Dragon Dictation

Have you heard about the Dragon Dictation app? It was just released this past week and has the potential to make my iPhone even more useful then it already is. When you use the app you speak into your iPhone and Dragon Dictation displays what you’ve said. It’s as simple as opening the app, pressing a record button and speaking into the iPhone’s microphone. The dictation isn’t perfect but I’ve noticed that it’s getting better the more times I use it.  So far it’s  done a pretty decent job understanding me in spite of my mumbly voice and all the background noise that occurs my house.  If the app has dictated a word incorrectly I can tap on it to see alternate suggestions or delete it completely. This is a quick way to clean up the dictation. I can also tap the keyboard icon and edit things that way.

Now for the part of the app that I thought was pretty great. With the tap of a few buttons I can send the dictation directly to an email, text message or the clipboard. If I send it to the clipboard I’ve got the ability to paste it in another program. I like this because it frees up my hands. If I’m holding the baby and I remember something for my to-do list I can dictate it and quickly copy and paste it into Evernote. No hunting and pecking around the keyboard with my one free hand or worse, not jotting it down thinking (ha!) I’ll remember it later.

That’s all good…now for the questionable, and it’s nothing to do with the performance of the app. The first time you use Dragon Dictation you will be asked to read a very lengthy user agreement. Very lengthy. Reading through the agreement it states that they will be using your contact information for dictation purposes. It also states that the information will be used for nothing other than identifying names you are dictating. I visited the Nuance Communications website and read more about the privacy policy. Again it states that they do not collect email or phone numbers from your contacts, only names. I personally don’t have a problem with this but if you look at the app’s reviews in iTunes you’ll see there are a number of people who are pretty unhappy. If you’re concerned about this issue then chances are you’ll be unhappy too. ***SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF REVIEW***

As for me, I’m thrilled with Dragon Dictation and the way it’s going to reduce the  typing I have to do on my iPhone. I’m quite impressed with both the speed and accuracy of this app. It’s extremely user friendly as well. Now I’ve just got to get over being self-conscious about walking around the house talking to myself. My kids were quite concerned about my sanity when I was testing the app out the other day.

Update - Just about a week after releasing the Dragon Dictation app and hearing the uproar about the collection of contact information (see above), Nuance has already come out with an update that 1)makes the uploading of contact names optional and 2)allows you to delete any previously uploaded contacts from their servers. Talk about an impressive response to user feedback.

Price when Reviewed: Free

Seller: Nuance Communications