Jelly Bean Bluetooth Voice Dialing is totally useless

[ncguy]

I tried freezing it. Unfortunately it had the same affect as just going into apps and disabling it there. It does what you said but unfortunately it also disables google now.

Still the only way that I have found so far to preserve google now on jelly bean and still use bluetooth voice dialing is by going to cm10 or AOKP.

FWIW, CM10 and AOKP were rock solid when I tested and CM10 is currently my daily driver. Its already on 4.1.2 and more stable than stock IMO.

 

[vicw926a4]

I tried freezing it. Unfortunately it had the same affect as just going into apps and disabling it there. It does what you said but unfortunately it also disables google now.

Still the only way that I have found so far to preserve google now on jelly bean and still use bluetooth voice dialing is by going to cm10 or AOKP.

FWIW, CM10 and AOKP were rock solid when I tested and CM10 is currently my daily driver. Its already on 4.1.2 and more stable than stock IMO.

I expect the affect of the apps/disable would be the same, it just seemed a bit more convenient to us TB to stop the app temporarily. I haven't really been using Google Now much, so that wouldn't impact me much, and I just plan to use it while travelling. For the moment, I'm trying to stay on a stock JB to make sure one of the BT bugs I experienced on a JB ROM doesn't occur, but once I finish that monitoring, I might try CM10 and AOKP. I appreciate knowing they have been solid for you.

P.S. - I meant to ask if the JB ROMs will allow you to connect to a 3rd party BT app?

 

[ncguy]

P.S. - I meant to ask if the JB ROMs will allow you to connect to a 3rd party BT app?

Unfortunately no, they won't. That said, for some reason the stock voice dialer with bluetooth is now amazingly accurate. Its only problem occurs when you ask it to call someone not in your contacts. Instead of saying not found it seemingly picks someone in your contacts at random and dials. That situation is fairly rare for me so overall the Bluetooth voice dialing is working out better than I expected without my favorite 3rd party dialer.

 

[vicw926a4]

Unfortunately no, they won't. That said, for some reason the stock voice dialer with bluetooth is now amazingly accurate. Its only problem occurs when you ask it to call someone not in your contacts. Instead of saying not found it seemingly picks someone in your contacts at random and dials. That situation is fairly rare for me so overall the Bluetooth voice dialing is working out better than I expected without my favorite 3rd party dialer.

That inability will probably keep me from trying the ROM alternative. I hate the frenzy that follows the realization that it is dialing a number apparently snatched at random, while I'm focused on driving.

Using the BT Dialer function of the Vlingo InCar app, while it may rarely dial the wrong number, has a nice big Cancel button displayed that makes it easy to stop the action, without colliding with oncoming traffic.

Perhaps using the Answer/End button on the BT will accomplish an immediate hangup, but I believe there is no visual or audible confirmation that has been done.

Clearly Google needs to fix this one properly, but perhaps in the meantime, one of the geniuses at XDA will come up with a small MOD that would provide a convenient and transparent temporary solution to the problem.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[ncguy]

That inability will probably keep me from trying the ROM alternative. I hate the frenzy that follows the realization that it is dialing a number apparently snatched at random, while I'm focused on driving.

Using the BT Dialer function of the Vlingo InCar app, while it may rarely dial the wrong number, has a nice big Cancel button displayed that makes it easy to stop the action, without colliding with oncoming traffic.

Perhaps using the Answer/End button on the BT will accomplish an immediate hangup, but I believe there is no visual or audible confirmation that has been done.

Clearly Google needs to fix this one properly, but perhaps in the meantime, one of the geniuses at XDA will come up with a small MOD that would provide a convenient and transparent temporary solution to the problem.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I think then that you would like cyberon even better. It is also very accurate and it uses voice verification. No need to touch any buttons to cancel dialing. It would be my first choice if I could use it without having to disable search and google now.

 

[vicw926a4]

I think then that you would like cyberon even better. It is also very accurate and it uses voice verification. No need to touch any buttons to cancel dialing. It would be my first choice if I could use it without having to disable search and google now.

I'll try Cyberon soon. For the moment, I'm experimenting with the Voice Control app, mainly because they provide a 7 day free trial license, which I really appreciate as an alternative to the regular 15 minute setup and trial window in Play. They also maintain an active support presence and forum for the app, so it looks like support may be meaningful.

The Voice Control app also provides confirmation, which does work (but the option setup seems backwards to me). So far, my voice input results are spotty - some commands (Call and Wake Me Up, Signal Level, Battery Level, Start app, What Time is it?) work well, and it does pick up names correctly, whereas I can't get "Set Alarm" to work at all, which isn't a major problem. I haven't tried Bluetooth on it yet, however.

 

[ncguy]

I'll try Cyberon soon. For the moment, I'm experimenting with the Voice Control app, mainly because they provide a 7 day free trial license, which I really appreciate as an alternative to the regular 15 minute setup and trial window in Play. They also maintain an active support presence and forum for the app, so it looks like support may be meaningful.

