How To Use Yahoo! oneSearch Voice

Use Yahoo! oneSearch Voice

by Michael E. Callahan aka Dr. File Finder

Over the past several weeks I've talked about how to use Yahoo! Go. This is a powerful application for your mobile device that gives you all the information you want, your way. In case you missed any of the articles in this three-part series you can go to them by clicking on the links to part 1, part 2, or part 3. In this on-going series on "going portable" this week I'm going to look at how to use the new Yahoo! oneSearch Voice. As the name implies, this innovative search tools lets you use your voice to search from your mobile device. I have it installed on my BlackBerry 8830 and it works beautifully. I was impressed with how intuitive and easy-to-use the program is. My first few attempts were a bit of trial and error and my biggest problem was not speaking close enough to my phone. Once I figured that out I was on my way. I did searches for things like "pizza", "Arby's", and "sushi" and got just what I was looking for. Since the application knows my default location it provided me with the appropriate solutions for my area in Tennessee. It found me pizza restaurants, a good number of Arby's, and some five star sushi places. I've done lots of searches since my initial testing began and the biggest tip I could give anyone wanting to try Yahoo! oneSearch Voice is to speak close to the phone. Yahoo! oneSearch Voice doesn't need to be "trained" like some other voice recognition software. I just started speaking and the program found what I was looking for. Once it recognizes what you've said it starts "thinking" and then produces your results. At the top of the results screen it shows what area it's searching and gives you a place where you can change this. That makes it nice if you're traveling, for example, and want to find a certain kind of restaurant, a certain brand of gas, or a hardware store. I have to be honest and say that this is an amazing improvement over typing in search queries. I'm not bad on my BlackBerry, but being able to simply say what I'm looking for is a vast improvement. In testing it out I tried searching for everything from my wife's incoming flight to movie show times to scores for baseball games. Yahoo! oneSearch Voice didn't disappoint me once. While Yahoo! oneSearch Voice doesn't have to be trained it does learn as you use it. So, for example, if you say "Red Sox" and it returns with "red sock you can highlight the word that sounds similar and correct it. In this way you can customize the way Yahoo! oneSearch Voice works for you. By giving the program this kind of feedback it actually gets better and better and your searches become more and more accurate.

I have to say that Yahoo! oneSearch Voice is one of the coolest programs I've tested in recent memory. The ability to search for virtually anything using your voice is both powerful and useful. Yes, you can swing in to text mode if you want to, but personally I never found that I needed to. Yahoo! oneSearch Voice is absolutely a Dr. File Finder Favorite and it's going to stay on my BlackBerry for good. Right now it's available for BlackBerry Curve, Pearl, and the 8800 series, but very soon it will be available for over 500 different devices. This is one you have to try.

Visit oneSearch Home Page

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