OK, Google
Google’s speech recognition service that runs on its latest mobile operating system is limited in usefulness in non-English speaking countries including Korea. The innovative service is virtually useless for the latest Android phones introduced in the country.
According to industry sources on January 5, OK Google is not available in the Korean language. The speech recognition service of the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system (Android 4.4 KitKat) was released by Google at the end of October, 2013.
The service enables voice search by just saying “OK, Google” to a device that has Android 4.4 KitKat installed on it, without having to touch the smartphone screen. Hence, the service is shown to have improved user convenience.
The hands-free voice search service is available with the Google Now app after the installation of KitKat. The app is a voice-activated service designed to compete with Apple’s Siri, an intelligent personal assistant that gives real-time information about flights, restaurants, movies, public transportation, and others through voice commands.
However, KitKat provides the service only in English. Therefore, it is not possible to use the voice-activated service with Korean on the Nexus 5, co-developed by Google and LG Electronics and running the latest Android operating system for the first time. The same is true with the G2, for which LG is working on the Android 4.4 upgrade.
As a result, complaints from local users are increasing. Yet, Google says that the service is still in beta testing, and thus a restriction on language is inevitable for the time being.