MS VoiceCommand 1.6 and T-Mobile Wing gripes

[Eriq Cook]

I'm really dissapointed with VoiceCommand 1.6 that came pre-installed on my T-Mobile Wing and curious how many other people are having issues with it as well. Before I bought the Wing I had upgraded my MDA to VoiceCommand 1.6 from 1.5, and quickly uninstalled 1.6 after experiencing some issues.

The first issue is how VoiceCommand 1.6 routes incoming call announcements when the bluetooth headset is in use. With version 1.5 and earlier, if I was talking on the phone via Bluetooth headset, incoming calls were announced through the device speaker and NOT through the headset during a call. Now with 1.6, when I'm talking to someone via headset, VoiceCommand loudly announces who's calling through the headset and muting out the person I'm speaking to. To make matters worse the other party can actually hear VoiceCommand announcing who's calling on the other line. I really liked the call announcement feature and hate to disable it, but it's clearly a bug with VC 1.6.

The second issue is the long 3-5 second delay when VoiceCommand confirms a command. For example, if I say "Call John Doe", VoiceCommand now takes 3-5 seconds to confirm my command. VoiceCommand 1.5 and 1.6 NEVER did this on my MDA. Confirmations were announced with no less than a second delay.

Does anyone know how to contact Microsoft support to report these issues? There's no clear way on how to report bugs for VoiceCommand anywhere on the Microsoft website, unless I pay. :evil:

[Phoneboy101]

The incoming call announcement being audible to your current call sounds like a huge problem.

Me: "Hi honey, I'll be home late tonight."
Wife: "Okay, just let me know."
WING: "Incoming call - Sugar Lips, mobile."
Wife: "Who's Sugar Lips?!"

...not that that would happen to me, but, you know. But seriously, I'd hate to have anyone I'm speaking with know whose call is more important for me to take than theirs.

I read that the Bluetooth headset features in version 1.6 wouldn't work with the current build of WM5 on the MDA. Did you have WM6 on your MDA?

Voice Command 1.6 is one of the big reasons I want to upgrade to the Wing.

[Eriq Cook]

No, WM5 was intalled on my mda

[Phoneboy101]

Thanks, Eriqc.

Do you have any other rants or raves about the Wing? I really like the info you shared so far. I think the little things are huge when you're talking about a device you use so much every day. I've heard all the specs, but the real world quirks are important to hear about.

I'm so tempted to get one. I just don't like buying a new phone every 6 months. I'd hate to get the Wing only to find out that T-Mobile will release a similar model with 3G late this year/early next year, or whenever they launch 3G.

[Eriq Cook]

Thanks, Eriqc.

Do you have any other rants or raves about the Wing? I really like the info you shared so far. I think the little things are huge when you're talking about a device you use so much every day. I've heard all the specs, but the real world quirks are important to hear about.

I'm so tempted to get one. I just don't like buying a new phone every 6 months. I'd hate to get the Wing only to find out that T-Mobile will release a similar model with 3G late this year/early next year, or whenever they launch 3G.

My other real world quirks with the Wing include:

- CommManager can no longer be (easily) mapped to a button since it's a control panel applet now. Why is this a problem? Well since I don't always want to find and put on my headset for every call, on my MDA I would usually just press the button on the side to open CommMananger and quickly disable Bluetooth. Remember the dedicated CommManager button on the MDA? Now, with the Wing I would close each window that's open to access the CommMananger shortcut on the Today screen, or go to Start / Settings / Communcation / CommManager.

Now, there IS a workaround I recently discovered (the average user would have a hard time figuring this out). I opened File Explorer, navigated to the Windows directory, found CommManager, copied it, and pasted it (not as a shortcut) into the 'Windows\Start Menu\Programs' directory. Wala, CommManager was available as an option in the Buttons control panel again. Why is it still a problem to me? Because they should have kept a dedicated hardware button for CommManager on the Wing like the MDA had, or made it easy to re-map to a button without going through the hassle I went through.

Now, for my likes and the main reason I still kept the Wing:

- WM6 features: I like how the Today screen has a search bar where I can type in a street address and immediately find a map/directions to where I'm going. On the MDA I had to launch Internet Explorer and go to Windows Live or Google Maps. It's just quicker to access the information I need. The improved Exchange support is a WM6 plus as well.

- The overall feel is much more solid and speed (aside from VoiceCommand) is better than the MDA.