The Voice Control app also provides confirmation, which does work (but the option setup seems backwards to me). So far, my voice input results are spotty - some commands (Call and Wake Me Up, Signal Level, Battery Level, Start app, What Time is it?) work well, and it does pick up names correctly, whereas I can't get "Set Alarm" to work at all, which isn't a major problem. I haven't tried Bluetooth on it yet, however.

Sounds interesting. Please report back on the Bluetooth voice dialing once tested.

 

[vicw926a4]

Sounds interesting. Please report back on the Bluetooth voice dialing once tested.

I was really impressed with the feature set, options and UI on Voice Control, but unfortunately I just couldn't get stable BT operation with it, either using my Galaxy Nexus w. JB, or my old Droid X, with Gingerbread, paired with my Jabra Journey hands-free unit. It performed unpredictably on both, and in a couple of cases required a reboot of my phone to restore normal app operation.

I went ahead and purchased and installled Cyberon, per your recommendation. It worked fine, with no issues that I have found so far, BT or otherwise. The $6 price seems pretty stiff for so simple an app, and I wish it could start a navigation cycle, but it works well for the basic phone dialing function, with confirmation. I do like the fact that it allows the user to filter out contacts that aren't likely prospects for hands-free dialing, or that don't have phone numbers associated with them.

While I had the BT issue with Voice Control, I would encourage anyone to try out the free test version, and perhaps you won't have BT issues, in which case that app would be my first choice.

It will be very interesting to see where Google goes with this issue - whether they have made a conscious, and probably irreversible decision to cut out third-party voice dialer apps, or it it was simply a mistake or oversight on their part. Even if they want to fix it, who knows how long it will take to work its way out to the field.

 

[ncguy]

It will be very interesting to see where Google goes with this issue - whether they have made a conscious, and probably irreversible decision to cut out third-party voice dialer apps, or it it was simply a mistake or oversight on their part. Even if they want to fix it, who knows how long it will take to work its way out to the field.

That is certainly a very key question about the future of the Android platform for me personally.

I forgot to mention that if you buy the cyberon international English version instead of the us version it adds the digit dialing feature which apparently is patent protected in the us. Probably something to discuss in a PM.

 

[vicw926a4]

That is certainly a very key question about the future of the Android platform for me personally.

I forgot to mention that if you buy the cyberon international English version instead of the us version it adds the digit dialing feature which apparently is patent protected in the us. Probably something to discuss in a PM.

Hmm. I bought the US version yesterday. I'll send you a PM on that subject. I've been testing some more on Voice Control with BT, and finally got it working, by using one of the Bluetooth options in the app, namely "Disable Bluetooth audio handling", which eliminates the app greeting, and uses the phone mic for command input, but otherwise works. I don't know if I could live with the phone mic thing, but it does have some good features, including the ability to digit dial, and an array of options, including the ability to digit dial. I also noted that it has an option to report the caller name on incoming calls, which works, as opposed to Cyberon and Vlingo, which just report the number. At my age, I have a hard time remembering my own number, let alone associate the caller's phone number with his name.

 

[ncguy]

Nice features, especially caller announce but bluetooth is definitely a requirement for me.

 

[vicw926a4]

Me too. The command input via the BT mic is an absolute requirement. I've queried the developer on that subject FWIW.

I also like the Battery Level response, rather than have to try to read it out on the tiny Notification Bar.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[Roca68]

Does anyone think that Google will be able to separate the voice dialing feature from the other voice features so that voice dialing works without a data connection? I do not lknowe why the voice dialing feature needs to go to the server.
I live in Canada but am in the US 5 days a week where I can still make phone calls without roaming but I do not have the data roaming turned on. Right now it is a pain because all I get is a network error when trying to voice dial.

 

[mturconi]

I subscribed to this forum just to thank you. Using Titanium Backup to freeze Google Search is really a great idea.
It allowed me to do some test using different apps. Even though I was not able to find a working solution for me.

I have a galaxy nexus with cyanogenmod 10.
Cyanogenmod 10 adds the old voice dialer as the default dialer when pressing the BT dial button.
The voice dialer is English only, so it is useless for me (I'm Italian... yes I can say "call" instead of the corresponding Italian word... but then... none of my contacts is recognized).

If I freeze the voice dialer app, the new google dialer is used, but that is useless too: for some strange reasons this is English only while called through the BT button.
Note that, when I use Google Search I can speak in Italian, and it works perfectly, even offline (I downloaded the offline Italian package).

So, I freezed the new google dialer and now I can launch Cyberon Voice Commander.

Happy then? you can say.... NO!

When used through my car bluetooth system, Cyberon is totally mute. I don't know why. Other apps works perfectly, e.g. Vlingo is ok.

So I tried Vlingo... but Vlingo only work when the screen of the nexus is not locked, besides, Vlingo works online only.

