Watch Out Siri, Here Comes a New Voice-Recognition Software: Dragon NaturallySpeaking

Siri’s got something to worry about these days, in the form of a new voice-recognition tool called Dragon.

The Dragon software which debuted its beta app for Android today was developed by Nuance Communications to provide users with voice-activate text sending, call placing, appointment setting, web direction and more. While the Dragon Mobile Assistant is already available for the iPhone 5, for now only the beta version is up for  grabs at Google Play on devices equipped with Ice Cream Sandwich +.

The Android software was brainstormed by Dragon Go! Which is Nuance’s app for iOS and provides quite similar features as Siri does. But there are differences…so let’s take a look at what the PC and Mac software provides, and you can make the verdict on your own about whether Siri trumps Dragon or vice-versa.

What’s available

To date, Dragon NaturallySpeaking is available in the new 11.5 version which is specifically called Dragon Dictate. It claims to be better than the previous edition due to increase accuracy in speech-to-text conversion. The recognition can transcribe all of your chatter and also enables you to sift through your computer and issue commands like, “search Yahoo for toddler sippy cups”; it responds by opening up your browser, entering the search and performing the quest for the best sippy cup ever.

Setting it up is a cinch

If you want to use the Dragon’s mic , you need only download the free Nuance iPhone app, launch the Dragon NaturallySpeaking PC app and use Bonjour software in conjunction which will automatically link up with the NaturallySpeaking program. You can equip your phone without having to go the Bonjour route, too: just enter your PC’s IP address and configure your way to Dragon Land.

Testimonies around the web show that the new software is pretty easy to use. For one, it’s sensitive enough even to respond to order-issuing commands from users who keep their phones in the their pockets. However, there is a caveat: NaturallySpeaking works better for those of us who speak clearly and distinctly – but on the up side, the software is prone to increased accuracy as it gets to know you – as well as skimming emails and other documents you’ve written, in order to learn your particular vocabulary.

Social network intergration, too? Yes!

Other perks of the new 11.5 version include upgrades that allow you to integrate your commands with Facebook and Twitter. You need only say, “tweet,” in order to launch a Post to Twitter box, in which your tweet is then inputted and broadcasted to the throng of followers you have gathered along your journey through the social network.

Casey Jelliper is a freelance writer living in Park Slope. She focuses tech topics and other interesting tid-bits in the tech realm.