Those busy bee boffins at Samsung have announced the Samsung p207, billed as “the world’s first EDGE phone with VoiceMode provided by VoiceSignal.”
Promising to liberate users from the tyranny of texting on tiddly keypads, the smarty pants p207 uses “revolutionary” Speech-To-Text (STT) input technology.
Like its PC desktop counterparts, the user first has to ‘train’ the p207 through a series of spoken prompts that captures voice tone and intonation.
Once the user has adapted the system to their own dulcet tones, they can start dictating away – and the more that the learning VoiceMode is used, the more it adapts to the user’s voice.
Cleverly, voice texters can also address their message by dictating the recipient by name or number.
Peter Skarzynski, senior vice president of wireless terminals at Samsung wasn’t one to underplay the product’s capabilities: “Samsung is dedicated to integrating first-to-market technologies into its wireless phones to empower users in their everyday lives.”
“It is a great accomplishment for Samsung and a monumental day in the industry, as the p207’s advanced voice technologies transform day-to-day communication.”
The phone – looking a bit Alvin Stardust-esque in its tight, all-black covering – also comes with EDGE high-speed network, an integrated VGA camera/camcorder, MP3 ringtones, wireless multimedia messaging and instant messaging.
If this voice-to-text technology actually works (and we have a few doubts), it could prove a real boon, especially to people with fingers the size of large Bavarian sausages.
But the name’s a bit silly though. Who’d want to call a phone ‘page 207’?