[Android Apps and Games] brandall:
How to use Saiy/utter!

Please note - This thread will be updated specifically for Saiy very soon - I've been busy! I hope you can follow along, replacing utter! with Saiy in the mean time.....

First of all, you need to know the ways to activate utter! On the main tab, there is a link to create a ‘Launcher Shortcut’. Before you click it, remove any other utter! icon that may have been placed on your Launcher at installation.

Hopefully an icon will be placed on your launcher that when clicked will activate the recognition, rather than open the application.

Some launchers don’t like the code I’m using to do this, so within your Launcher options, you are able to create a link to the recognition under both ‘widgets’ and ‘shortcuts’.

You can also activate utter! by clicking the permanent notification in the status bar. Additionally, you can enable shake and wave to wake in the Settings Tab.

The base commands for utter! are structured and therefore you need to follow these closely in order for your commands to work. Tap ‘View Command List’ in the main application or alternatively say ‘float commands’ to utter! which will bring them up on the screen in a box you can move around whilst doing other things.

The command key can be a little confusing, but basically it points out how commands must be started and what they must contain in order to be processed. The are also optional inclusions, should you wish your command to be more specific.

Not all of these structured commands are recognised well by Google Voice Search (who supply the voice results) and it may be necessary for you to change them, or add alternative ways of saying them. I’ll talk you through that in a moment.

Activate utter! and say ‘call me Joe Bloggs’ – except of course say your actual name instead! If utter! gets it wrong, try again! If you have a name that is tricky to pronounce, head to the ‘Troubleshooting and Bugs’ Tab. At the top there is a box where you can type in your commands. Type in ‘call me Joe Bloggs’ but this time use a phonetic spelling of your name. You can experiment with as many variations as you want, until the voice engine you are using gets it close enough!

Alternatively, you can set a custom introduction. Head to the Customisation Tab and click on ‘Custom Into’. In the box, type in exactly what you would like utter! to say every time it is activated – Or alternatively, just press ‘create’ leaving the text box empty, if you would prefer no spoken introduction prior to the recognition starting.

It’s very important that you do not speak differently or more deliberately when saying your commands! Over-enunciating your words will not help them be identified! Speak in the same volume and manner as you would if chatting to a friend.

You may find at first, that you are certain you are saying the command correctly, but still utter! is replying that it didn’t understand your request. Don’t give up just yet! Many users report that the recognition results returned from Google are initially hopeless, but with minimal use they improve drastically in a short space of time. It’s unknown why this happens.

You can take a look at the results from Google Voice Search, by saying ‘enable visual results’. This will display a floating results window after you request any command listing the full result set. If the command to show the results isn’t being recognised, you can always type it in at the top of the Troubleshooting tab! To switch them off, it’s ‘disable visual results’.

Whether the initial results are returning well for you or not, head over to the Customisation Tab and click on ‘custom phrase’. Type in ‘hello’ in the top phrase box and ‘hello there!’ in the bottom response box and press create. Activate utter! and say ‘hello’. Hopefully a simple ‘hello’ will be returned correctly by Google and utter! should reply with ‘hello there!’ You’ve created your first Custom Phrase!

There are further options to include sound effects in the responses or if your native language isn’t English, to set the response language of your voice engine to that of your native tongue.

Creating a few custom phrases is a good way to pass the time and experiment with words and phrases that are being returned correctly (in the visual results).

In the Customisation Tab, click on ‘Replace Words’ and in the top box enter a word or phrase such as ‘balloon’ and in the bottom box enter ‘What is the time’ and press save.

Activate utter! and say ‘balloon’ and utter! will detect that this word/phrase is linked to the command to request the time – and should respond accordingly!

You can replace and tweak all of the structured commands in this way, so to enable you to speak naturally when requesting an inbuilt command. You can enter the phrase in your native language too, if it’s not English, placing the English equivalent command in the replacement box. To start the recognition in your own language, you’ll need to press ‘Custom Launcher Shortcut’ from the main page, or from your Launcher under ‘widgets’ or ‘settings’.

If you have contacts with names that are hard to pronounce and are unlikely to be returned correctly by Google, you can give them nicknames. In the Customisation Tab, press nicknames and select the contact. Enter the nickname in the box, such as ‘my best friend’ and press save.

Whenever you say ‘call my best friend at home’, utter! will know which contact you are referring too. The same will be applied to texting and emailing commands.

Click on ‘Create Commands’ and tap ‘Open Application’. Select a random application from the list and then utter! will ask you what phrase or word you would like to say to open it. Once you’ve confirmed the phrase, you’ll be asked for phrases that utter! should say if the application opens successfully and if something goes wrong.

When the command is read back to you, it may be that your words and phrases were not correctly returned from Google. Click on ‘edit commands’ and tap the phrase you just created before selecting edit. You’ll be shown the phrases you just created and you can change them before pressing save to confirm.

Say the phrase and the application will be launched!

If Google Voice Search is still not returning the voice results accurately, you do have the option to uninstall and reinstall it, but it does appear to improve within hours of use. You will be able to use alternative recognition providers soon – You can test them out for their accuracy in the ‘Recognition & Voices Tab’.

For more detailed usage guides, please click ‘User Guide’ in the main application for links.