Speech recognition doesn't work, anyone else?

[Margarida Moreira]

Same problem here. I don't know what to do... Nokia doesn't answear my email.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

For me, voice recognition just never got what I said right. I tried 2 920's, an 810, and an HTC 8x in the store, and none of those devices could get anything I said right unless I tried like 10 times (usually ending up in me quitting). I also use to OWN a 920 and had 2 820's as well (had to exchange one of the 820s), and none of those devices could get anything right unless I held it close enough to my mouth to where I was basically kissing it. It's actually one of the biggest reasons I traded my Windows Phone. If they could fix whatever they need to get this stuff to work, I'd be all over Windows Phone again....

It was so disappointing today to walk into the store, download the new natural language voice assistant Maluba, try it, only to find that it went through the TellMe dictation and came back horribly inaccurate on ALL the devices I tried it on. Had this worked today, I would have sold my 4s today and bought a 920 again. I really need a good voice assistant with natural language because I am always driving and these are the times when I need to take a note or schedule an appointment.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I wonder if the new firmware update that is supposed to be released, along with the system file updates released today, will help with the voice issue? I wonder if there are just a batch of devices with bad mics, hence devices sending garbled text to be translated? Or if its just that TellMe sucks at accurately transcribing text.

What I do find odd is that my wife's Focus Flash transcribes text just fine, so if they're going through the same TellMe system, maybe that does mean that it's hardware related? I find it odd that some people have good results, while others (like me) can never get anything hardly transcribed correctly...

 

[Zolotoy]

For me, voice recognition just never got what I said right. I tried 2 920's, an 810, and an HTC 8x in the store, and none of those devices could get anything I said right unless I tried like 10 times (usually ending up in me quitting). I also use to OWN a 920 and had 2 820's as well (had to exchange one of the 820s), and none of those devices could get anything right unless I held it close enough to my mouth to where I was basically kissing it. It's actually one of the biggest reasons I traded my Windows Phone. If they could fix whatever they need to get this stuff to work, I'd be all over Windows Phone again....

It was so disappointing today to walk into the store, download the new natural language voice assistant Maluba, try it, only to find that it went through the TellMe dictation and came back horribly inaccurate on ALL the devices I tried it on. Had this worked today, I would have sold my 4s today and bought a 920 again. I really need a good voice assistant with natural language because I am always driving and these are the times when I need to take a note or schedule an appointment.

I am using it same way - while I am driving. Works like no tomorrow. And BTW, I speak with a heavy accent.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I am using it same way - while I am driving. Works like no tomorrow. And BTW, I speak with a heavy accent.

Now, you're using a 920, correct? I'm wondering if this may be due to bad batches or something. Did you get your Lumia during the initial stages of release, or just recently get one? I tried a yellow 920 in the store (which must be of a newer batch, if anything) and it had problems translating my speech correctly to text. I mean it was so bad that I actually tried to be quieter, so that others who may have been eyeing a 920 wouldn't see how bad it was performing...

 

[Zolotoy]

Now, you're using a 920, correct? I'm wondering if this may be due to bad batches or something. Did you get your Lumia during the initial stages of release, or just recently get one? I tried a yellow 920 in the store (which must be of a newer batch, if anything) and it had problems translating my speech correctly to text. I mean it was so bad that I actually tried to be quieter, so that others who may have been eyeing a 920 wouldn't see how bad it was performing...

I have bought mine on 12/1/2012 if that helps. But, I am serious - it works unbelievably good. Some last names I am calling to would have been even hard for a real person to understand.

 

[spyderzWPC]

Did you make sure the enable speech recognition service box was checked under settings-speech?

I had to update my phone and ran into this not working, turned out it basically wasn't turned on.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I have bought mine on 12/1/2012 if that helps. But, I am serious - it works unbelievably good. Some last names I am calling to would have been even hard for a real person to understand.

Wow. Yea, I'll have to try the ones in the store again, but I wish I had had that kind of luck....

Did you make sure the enable speech recognition service box was checked under settings-speech?

I had to update my phone and ran into this not working, turned out it basically wasn't turned on.

Yea, it won't even let you use speech unless you have the box checked. I know there is a box that must be checked to make sure Microsoft can use your speech attempts for improvements, measuring, etc, and I made sure ALL the boxes were checked....

I wonder if anyone has experimented with downloading different language packs, and perhaps it's the way I speak? I've spoken the same way, from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 8, and Windows Phone 7 was more accurate than using Windows Phone 8...

 

[txkimmers]

"I want some japanese food" ----> "I want to jump a nice dude"
"Pay Old Navy"-----> "hate old lady"

I mostly use voice recognition for giggles...

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

"I want some japanese food" ----> "I want to jump a nice dude"
"Pay Old Navy"-----> "hate old lady"

I mostly use voice recognition for giggles...

And it correctly transcribes what you accurately whenever you use it?

 

[txkimmers]

And it correctly transcribes what you accurately whenever you use it?

Ha, no that is my point. It gets it right just a percentage of the time and when it gets it wrong, what it offers up always makes me laugh. For reminders, I still use it because usually no matter how nonsensical the result, it acts like a memnonic for me. So example this morning I said, "Remind me: Roy Baumeister "Evil" and it recorded: Roy Found My Store Evil. I didn't expect it to get a proper name correct, so that is fine, and later when I got the reminder I was able to remember what Roy Found My Store Evil was supposed to refer to (a book by Roy Baumeister)

But, for searches like "I want some japanese food" to locate area restaurants I don't use it because it doesn't work consistently and I don't want to comically repeat myself over and over again--I even find myself shouting at the phone like it's a deaf old aunt. I must have a really thick accent or something....