There's a bunch of other little things I like about the Wing over the MDA, but really not worth mentioning. As far as your comment about a new device coming out in 6 months and wasting your money, I don't expect anything new for another 1 1/2 to 2 years. The average upgrade time for me is 2 years, so I'm expecting to buy a new handheld in '08.

[Phoneboy101]

Again, thanks for the great info. I do use the comm manager hard button on my MDA frequently. That's a great workaround you discovered.

The expected sales life span for a device like this is 12 months or more. I personally think the Wing will have a shorter run for a few reasons: T-Mobile is already behind all of their competition on 3G rollout. They will be anxious to capitalize on their huge infrastructure investment by getting compatible handsets out into the market. At that time, they will already be at least year late. Similar 3G devices are readily available (TyTN, etc.) It's a small matter of getting the handset manufacturers to include the proper radio frequency for T-Mobile's 3G bands, whether they go HSDPA or UMTS.

I think the Wing is there to fill the gap between the MDA and 3G. I hate to get new devices so often, but I think I'll still get a Wing.

[Phoneboy101]

I'm curious about your use of Voice Command 1.6 on the MDA with WM 5. On the Voice Command site it reads:

"Incoming caller ID announcements will be spoken via the phone speaker on devices with a Windows Mobile build prior to 15097.3.0.0. To check which build is on your device, go to settings >about or start >control panel >about. If your build number is lower than 15097.3.0.0, this will be true for your device."

The build of WM my MDA is 14955.2.3.0. According to this the CID announcements via Bluetooth won't work. Was that not the case with your MDA? I didn't buy Voice Command for that reason. I'm not interested in having CID announced via the phones speaker. I also don't want it if I can't program the BT headset button to act as the Voice Command button. Could you initiate VD via the BT headset button on your MDA?

I wish MS would release a trial version of 1.6.

[Eriq Cook]

I'm curious about your use of Voice Command 1.6 on the MDA with WM 5. On the Voice Command site it reads:

"Incoming caller ID announcements will be spoken via the phone speaker on devices with a Windows Mobile build prior to 15097.3.0.0. To check which build is on your device, go to settings >about or start >control panel >about. If your build number is lower than 15097.3.0.0, this will be true for your device."

The build of WM my MDA is 14955.2.3.0. According to this the CID announcements via Bluetooth won't work. Was that not the case with your MDA? I didn't buy Voice Command for that reason. I'm not interested in having CID announced via the phones speaker. I also don't want it if I can't program the BT headset button to act as the Voice Command button. Could you initiate VD via the BT headset button on your MDA?

I wish MS would release a trial version of 1.6.

Since I uninstalled 1.6 from the MDA (after 1 day) and never looked for that feature I can't answer that. I do know that the option to announce calls via bluetooth was not available in v1.5.

I vaugly remember performing a registry hack that allowed me to initiate commands via the headset (by just pressing the talk button) using Tweak2k, and if my memory services me correctly the bluetooth headset stayed on until turned off. As a result all sounds including incoming call announcements were made through the headset.

[Eriq Cook]

POST REMOVED.

[ebadger]

Have you tried using a bluetooth headset? VC 1.6 was really designed for use with BT hands free

[Eriq Cook]

Have you tried using a bluetooth headset? VC 1.6 was really designed for use with BT hands free

Not sure what you mean about "BT hands free" compared to headset. Point to me an example. I'm using the Jawbone BT headset now. Before that I was using the Motorola H700 (same issue w/both)...

[jasonkujo]

I have waited so long for the replacement of the original tmobile HTC pocket PC. Although this phone was a tank it had all the features that I wanted and especially the voice command feature that I installed that worked flawlessly in any environment even with background noise. Now that I have the wing, although i like most of the features on it, the voice command is absolute garbage. I could be in a total quiet room and say "call john smith on mobile" and a 3-5 response lag time before the computer microphone gives a beep to turn off or it says please repeat. And if I repeat it may go through that same series of responses 2-3 times before i want to throw it across the room. I noticed above a suggestion of enabling the microphone AGC feature and this still has not helped. I have not used a Bluetooth headset yet but you shouldn't have to have a headset to use this feature. Are there any known fixes for this critical flaw bug?? This is one of my favorite features and it is ruining this phone for me.

