How to do a voice search on the Samsung Galaxy S2

One of the coolest and most space aged things about modern smart phones is their ability to use your voice to search for things on google. To do this you need to load up the search screen (as you can see to the right). To load the search screen you can either hold the menu button (as described here) or press menu and then click on "Search" on the small menu that pops up. In the top right of the search screen you will see a little microphone icon. You need to press this.

After pressing the microphone you will see the screen change and look like the image on the left here with the guide to "Speak now". When you see this screen you are to just say the words of your search very clearly and very slowly so that the phone understands you.

When you stop speaking the phone will attempt to piece together whatever you said to try and form a search query for google. This bit can take a while and is probably the most hit and miss aspect of the phone for now. It can struggle with the recognition of words, especially if you have a strong accent, though when it works it can work like a charm. For this example (as shown below) I used the phrase "Bananas in pajamas" (excuse the Americanism there).




The results came up like they would had I just typed the search into google.

Where this is perhaps most handy is for things we may struggle to spell but can easily say though people who are doing other things with their hands may prefer to speak than to type a search.

Whilst the system isn't perfect, it seems to be a fantastic idea that will slowly but surely become the search method of the future. When the few teething recognition problems get sorted out this will help to revolutionise both the phone and search industry's 2 things where google seem to be a major player.

More secrets for the Samsung Galaxy S2

We've recently discovered that the "pinch" controls apply to things other than just the internet. We can use the "pinch" control, which we do by doing things like holding the corners and pinching them inwards on things like the home screens (which you can see on the right hand side) or even on the application drawer. This can make it easier to go through all the screens quickly rather than actually scrolling from one screen to another.

I'm not sure where else the pinch controls can be applied though with these two situations already being there I'd advise trying the pinch settings on a number of other screens that you end up on with your Samsung Galaxy S2.