Voice Features

A product manager at Google Korea demonstrates the Voice Answer function on Dec. 4.
A product manager at Google Korea demonstrates the Voice Answer function on Dec. 4.

 

Google Korea held a media event of Voice on Mobile at its headquarters in Seoul on Dec. 4, officially announcing new voice-based features such as voice answer and action functions with an emphasis on the importance of voice-enabled technologies in the mobile era.

The new voice-based features can do a search, operate apps, send text messages and e-mail, make phone callS, make a schedule, and create a reminder. When asked in natural language, the question is answered in voice.

Voice-enabled technologies were born with a sudden rise in demand for voice search. The mobile voice search usage rate has nearly doubled this year. In the U.S., 50 percent of mobile device users are aware of voice-based features, with 30 percent actually using the service.

In 2008, Google's speech recognition service was first showcased in the U.S., and it was introduced in Korea after two years. The service is designed to activate just by saying "OK, Google" to a device with Android 4.4 KitKat installed on it, without having to touch the smartphone screen.

Steve Cheng, director for the mobile search area at Google, said, “The importance of voice has been growing in the wearable era. People will communicate with smart devices, like not only smart phones and wearable devices, but also cars and TVs in the foreseeable future.”

Copyright © BusinessKorea. Prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and redistribution