Google has launched a new Android app for version 2.2 (FroYo), called Voice Actions. The app lets you speak various commands to engage various functionalities of the phone.
With Voice Action, you can initiate the sending of text messages, listening to songs, calls to businesses or contacts, emails, web surfing, and more.
"Our mobile phones have become modern-day Swiss Army knives. An Android phone is a handheld computer, a music player, a notepad, a GPS navigation unit and more, all rolled into one sleek device that fits in your pocket," Google says. "Today’s phones do so many things for us that sometimes we don’t even think about how we do them."
"Even though our phones do all these new things, the most natural way of interacting with a phone remains what it always has been: speaking," Google adds.
Here is the list of commands:
- send text to [contact] [message]
- listen to [artist/song/album]
- call [business]
- call [contact]
- send email to [contact] [message]
- go to [website]
- note to self [note]
- navigate to [location/business name]
- directions to [location/business name]
- map of [location]
Google has also launched an update of its search widget for Android so when you type a local search query, you’ll get suggested businesses with addresses and languages. This also requires FroYo. Both features will be preinstalled on the Droid 2.
In addition to these new features, Google announced a new Chrome Extension for Android users today that lets you send links from your desktop to your phone.
