Nuance Communications, announced that
the Nuance Mobile flagship VSuite application is shipping on the
Palm Centro smartphone from AT&T. Palm has expanded its use of Nuance Mobile speech solutions to
deliver hands-free voice control capabilities to its broad portfolio
of mobile devices.
Palm has selected Nuance VSuite to enable hands-free,
one-step access to mobile applications and content. VSuite offers a
speech-based user interface for hands-free, eyes-free access to
smartphone features. In addition to being included on the Centro from
AT&T, VSuite is provided on the Treo 755p from Verizon Wireless.
VSuite is also supported on all Palm OS based Palm Treo
smartphones.
VSuite, which has shipped on over 200 million handsets to date, is
powered by natural, one-step commands and works immediately with no
training required by Palm users. Sample commands include:
— Name Dialing: dial any name from the phone’s contact list
(e.g., “Call John Smith Mobile”)
— Digit Dialing: dial a phone number (e.g. “Call 781 970 5200”)
— Message Addressing: address text, picture and video messages
(e.g., “Send Text to John Smith Mobile”)
— Contact Lookup: look up the contact details for any name in
your contact list (e.g., “Lookup John Smith”)
— Voice-activated application launch: single command access to
any application or menu item on the phone (e.g., “Open
Calendar”)
“With hands-free legislation limiting the use of mobile phones
while driving, mobile users increasingly need hands-free, eyes-free
access to features on their handsets,” said Phil McClendon, product
line manager, consumer smartphones, for Palm, Inc. “We’re committed to
offering hands-free solutions for a safe user experience, especially
while driving. By continuing to work with Nuance to equip our devices
with the latest speech technology capabilities, we’ve been able to
enhance the accessibility and utility of our devices for users on the
go.”
Nuance also offers Nuance Voice Control, a subscription-based
service that allows Palm users to easily connect to the mobile web
using only their voice. Nuance Voice Control users can dictate and
send email or text messages, create calendar entries, or search the
Web for business listings, news, weather, stock quotes, sport scores
and more.
“As demonstrated by the increased demand from carriers requesting
speech capabilities in their device specifications, innovative speech
solutions now play a significant role in the mobile phone user
experience,” said Michael Thompson, general manager, mobile search,
communications and handsets, Nuance. “With our broad set of mobile
speech solutions - from simple voice dialing to speech-based Web
search - we’re helping Palm deliver intelligent access to mobile
services and applications, allowing mobile users to stay connected and
productive.”
For more information about Nuance Mobile products, including
demos, please visit http://www.nuance.com/mobiledevices. More information
about Palm, Inc. and its portfolio of smartphones is available at
http://www.palm.com.