Windows Phone 8’s voice commands are a nice improvement
With Windows Phone 7.x, it was possible to read and respond to text messages using voice commands, as well as start phone calls, launch apps, search, and more. While Windows Phone 8 still covers these basics, they way in which it is implemented is much more polished and user-friendly. While the biggest changes include support for developers – allowing apps to let you control an audiobook with your voice or compose a new tweet (like Rowi) – and the ability to create new voice notes in OneNote, it’s the more subtle changes that are the most appreciated.
My personal favorite change, by far, is the fact that Windows Phone 8 will now queue up incoming text messages for playback. Multiple incoming messages in rapid succession was always a pet peeve of mine, since only the first would be read aloud over Bluetooth or in your headphones. This made it next to impossible to respond to messages from certain people while in the car. Now, this is no longer the case, and subsequent messages will always be played.
Additionally, Windows Phone 8 now allows you to append additional sentences while dictating with your voice. This makes it easy to add a last-minute thought, convey more complicated ideas, and much more. If you have to repeat the sentence for some reason, it’ll only edit the most recent addition to the text. Overall, Windows Phone 8’s voice commands are a nice improvement over Windows Phone 7.x.
