By I would make a snarky comment about how I saw this coming, but I didn’t – Vlingo for Android is now free to download. If you don’t know what Vlingo is, they provide nearly the same voice control functionality that Google introduced yesterday afternoon at their small mobile briefing. Even if their paid app proved to have a few perks more than Google’s own offering, they wouldn’t dare compete with the price of “Free” and Google’s own prestige through their name alone.
It’s unsure how Vlingo will move forward with the app – there’s no apparent change in monetization strategy (for the Android version, at least: their iPhone and Blackberry offerings remain priced) – but they’ve expressed plans to continue development (with the latest additions set to come very soon) and it’s still a nice win for Android users that don’t like Google’s own Voice Search, for some reason.
Oh, and it works for Android 2.1 higher which is the biggest draw for this package. While all Android users may not be on Eclair yet, it’s a hell of a lot more than are on Froyo, for the time being. If you haven’t had the luxury of being upgraded to Android 2.2 yet, then you’ll want to head to the market now to download Vlingo.
[Vlingo]
I am sorry but $20 was just too much. The amount I would use this and the accuracy I had with Vlingo on my BB would land this app more in the $3/$4 range. Not surprised it came to this but I won’t get it now.
I used Vlingo on my Blackberry 18-24 months ago. Back then it was FREE and there were no alternatives (that I knew of), and I still uninstalled it.
Androids voice search on 2.1 allows me to call, navigate or get directions, and probably some other stuff. But the only times I’ll use it is when I’m alone in my car (to start navigation) or possibly walking from my car to job site (to check in with my project manager). Rarely, I’ll use it in public, when I want to make myself appear (more) dorky.
Maybe I’ll go check out Vlingo, because if anybody paid $10 for this and didn’t refund, I must be missing something.
I’ve been using Vlingo since I got my Evo, I like it, it does what it’s supposed to do, it works.
Haven’t used Android’s voice search. But if it’s as *wonderful* as Google Voice was compared to other Visual Voicemail apps, then I can pass. I’ll let someone else suffer and decide after the dust clears.
I paid $10 for vlingo, and it was crap. I didn’t return it in time, so I kept it on, but it would always be the first on my uninstall list whenever I needed more room. I would reinstall it from time to time to see if they had made it work better. They hadn’t.
If it actually worked, I would participate in some vlingo outrage.
I’m trying it out, now that it’s free, and I suppose it works. Thing is, I feel really self-conscious about talking to my phone. (I live in a city and rarely drive, so I don’t really need hands-free operation of my phone).
Got vlingo free with my galaxy s and it’s terrible, I can’t wait for 2.2 to tryout googles implementation.
vlingo sucks! I used it for about 2min before I unisntalled it.
I have never tried Vlingo, but have no need. Google’s added capability with Voice Search is outstanding.
I love the text message feature. I used to use it on a limited basis with Swype, but now I use it 10 times daily.
Try this one, “Call Domino’s Pizza” and astound your friends!
Too Late!
I downloaded from market and installed Vlingo on my Samsung Galaxy S ( Eclair) but when I try to start ‘Incar’ is stays in ‘setup’ forever. Is that Vlingo Incar feature is not supported in this phone ??