2009

Aaaagh it's one of those annoying applications that's not available from the UK store. Shame, I've started using voice control and dictation a lot in Win 7, would have been handy on my iPhone too.
Name

Dec 18th, 2009

Another big con, ir won't even load on an iPod Touch, ecen if you have a mic, i can'f fhink of a technical reason why that shouldn't work.
billfrench

Dec 22nd, 2009

Thanks for iPodTouch con. I agree – it makes no sense. In fact, one would have thought the app store reviewers would have tested and rejected the app for this. I've had apps rejected for rework with issues like this.
billfrench

Dec 22nd, 2009

Thanks for iPodTouch con. I agree – it makes no sense. In fact, one would have thought the app store reviewers would have tested and rejected the app for this. I've had apps rejected for rework with issues like this.