Voice control and Car Mode in Gingerbread

Pt. 5 of 5 | 3:49 |

How Do I? Using Android 2.3 Gingerbread on the Nexus S

Friday February 11, 2011

One of the things that really sets Android apart from its competitors in the smartphone space is a full turn-by-turn navigation solution built right in, an included Car Mode and excellent voice interaction. We take a look at how these three things have fared in the switch from Android 2.2 to Android 2.3, Gingerbread.

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Show Notes

Car Mode
Access Car Mode by tapping on the application shortcut. This is one app you'll probably want to have on your first homescreen if you're a driver.
Car Home gives you one-touch access to stuff you might want to do when behind the wheel.
Tap Navigation to bring up the turn-by-turn voice prompt Navigation app.
Select Phone to, well, you can figure the rest out...
You can also set a contact to a quick-dial slot by choosing to + Add. Put your most commonly called contact(s) front and center so you can one-touch dial when driving.

Voice Search
Tap Voice Search (which really should be re-badged as Voice Command as it does more than just search) in either Car Mode or by launching the app or in the Google Search widget.
Say things like "Send text message to Contact Name. Hey Contact, how's things? Oh, really? Well... I didn't care anyway."
Say "get directions to...," "call Contact, mobile," "search for pizza near me" and so on.

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