Work(ing Title)

It has become clear that the new fighting ground for voice recognition is search on mobile phones. Developing an application that has great user experience, and can be deployed onto a variety of handsets across a number of carriers…you may as well start working on turning lead into gold.

Both Microsoft and Google have woken up to the value of leveraging the voice user interface for their local search offerings (it’s what the bloody phone was designed for anyway). Live Search 411 and GOOG-411 have been put through their paces, and the results of the Ars Technica review are very promising for the humans.

While Google’s service was less quirky slightly faster, the functionality of Microsoft’s won their hearts:

"Microsoft’s LiveSearch411 is the perfect service for anyone traveling or planning to travel, and I highly recommend it. I also loved that it remembered my last search, because I’ve been disconnected or had to redial 411 countless times in the past. Further, it offered to share my results with another phone user, which is a great option for those traveling in groups that are trying to reach the same destination from different cars or starting locations. LiveSearch411 was also able to find destinations in low-population and obscure areas, which is probably when 411 is needed most during a road trip."