Fonix to release Text-to-speech software for Pocket PC's

[Ed Hansberry]

<a href="http://www.allnetdevices.com/wireless/news/2002/05/17/your_pocket.html">http://www.allnetdevices.com/wireless/news/2002/05/17/your_pocket.html</a><br /><br />Read that subject carefully - that is text to speech, <i>not</i> speech to text. :-) <br /><br /><a href="http://www.fonix.com/products/voicealert/"><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/voicealert.gif" />Fonix Voice Alert</a><br /><br />"Fonix VoiceAlert automatically retrieves information entered into the calendar, tasks, and "to do" lists of the Pocket PC. The program then speaks details aloud as an individual event time approaches. Various skins are available for the interface, as are alert chimes and voices that are highly customizable on an appointment-by-appointment basis. The user can also disable the alert chime - but still have the appointment or task pop up on the screen. " It runs on all StrongARM Pocket PC and Pocket PC 2002 devices, leaving Jornada 520, 540, Casio E-1xx and EM-5xx users out, and will retail for $29.95.

[Brad Adrian]

$29.95 is too expensive for words...

[Ed Hansberry]

$29.95 is too expensive for words...

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/pukeface.gif

[Jonathan1]

I have one single question. Does it sound like the computer voice off of War Games? If so forget it. I'm sick of the digitized voice! 8O Is apple the only company that can make a somewhat coherent voice. My friend has an iMac that has a location in the system prefs where you can actually type text and get the system to read it back to you. Actually the female voice sound pretty hot. Then again it's been close to 6 months since I've been on any type of date. :lol: Maybe its just me. :wink: :roll:

[Ed Hansberry]

My friend has an iMac that has a location in the system prefs where you can actually type text and get the system to read it back to you. Actually the female voice sound pretty hot. Then again it's been close to 6 months since I've been on any type of date. :lol: Maybe its just me. :wink: :roll:

Too much information Jonathan.

[Brad Adrian]

Does it sound like the computer voice off of War Games?

Click on the link to the Fonix Web site. At the top right of their page is a button to click on to hear the voice. Sounds pretty artificial.

[JonnoB]

Actually the female voice sound pretty hot. Then again it's been close to 6 months since I've been on any type of date. :lol: Maybe its just me. :wink: :roll:

So, you can just type in what you would like your date to say to you and give that iMac a great big wet kiss on the mouse.

[IpaqMan2]

Is it me.....

Or does anyone else think an app that would read outload for whatever we are doing on the PPC may be just as important or even more than have a program that speaks announcements on the PPC?

I mean heck I carry alot of information onmy PPC and would love to have an app that could read from Pocket IE, MS Reader, or whatever I am using.

[JonathanWardRogers]

:cry: Why make a text to speech engine that is limited to the calendar, time and tasks?!

Wouldn't it be MUCH more useful as an add-on allowing you to tap-hold or click a button that would speak the contents displayed on the screen? Use the voice commander to tab from control to control on a form, or link to link on a web page. Or move up and down in a list box (like email).

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a pretty neat app, and definitely fills a much needed gap in the Pocket PC OS. But if you've already done the hard part (the TTS engine), why not make it really useful, and integrate it with the OS. Personally, email and Mazingo would be great. Appointments are easy enough to have spoken to you - just record your own alert audio file. Time... come on, who doesn't have a clock or a watch in view at all times? Tasks? That might be useful if you could set the reminder time as well as date, but I'm never in my car at 8am, so that's really not much use.

I know I sound like I'm bashing this product, and that is not my intention. I just am constantly amazed at how few people understand consumer needs. I've never, not even once, heard anyone who owns a Pocket PC say that they'd like to have an application that read the time or their tasks. But I have, on numerous occasions, heard Pocket PC users say that they'd love to have thier email read to them. (Ok, I've never heard anyone say that they'd like to have their AvantGo/Mazingo read - that one was mine :wink: ) The other app that I've heard mentioned often is MSN Messenger, and I agree. It would be very useful to have your messages read when they arrive. (Yes, I know, it would probably be hard to hook into, but it would be a great addition).

Why don't companies troll these sites more often to get user feedback on product marketability? It is obviously working for Microsoft.

Well, I'll step down off of my all-too-worn soapbox and give you all a rest.

Jon

Edit: Ok, now I've heard someone else say it about AvantGo (Pocket IE) :wink:

[JonnoB]

I mean heck I carry alot of information onmy PPC and would love to have an app that could read from Pocket IE, MS Reader, or whatever I am using.

Win2k and XP has a narrator feature that seemed pretty cool and can ready just about anything on the screen. Try it and if you are like me, you will turn it off because it is annoying. Alot of my PPC information is confidential and I would not want all of it blurted out.

[jpzr]

:cry: Why make a text to speech engine that is limited to the calendar, time and tasks?!


yes, this program is useless - DON'T BUY IT.
if it could do these 2 things:

- read any text from text file
- read aloud e-books from MS-Reader - the same as in desktop PC version of MS-Reader

then could be worth 9.99 USD, now, it is not worth even 0.99 USD...
don't buy it!

[Ed Hansberry]

yes, this program is useless - DON'T BUY IT.
So if it is usless to you no one should buy it?

[jpzr]

So if it is usless to you no one should buy it?

sorry, I am just a little bit frustrated myself:
for a long long time I am searching for text-to-speech program
for my iPAQ and I cannot find it. at first glance I thought that this
one is it, but still it is not...

this is not TEXT-TO-SPEECH program, because you can read aloud any text, for example from text file or from eBook...

[dickstarke]

Whether this $29 program's good depends entirely on what you use it for. I download an awful lot of stuff from the web to read--newspaper articles, etc. I can crank thru them much faster if my Pocket PC reads the text file to me and at the same time I follow the text with my eyes in PocketWord (so I have both iSpeak and PocketWord running at the same time). It just helps me cover a lot of ground. Using my ears and eyes for comprehension, I can crank up the iSpeak playback speed. The iSpeak voices are intelligible--perfectly good enough for this purpose.

If only those tin-ears at Microsoft would incorporate an excellent text reader into the desktop version of Word, I'd be happy at home, too. Microsoft doubtless has a commercial motive for not doing so.