[ebadger]

I have waited so long for the replacement of the original tmobile HTC pocket PC. Although this phone was a tank it had all the features that I wanted and especially the voice command feature that I installed that worked flawlessly in any environment even with background noise. Now that I have the wing, although i like most of the features on it, the voice command is absolute garbage. I could be in a total quiet room and say "call john smith on mobile" and a 3-5 response lag time before the computer microphone gives a beep to turn off or it says please repeat. And if I repeat it may go through that same series of responses 2-3 times before i want to throw it across the room. I noticed above a suggestion of enabling the microphone AGC feature and this still has not helped. I have not used a Bluetooth headset yet but you shouldn't have to have a headset to use this feature. Are there any known fixes for this critical flaw bug?? This is one of my favorite features and it is ruining this phone for me.
It's probably your microphone. Try using a bluetooth headset or a wired headset.

[Eriq Cook]

I have waited so long for the replacement of the original tmobile HTC pocket PC. Although this phone was a tank it had all the features that I wanted and especially the voice command feature that I installed that worked flawlessly in any environment even with background noise. Now that I have the wing, although i like most of the features on it, the voice command is absolute garbage. I could be in a total quiet room and say "call john smith on mobile" and a 3-5 response lag time before the computer microphone gives a beep to turn off or it says please repeat. And if I repeat it may go through that same series of responses 2-3 times before i want to throw it across the room. I noticed above a suggestion of enabling the microphone AGC feature and this still has not helped. I have not used a Bluetooth headset yet but you shouldn't have to have a headset to use this feature. Are there any known fixes for this critical flaw bug?? This is one of my favorite features and it is ruining this phone for me.
It's probably your microphone. Try using a bluetooth headset or a wired headset.

I'm almost sure it's the microphone. To put frankly, the Wing's microphone sucks. And I really don't like finding my Bluetooth headset every time I want to use VoiceCommand. They went 10 steps back when compared to the MDA. I had a 99% success rate with VoiceCommand on my MDA WITH 700+ contacts. Now it's 20%. :evil:

[jasonkujo]

It seems to work ok when I say "dial...then 10 digit number." It has the hardest times with names. I do have 1,500 names in my Outlook that I sync with the Wing. BTW, it sure does eat up a lot of program memory... 5 - 6 megs. Not much left for anything else after a sync. As for VC accuracy, even the wired headset has issues working so unless that mic sucks too, it maybe something else. All this having been said, even with all my contacts from before, it worked fine on my old pocket pc. I've replaced 2 Wings and they all have the same problem being able to call my contacts when I say something like, "Call John Smith on cell phone!" so frustrating. I wonder if its the operating system or the ram or the fact that I have 1,500 contacts, which for a business person, is really not that many at all???

[Eriq Cook]

Have you tried using a bluetooth headset? VC 1.6 was really designed for use with BT hands free

I highly doubt VoiceCommand 1.6 was designed to be solely used with a Bluetooth headset. That's a step backward. Even Microsoft's video tutorial (at pocketpc.com) doesn't show the guy using a bluetooth headset. He just speaks into the device itself. Can you imagine how many users will be upset if VC requires a bluetooth headset to work (properly)? It should work right with or without a bluetooth headset period.

I filed a complaint directly to HTC custom care (both via phone call and e-mail). Hopefull they'll do something about it soon.

[Eriq Cook]

It seems to work ok when I say "dial...then 10 digit number." It has the hardest times with names. I do have 1,500 names in my Outlook that I sync with the Wing. BTW, it sure does eat up a lot of program memory... 5 - 6 megs. Not much left for anything else after a sync. As for VC accuracy, even the wired headset has issues working so unless that mic sucks too, it maybe something else. All this having been said, even with all my contacts from before, it worked fine on my old pocket pc. I've replaced 2 Wings and they all have the same problem being able to call my contacts when I say something like, "Call John Smith on cell phone!" so frustrating. I wonder if its the operating system or the ram or the fact that I have 1,500 contacts, which for a business person, is really not that many at all???

It doesn't work well with the wired headset either? That's terrible. I wonder what else could be the issue then.

Pulling up or calling contacts works like crap. It worked flawelessly on my MDA and had a 99% success rate with 700+ contacts. Now I say "Call John Smith" and it starts media player instead. Or I have to repeat the command 7-10 times. Even dialing #'s doesn't work as well anymore. If I say "Dial 720-800-1111", it confirms "720-400-1212". It's way off now compared to the MDA. If I hadn't sold my MDA I'd strongly consider going back.