iOS Speech Recognition Software On the Way

06/12/2011 Comments Off on iOS Speech Recognition Software On the Way Apple, iPad Like

Rumor has it that Apple is teaming up with Nuance to bring speech recognition to iOS devices. There’s been no official confirmation, at least not yet, but there is a screen capture floating around which shows Nuance settings on the iPhone.

With so little to go by how can we know for sure this feature will be available soon? Short answer, we don’t. Nonetheless there has been lots of chatter surrounding this topic for a while now even before this years WWDC. A lot of people were expecting to hear some sort of news about iOS speech recognition at the conference. Of course there wasn’t any mention of it but recently the photo was leaked which has just increased curiosity and raised even more questions.

Initially the impression people had was that Apple in fact was attempting to purchase Nuance. Now it seems more likely that they are partnering together. So the question seems more like when, rather than if, speech recognition will be available for iOS. Many believe it will be sooner than later, possibly by the time iOS 5 launches later this fall. If that’s the case then chances are we’ll hear about it before that. Either way, at this point we’ll just have to wait and see.

A few benefits come to mind for using speech recognition on iOS devices like the iPad 2. There’s no question that Apple is more than capable of making this happen. Though there is the question of how accurate the software will be. Sure, you talk and it types or speaks type software has been around for quite some time now, but in many cases it’s been known to be glitchy and not necessarily accurate. This can result in typos, misunderstandings and faulty communication. Of course if any 2 companies are capable of taking this type of software to the next level it’s Apple and Nuance.

In other related news it’s been confirmed that iOS 5 will support 1080p video. This applies to playback, recording as well as exporting. With this being the case it’s quite possible the iPad 3 (whenever it’s released) might indeed come equipped with even better cameras that are capable of capturing full HD video.

So there you have it. Even after this years keynote we continue to be flooded with more great news continues surrounding iOS 5. What are your thoughts regarding these topics? Can you see yourself using speech recognition software on your iPhone or iPad 2? Is there anything else that you’d like to see in future iOS updates which haven’t already been mentioned? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.