Skyvi Voice (Siri for Android)
If you have an android phone and want Siri to speak to you, there is an option. It’s called Skyvi from BlueTornado. She has a pleasant voice, similar to Siri. She does everything Siri does and she’s pretty funny sometimes too.
As with most voice apps, it works as well as you speak. If you can speak clearly, Skyvi can understand you. If you have a very heavy accent of some sort, she can get a little confused. And that seems to be the biggest issue with Skyvi. Some people have reported problems with the speech recognition.
I have a slight southern accent. I don’t hear it, but people say I have it. I know it comes out when I’m tired. But Skyvi doesn’t seem to have a problem understanding me. On the few occasions where she has had an issue, I can usually speak the command or conversation again with extra clarity and she gets it fine. I’ve noticed she also gets better with use. The more you talk to her or use her, the better she gets at understanding you.
Our version has to put up with me and the Prince. So she has some extra duty to deal with. It would be nice if we could program two or more users with speech recognition. When he uses my phone for homework, it would be nice if she called him by his name and not mine. But that might be a lot to ask from a free app.
She does have a few issues recognizing names. I have a friend named Maura; Skyvi hears “more a”; when she repeats the name she turns the A into a long A, like ace. When I say call Maura; she doesn’t understand who I’m talking about. Since she displays the names when she asks you to connect it to a contact in your address book, it would be nice if you could edit that name and perhaps fix the issue.
The biggest disappointment to the Prince so far (remember he’s 10) is that he can’t say “thank you Skyvi” because she doesn’t seem to recognize her own name. That is kind of disappointing.
My biggest issue is that she overrides all the other phone sounds I have set and have gotten used to. That simply will not do. That one issue caused me to uninstall the app.
You can read all my Android App Reviews, but remember I’m simply a busy mom and retired IT geek. What works for me, may not work for your schedule or life. Take time to read the reviews on the apps before you download. Someone else may have the same phone or device as you and they may have experienced problems that I didn’t on my Galaxy Nexus.
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I’m a big fan of Doctor Who, ever since the 80’s. I watched every episode that Tom Baker did, I must say I miss K-9. The other night while watching the latest one on BBC America (shut up you Brits out there, no spoilers!), his new companion was asked, “Where do you want to go?”
