Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation is an iPod/iPhone app that was mentioned in class one night.  I was curious about it so I decided to check it out.

  My experience has been that free apps are limited in ability and usefulness so I wasn't expecting much from this one.  

I have tried other dictation programs in the past including Dagon Naturally speaking.  Most required extensive training of both the computer and the user so I was surprised there was no calibration or training required.  Even with that they were frustrating and more trouble than they were worth for me.

I recorded a short selection of text just to try it out.  What I found was that the app was about 90% accurate.  It missed a few words and guessed on a couple others but you can edit the text on the screen before sending as an email or to facebook/twitter.

I found that if I slowed my speech the accuracy increased. It still had difficulty with some words but it was more accurate than I expected.

The user guide says that you can insert some punctuation / formatting as you speak.  I had some success with this and am sure that it just takes time to master it.  Again, you can edit it manually or send it as an email and edit it in your regular document editor.

All in all this is a good app. I would recommend it for anyone who has to a lot of dictation / student who has difficulty with writing tasks.  

For more information about this and other Dragon products visit: http://www.dragonmobileapps.com/applications.html