Google iPhone voice-recognition tool baffled by British accents

According to The Telegraph, Google's voice application for the iPhone has hit a stumbling block - it does not understand British accents.

The high-tech program, which was launched this week with much fanfare, allows users to search Google for cinema times, bring up pictures and information and convert currency and measurements with one tap of the screen.

But British iPhone owners who eagerly downloaded the new software to their phones were left baffled after it responded to requests with bizarre titbits of unwanted information.

When asked to search for "iPhone" the results varied wildly. A user with a Scottish accent found his phone opted to search for the term "sex" instead, and suggested a link to an adult web site. On a second attempt, the search engine looked for "sledding".

Asked in a Kentish accent to search for "iPhone", it came up with "my sister" and "Einstein", while a Surrey user was offered "myspace" as well as "Einstein".

Read full article.

emily | 3:14 PM | Cell Phone Apps Reviews |
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2008/11/021807.htm

Tweet