Voice Recognition. Dragon Dictation Application on Your Phone.

A couple of months ago a friend recommended that I try Dragon for E-mail on my Blackberry (I’m not too cool yet and don’t own an iphone :). Dragon for Email is a speech-to-text recognition application from Nuance. Basically, you dictate into your phone, and the software types the message for you. I must tell you, I was impressed with the accuracy level and how handy it turned out to be!

1. Respond to emails on the go

I don’t have to talk about how crucial an immediate response in real estate business may be. Dragon for Email does a pretty job recognizing your speech, even while you’re driving (or speak with an accent). I noticed that the accuracy of voice recognition gets even better when I use my hands-free earpiece.

2. Record voice notes

I also figured out this voice recognition application can be useful for other purposes. For example, when previewing a house, instead of taking notes with a pen and paper, try speaking into your phone. Then, e-mail the notes to yourself. Later, when you need to access the information, just search for it in your e-mail box. The benefits? You can record much more information with less time spent. Also, because it’s digital you can easily find it later, even if you viewed the house months ago and forgot which drawer your notes are in. All you need is to find that search button in your outlook. You may also want to create a separate email or an email folder for your voice notes.

3. How about blogging with your voice?

Here’s another idea. Don’t have enough time but got an idea on the go? I dictate a lot of my blog posts as well. In fact, I’m speaking this into my blackberry right now. Sure, I will do some minor editing, add links and pictures on the computer. The point is I have the framework ready and I didn’t lose that idea.

4. A few pieces of advice if you’re new to voice recognition:

• Take a few minutes and read the instructions on how to use the software. Don’t just jump in and dictate. Learn a few tips and commands. You won’t regret it.
• If the accuracy isn’t very good, try speaking softer/louder (softer works better for me) or hold the phone closer/farther away. Find your best range and volume.
• You will find that the software sometimes does put in a totally irrelevant word into your e-mail. So if you are writing something really important, double- and triple check your email. Most of our e-mails are quite casual anyway, so usually I just make a disclaimer that I’m dictating this into the phone. Generally, my recipients show understanding and appreciate quickness of the response over perfect grammar. (Now, you got a good excuse for your spelling errors as well). I also get a lot of positive feedback (Wow, that’s what you do!)

5. Where to get Dragon for Email/Dragon Dictation App?

This FREE voice recognition application is available at your mobile app store (Blackberry App World in my case) and on the web. There’s also an iphone/ipad version. From what I read, that one appears to be even better (It would be interesting to hear comments from the users).

Post authored by Serhiy Onyshchuk, Realtor in Marysville WA, Tidoma Team, www.tidoma.com