Chinese web service Baidu replacing QWERTY, defaults to voice-centric keyboard read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1205-chinese-web-service-baidu-replacing-qwerty-defaults-to-voice-centric-keyboard

A new third-party keyboard app from Chinese web services Baidu is taking the spotlight away from QWERTY with a voice-focused interface.

Users of the free Android TalkType app are welcomed by a large microphone icon and prompted to ‘Speak now’ to begin dictating. Baidu claims that the app’s speech recognition is more accurate than actual typing, having developed and tested the technology alongside speech software experts at Stanford University.

The Stanford study into the Deep Speech 2 software behind TalkType, involved 32 volunteers between the ages of 19 and 32, with half of the subjects performing the test in English and the other half in their native Mandarin.

The researchers concluded that Baidu’s technology was three times faster than a typical user typing in English. The results showed that the TalkType error rate was 20.4% lower than an English texter hunting and trapping for letters.

TalkType also offers the option to type on a standard keyboard for manual entry of more complex words. However, Baidu and the Stanford team are continuing their efforts in speech recognition in the hope of shaking off traditional QWERTY systems forever.

Stanford computer science professor James Landay suggested adding speech to more applications, beyond email and text. ‘You could imagine an interface where you use speech to start and then it switches to a graphical interface that you can touch and control with your finger.

 

Baidu also plans to launch an iOS version of the TalkType keyboard app in the future.