post is in two parts…..

firstly ive only just been introduced to the world of speaking to your phone.
“ok google”
“send a text to john”
“what do you want to say” etc etc.

just how far does this go? if your phone rings can you say “answer the phone”, then “hang up” when youve finished? any other tricks?

secondly, was watching tv earlier when they found a stolen phone by using one of these apps. simple question is, do you need GPS on all the time just in case you lose it?
and are they all much of a muchness or is there a recommended android version?

thats it folks, thanks 🙂

Can’t speak for Android, I refuse to have anything to do with it, but if it has similar operating characteristics to other voice-operated digital ‘AI’ systems then it should either respond natively to commands like ‘please answer the phone’ or whatever, or it needs to be taught, so that it ‘learns’ your voice and syntax.
I’ve noticed that the spellcheck in iOS has become much more accurate in anticipating words according to the context, including quite long ones, as time has gone on, so too with speech-based systems.
I have only used Siri a couple of times, to set up reminders, and it worked very well, but it’s not something I feel comfortable using, despite it supposedly being very good for hands-free control of the phone/tablet.
I suppose that’s mainly down to the fact that all of the things it’s really very good for are things I seldom need to do, like hands-free phone use; I never get calls or need to make them in the car.
Good luck, if the system works for you I can see how it can be a real help.

simple question is, do you need GPS on all the time just in case you lose it?

Will very much depend on the app but generally no.

Most wake up every now and then to get a GPS position and/or do it in response to a specific request for the current position.

Samsung have a ‘locate my phone’ app that uses Google location history to track it. It rogers the battery life – with it on, I would be down to 15% by the end of the day – with it off, I’d be on 80% still.

Google now also uses location history, but far less it seems. Turning off all location history only saves a bit over turning it off in the Samsung find my phone thing.

With Google ‘Find My Phone’ you don’t need GPS on.

It just needs to be turned on – Google does the rest.

Used it to track MrsSC’s phone down when she lost it: well useful.

I enabled OK Google and added another App to add some extra features.

It will now respond to:

Navigate to postcode/home/Gregs
Play a song or album in Spotify, skip a track etc.
Read out a new text message/compose a text. It even seems to recognise place names, even small villages etc.
Dim the screen to say 25%
Change the volume to a %age

Don’t use it all the time but it is useful when you are driving, and you can just turn the stereo down briefly so the phone can hear your request to read out a new text message and speak a reply without trying to look at the phone at all. You can ‘OK Google’ from the lock screen if you enable it.

You can also do the ‘tell me about Swindon’ in an attempt to entertain yourself and it will read out a wiki summary of whatever subject you asked about.

just tried it. havent installed an app or owt. just typed ‘find my phone’ into google and it only bloody worked!! 😀

itll ring it, lock it or wipe it if you so desire. android device manager or something. int technology marvellous 😀

now to have a look at ‘ok google’……

thanks chaps

EDIT: can it open a text, read it out to you, let you reply and send, all without touching the phone?

‘OK Google, do a backflip’

can it open a text, read it out to you, let you reply and send, all without touching the phone?

You can on an iPhone so I imagine you can on Android too.

When I last set it up you needed another app to add that functionality…I’ll see if I can find it…

It’s Commandr for Google Now

try these commands

great stuff, ill have a play tomorrow thanks.