WHAT’S
HOT

   Voice control is always hot in my book. But accurate
voice control is even better. Microsoft Voice Command does an excellent
job in the accuracy field. While not completely on all the time, it
certainly does a better job that a certain voice command software (which
came with my iPaq 3835) did.

SETUP

   Installation is fairly straightforward. Two things
of note: Microsoft Voice Comand must be installed into the main system
memory. I used my iPaq 2215 runniing XCPUScaler for this test AND if
you don’t have a Pocket PC Phone (as I don’t), you won’t be able to
use the phone features.

PROGRAM
FEATURES

    First, the list of the features (copied
verbatim from Microsoft):

  
Microsoft Voice Command is ready for use as soon as you install the
program. You may want to customize the voice recording button (I highly
recommend following the instructions that it displays after the installation),
and set your microphone level for optimal accuracy. If you have to soft
reset your Pocket PC (and who doesn’t), it will announce to you that
Voice Command is ready.
    Once installed, you do have the ability to set some
options, albiet limited ones (under Settings, not Programs). You can
enable/disable Voice Command entirely or just enable/disable the bits
Voice Command that you want.

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There are other options available by tapping on say, Calendar, and then
pressing the Options button.

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On to the usage! To start Microsoft Voice Command, press your appropriate
Voice Command button (in my case, the iTask button has been reassigned).
If you aren’t using some sort of skinning software, you will see the
microphone icon appear on the taskbar, followed by a beep (to signal
that Voice Command is ready and listening). If you are using a skinning
program (such as WisBar Advance), you won’t see the icon at this time
(as this is relatively new, and the skins haven’t been completely updated)
– but the tone will still play. You can cancel a voice command at any
time by holding down the same button until you hear a second tone.

  
Once activated, then you have various voice commands at your disposal.
These range from Help to Show [contact name]. Unfortunately, attempting
to describe this program in text and static pictures does not really
do it justice. So the next few links will open an .wmv movie in a new
window with examples.

Tell me my appointments

Opening a favorite game

Show a contact

Play music by a specified
artist

Announcing the song name and
artist

  
I mentioned before that the accuracy of Microsoft Voice Command is quite
good. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect. If you have contact names that
are similar, you may have to add a middle initial to differenciate them.
Or, as I and others have discovered, trying to open Nevo
(the remote control application) by saying "Knee-vo" you may
end up with Bejeweled
instead. And while Bejeweled
is a wonderfully addicting game, it won’t control your TV. So, you will
end up finding new pronunciations that work (for the Nevo
example above, I say "Neh-vo" instead). You can also rename
your applications (to make them easier to pronounce, and thus easier
to open). Microsoft
has some good tips available on their website about the features of
Voice Command.
    Another item worthy of mention is that you can place
shortcuts to associated files (say a favorite webpage or a movie that
you have saved on your SD card) in the Programs folder, and easily launch
those items by name. My recommendation if you wanted to accomplish this
would be to create extra folders (such as Media or Favorites) and place
the shortcuts there.

HELP
SUPPORT

    There are tips
available from Microsoft
site, along with troubleshooting and technical support tools. There
is also a User Guide that is installed on the PC (that you do the Pocket
PC installation from).

SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS

    According to Microsoft‘s
page, the requirements are:

Windows Mobile 2003 software for Pocket PC or Pocket PC Phone Edition
Technologies Microsoft ActiveSync® 3.7 or later technology
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium
Edition or Windows 98 SE operating system
Memory 7 MB of device memory (RAM) for 500 contacts and 100 songs

BUGS
AND WISHES

    I found no glaring system-crashing bugs.
And my wish list is short:

PURCHASING

    You can buy
this software directly from Handango/Microsoft.
The price shown is $39.95.

PROS

• 
  

  Outstanding
  voice recognition

• 
  

  Hands-free
  voice dialing

• 
  

  Easy
  to learn

• Voice-controlled
  application launching
• Voice-controlled
  contact and appointment lookup
• Voice-controlled
  media player

CONS

• 
  

  Price!

• While
  the voice recognition is outstanding, it still has some quirks
• Limited
  application (needs more features)

OVERALL
IMPRESSION

   I’m really getting a kick out of being able to
control my Pocket PC via my voice. And now that I’ve gotten used to
the nuances of the program, I would definately put it on my list of
should-have applications. The problem is, I doubt very highly that I
would have paid out $39.95 for this application (especially since it
ends up being a 4Mb download with no box or hardcopy user manual). And
if I had paid $39.95, I would have felt like I got the bad end of the
deal (as the application for this software is limited). It does a great
job at what it was designed for, but I think a $20 price tag would be
a lot easier to swallow considering the features. Even if they dropped
the price on the non-Pocket PC phone version, that would give me a better
incentive to encourage others buy this software too. A great product,
but far too expensive right now.

Have
you used Microsoft Voice Command? See something that isn’t quite right?
Tell us what you think! Click on the Discussion Link below.