Are voice commands the way to control your mobile phone?
Legislation is and will make using a hands-free system mandatory in various parts of the U.S. and more and more powerful software for controlling your device with voice commands is launching to help you out. MobileVoiceControl is a new cross-platform application that works with BlackBerry, Palm Treo, and Windows Mobile devices from Sprint Nextel.
With California the next state looking to make wireless control of you cellular phone mandatory, people need to start thinking about how and what they can do with their mobile phone via some type of wireless technology. I received an email from Daniel with a press release announcing the release of MobileVoiceControl for select Sprint/Nextel BlackBerry, Treo, and Windows Mobile devices. MobileVoiceControl doesn't just allow you to make phone calls from your device with voice commands, but gives you the ability to "ask" your mobile phone for information. Check out the product tour to see how you can send an email with a single button press and voice commands, including adding a subject and body to the email. You can also check weather, find movie times, check your calendar, create an appointment, hear the latest sports scores, and more. This is quite a full featured package and if I had a Sprint/Nextel device I would definitely check it out. There may be arguments that now people can do even more, even if it is wirelessly, and this will cause distractions while driving. However, in reality I don't think we are going to stop people from trying to do too much while driving so it is nice to see software that may help make it a bit safer out there for the rest of us.
MobileVoiceControl is currently available for US$6 per month and I haven't quite figured out why this would only work for Sprint/Nextel consumers when it is a local installation that doesn't appear to interact directly with the network. As a vanpool rider, I don't think my fellow riders would appreciate me talking to my phone on the way home while they are trying to sleep.
