Yeah, we covered the new Voice Actions and Chrome to Phone already from the press event held by Google last week, but if you were wishing you could have been there, now you can. Kind of. Google has posted the event video for us all to enjoy.
The 30-minutes video first shows the capabilities of what mobile computing has accomplished over the years, then goes into some Google products. When they make mention of the voice recognition, Hugo Barra, the director of product management lays down some of his multi-lingual skills. Show off. Shortly afterward, they get into the new products, Voice Actions, and Chrome to Phone.
While native voice actions on Android are a nice addition, Vlingo has been doing it all along, which is why they just made their app for free. The real announcement was Chrome to Phone, as it’s something painfully simple, but can help in tremendous ways, especially with future version of the Android operating system. Things like sending applications and songs from your computer, which will likely be possible in Android 3.0 (Gingerbread), are all thanks to Chrome to Phone. Chrome to Phone will also be implemented into Google TV when it launches later this fall.
If you have an Android 2.2 device, you can take advantage of these new features now, if you’re running anything below Froyo, you’re out of luck, unfortunately. Maybe it’s time to retire the trusty, but old, G1? We’re not saying that these new features are enough to make you want to get a new phone, but we’re just saying it’s 2010, that’s all. Chrome to phone and voice actions are there to make your experience much easier to access the information that you want, and are seamlessly integrated into the OS. What’s not to like?
How are you liking the new features? Nice to have, but won’t use them that often? Or something you’ll be using daily from now on?
[Via: Phandroid]