What to Expect from Intel’s Voice Search Feature on Ultrabooks?

This is a guest post by Sharon Thomas

They were introduced as “extremely portable” devices. Ultrabooks are basically a cloned version of tablets’ dimensions but they don’t sacrifice on the performance of a PC and come with a traditional keyboard. It does seem like a ‘rebranding’ an existing computer category, doesn’t it? However, ultrabooks are more powerful and easy-to-carry than laptops. Priced between $500 and $1000 dollars, they come in various ranges of sizes and colors.

The key advantages to ultrabooks over tablets start with the keypad. Lengthy typing is inconvenient on a tablet, while an ultrabook offers the traditional keyboard that is easy to use. It offers a larger screen which is excellent for things like sales reports and other business presentations.

Multitasking is also easier on ultrabooks. Processors in ultabooks can support more feature-filled software. On the downside, the existing features available are not exactly ‘show stoppers’. If you don’t mind carrying devices that are little heavier, you can go for laptops which are way lesser.

Intel’s voice search feature on Ultrabook

Do you own an Ultrabook? You can soon control it using a voice service similar to Siri. If everything goes right then XPS13 from Dell will be the first to carry the voice search feature.

Intel is partnering with Nuance, one of the best voice specialists available in the market and Intel is going to enable speech-to-control feature to control the device.

There was an on-stage demonstration in which a specialist from Dell instructed the device to do various activities like browse online and check for a particular product in Amazon. The Dragon Assistant Beta will enable users to use voice command to play music, reply to an email, social network and accomplish much more.

How to enable the voice command feature?

To enable the ‘voice command’ feature, all you have to say is ‘Hello Dragon’ to switch on the Dragon Assistant. Once you are done with your work, you have to say ‘go to sleep’ for the software to stop taking the commands you give.

Requirements to run the software:

Dadi Perlmutter, Intel’s chief product officer, has stated that the software will run on native platform and the voice-command service is not a cloud service. To run this software, the user (you) will basically need a high-performing CPU. The software integrates Intel based ultrabooks with the Dragon Assistant technology.

What can we expect?

It is an ambitious project by Intel given the fact that Ultrabooks are not one of the popular books in the market. Intel, I suppose, is bringing in the ‘voice-command’ technology with the hope that it brings a better market for the devices.

Partnering with Nuance is definitely a smart move by Intel as the company is one of the pros in voice-command. All we know at present is that a user can command various computer functions which has to be typed other. This is similar to Google Voice; the only difference is the Dragon has to be initiated by saying ‘Hello Dragon’ while Google Voice activates by a typical tap.

Despite the promise, numerous questions remain. How effective will the voice-command technology be? Will it be able to recognize various accents? Though Intel promises the software can detect different accents, it remains to be seen if I actually works. There are a few ‘voice command’ features available in the market for devices like smart phones and tablets. Will the voice search offered by Intel make any difference?

About the Author: This is a guest post by Sharon Thomas of www.thecornersuite.com, a site that offers savings and current information on dish network internet, as well as dish.com services.