For an excellent recap of relevant goings-on at Mobile World Congress see Greg Sterling’s “Roundup” at Internet2Go. Meanwhile, I want to draw your attention to the video below, where a Samsung executive features Vlingo’s Virtual Assistant application running on the Galaxy S II smartphone, which is an Android-based device slated to launch on Vodafone UK’s network later this year.

The beginning of the video is a fairly standard demo of the Vlingo Virtual Assistant as invoked by “double tapping” the home key [although the gardening gloves provide an interesting twist that would preclude the use of fingerprints for user authentication]. Forty-four seconds into the presentation, attention turns to the in-car experience with a demonstration of “truly hands-free” service initiation using the trigger phrase “hey Galaxy!”

The demo worked in what looks like a crowded auditorium, which is always a big plus. And the spokesperson was able to demonstrate how well a wireless device can be activated in response to a trigger phrase, “understand” and parse commands from content (so that “Text to Andy” is not transcribed but “Meet you in the office at 3 PM” is). To my mind, what’s left out is the obvious next step of the system asking “Would you like me to add this to your calendar?” which always makes for another aha! (speechable moment) for audience members who have not been exposed to the mobile apps that serve as personal organizers and memory aids.

Categories: Articles

Tags: Mobile Speech Apps, Vlingo, Virtual Personal Assistants