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Ha, no that is my point. It gets it right just a percentage of the time and when it gets it wrong, what it offers up always makes me laugh. For reminders, I still use it because usually no matter how nonsensical the result, it acts like a memnonic for me. So example this morning I said, "Remind me: Roy Baumeister "Evil" and it recorded: Roy Found My Store Evil. I didn't expect it to get a proper name correct, so that is fine, and later when I got the reminder I was able to remember what Roy Found My Store Evil was supposed to refer to (a book by Roy Baumeister)

But, for searches like "I want some japanese food" to locate area restaurants I don't use it because it doesn't work consistently and I don't want to comically repeat myself over and over again--I even find myself shouting at the phone like it's a deaf old aunt. I must have a really thick accent or something....

Lol, that's funny. When you say reminders, you mean you use OneNote speech command, or something else like Maluuba or Ask Ziggy?

 

[txkimmers]

Lol, that's funny. When you say reminders, you mean you use OneNote speech command, or something else like Maluuba or Ask Ziggy?

Maluuba-- it puts the reminder in as a calendar event for one hour (I think) later and actually gives me a pop up reminder. With OneNote it just goes in there and stays in there unless I remember to go look at it again. I am sure other apps to the same thing but Maluuba is the one I know.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

Maluuba-- it puts the reminder in as a calendar event for one hour (I think) later and actually gives me a pop up reminder. With OneNote it just goes in there and stays in there unless I remember to go look at it again. I am sure other apps to the same thing but Maluuba is the one I know.

So it probably works maybe 50% of the time for you? Do you have to hold the phone close to your mouth for it to work, or the distance doesn't matter, but the background noise does?

 

[SirPwn4g3]

My 920 was having issues also, I first noticed it when trying to recognize music, the audio level didn't go up, then it told me a song I knew wasn't right. Then it wouldn't get voice command at al, it just thought nobody was talking. I found out tapping the phone was a temporary fix. Also the loud speaker (music) would go out. That required a reset. Looks like I'll be getting a refurb from warranty.

 

[txkimmers]

So it probably works maybe 50% of the time for you? Do you have to hold the phone close to your mouth for it to work, or the distance doesn't matter, but the background noise does?

I use it in the car like you do, and yes, I would say 50% or less it works ok, a sad percentage. I haven't really experimented with what works better in terms of how close to hold the handset, etc, because it doesn't bother me too much, I only use it in a pinch while in the car. I have always assumed really good voice recognition would have to learn the foibles of any person's speech, to "learn" it, and so would get better over time. But an app that learns like that I would not expect to be free or cost .99, but I don't know, just guessing at that.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

I use it in the car like you do, and yes, I would say 50% or less it works ok, a sad percentage. I haven't really experimented with what works better in terms of how close to hold the handset, etc, because it doesn't bother me too much, I only use it in a pinch while in the car. I have always assumed really good voice recognition would have to learn the foibles of any person's speech, to "learn" it, and so would get better over time. But an app that learns like that I would not expect to be free or cost .99, but I don't know, just guessing at that.

Well, the app itself doesn't do the recognition. If you notice, when you activate the speech functionality, the work is still being done by Microsoft TellMe, the speech service built in Windows Phone 8. It's TellMe that is the problem, or that the microphones bein used on windows phone 8 devices are really cheap and have no noise cancellation

 

[anon(5920764)]

So I just purchased a Lumia 822 at Costco. The guy there showed me the speech function and it worked great. On a funny note, he left it on while we were still talking and it suddenly repeated the first part of what I said and then added "I think I'm really drunk". Not sure if that is normal but it made me laugh. Now I am home with my new phone and not laughing too much. Most of the time the speech recognition just says it cannot hear anything. I have rebooted the phone and it might work once or twice after that and then just does goes deaf again. Today I turned off the speech service under the speech settings and rebooted the phone. After it powered up, tried it from the windows button long press and it worked great. Tried it from Bing and it wanted me to turn the service back on. I didn't want to do that so I went back to the windows button and it told me the service was not enabled. Thought that was a bit weird since it did work once. Anyway, re-enabled the service and so far it has been working pretty good. Since I used to be a software engineer my guess is that the code that controls the microphone is buggy/being corrupted. Does not feel like a hardware problem. Hardware problems do not usually correct themselves so randomly. .... Had to answer the phone so gone from this message for awhile. Tried after that and not working again - could not even get the speech display screen up with a long press. Tried bing worked great. Went back to home screen tried windows button - worked great. Totally flakey. Guess it is a trip back to Costco. Since I can never get out of there without spending a bunch of money - maybe it is a conspiracy to get me back in the store :wink:

 

[fitzpatton]

I just received my Lumia 1020. No sound with speakerphone, voice command or video. Its a great phone but I'll have to exchange it if I can't find an answer.

 

[Xi Luo]

Hi Everyone,

My Lumia 925 has the same issue after updated to Amber. My Lumia 925 is a China Unicom version. It was ok but some times after the Amber, the voice recognition is broken.
This issue is also seen as:
(1) Apps that have voice feature is broken. Like WeChat, all the voiceI send to friend are noisy.
(2) Use Nokia Camera to record a video, Sometimes the audio is clear, sometimes the audio is noisy.
(3) BUT! all the phone calls, and use Viber or Wahtsapp, all the voice are clear. No noisy heard in those cases.
(4) If use the mic of the ear phones, All the voice in (1)(2)(3) are clear. No noisy.


This is Windows phone center and this is obviously very high level issue and I am wondering, why no feedback from windows phone developer.
I have called the Nokia Support and they (it was a she) ask me to do a reset which, I do not accept.