So:
1) old voice dialer: English only
2) new google voice dialer: Enlish only (even though everything else is in Italian, even offline)
3) Cyberon Voice Commander: mute
4) Vlingo: online only, and not working when the screen is locked.

Wawwww!!!!

I want to do some more test with Cyberon, there must be a way to get it working. Any idea?

Thank you again.

 

[vicw926a4]

I've not had the muting problem with Cyberon with Google Search frozen on my stock, rooted VZN Galaxy Nexus, paired to a Jabra Journey. It's been the most reliable of the 3rd party apps for me, but it's really limited in features. Forgive me for asking the obvious, but did you reset the phone after configuring the app?

I also learned an alternate way to block Google Search. The 8/28/12 app update removed the Disable App feature in Google Search, but if you instruct the app to Remove All Updates, in Settings/Apps, the button is restored, and you can then disable it. The disabled condition stays after a reboot. Behavior of the 3rd party apps is pretty much the same as freezing with TB, but doesn't require a rooted device.

As an alternate app, you might try the Eva Intern app. It has a huge array of features and options, and the developer gives a 30 day free trial license of the full app before you need to purchase. It's more complicated setting up, and I'm encountering an idiosyncracy or two due to the workaround, but I'm very impressed with it, and the developer is totally engaged in support via email.

There are three versions of the paid app - Eva, Evan and AVX - all identical functionally, and differing only in the UI. They are set up so that your configuration are remembered if you switch between them.

You do need to keep Vlingo installed, so that the other apps can use its voice recognizer engine.

Good luck

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[badkitties]

I called Verizon and asked about this issue. Apparently it is a known issue. As usual, they had no idea when a fix will be o

I told the tier 2 tech support guy that the problem is a serious driving safety issue, he agreed with me. His suprevisor said that I had the
option of exchanging my 11-month-old Galaxy Nexus for a brand new Samsung Galaxy S3. He put notes in my account
for this offer. He said all I had to do was to visit a Verizon corporate-owned/operated store and they'll give me a new GS3.
Hmmmm..... not sure if I want to do that. Do I really want to give up my Galaxy with Jelly Bean for a VZW GS3 with outdated
ICS software?

Verizon seems to prefer to exchange phones to shut up complaining customers.This has already happened to me once.
When my VZW Samsusung Fascinate was still on Froyo, it had many software problems which Verizon could fix.
(Gingerbread was the solution, but you know how long it took Verizon to push that out) Anyway, I was offered a free
exchange from my old banged-up Fascinate to a new VZW Samsung Droid Charge. I did accept their offer and
received a new Droid Charge as promised. Now I don't know if I want to go down the same road and exchange my
Galaxy Nexus for a new Galaxy S3. Perhaps I should wait a couple more weeks and see if they'll upgrad the offer
to a Galaxy Note 2.

Sheesh... why can't Verizon, Samsung, and Google come up with a fix for this "simple" bluetooth headphone problem?

(P.S. being the bonehead that I am, I did not notice this thread before starting another one asking the same question... sorry)

 

[vicw926a4]

I don't think Verizon will have anything to contribute to solving this problem, except by perhaps delaying the fix from distribution. I think this a pure Google JB issue.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[mturconi]

I've not had the muting problem with Cyberon with Google Search frozen on my stock, rooted VZN Galaxy Nexus, paired to a Jabra Journey. It's been the most reliable of the 3rd party apps for me, but it's really limited in features. Forgive me for asking the obvious, but did you reset the phone after configuring the app?

If you mean "restart", then yes, I restarted my phone after installin Cyberon.
If you mean "re-bind" to the bluetooth headset, no. I will try this later, after work.
Besides, yesterday I found this on google, I tried this and worked: if I push the BT button, and then I enter the Cyberon options, and then I exit the options... it starts working! This need to be done just once (per bluetooth binding? need to test again).

I also learned an alternate way to block Google Search. The 8/28/12 app update removed the Disable App feature in Google Search, but if you instruct the app to Remove All Updates, in Settings/Apps, the button is restored, and you can then disable it. The disabled condition stays after a reboot. Behavior of the 3rd party apps is pretty much the same as freezing with TB, but doesn't require a rooted device.

I did know this method, but, to me, it is much more convenient to simply disable the app with TB. Besides, I used the "remove all updates"/"disable" method before and then, after re-installing the updates back, I had some problems with the settings panel, language selection (I do not remember what exactly was the problem, I don't want to try again).

There are three versions of the paid app - Eva, Evan and AVX - all identical functionally, and differing only in the UI. They are set up so that your configuration are remembered if you switch between them.

You do need to keep Vlingo installed, so that the other apps can use its voice recognizer engine.

I saw it on google play, but I did not try it because it says it is English only.

 

[vicw926a4]

If you mean "restart", then yes, I restarted my phone after installin Cyberon.
If you mean "re-bind" to the bluetooth headset, no. I will try this later, after work.
Besides, yesterday I found this on google, I tried this and worked: if I push the BT button, and then I enter the Cyberon options, and then I exit the options... it starts working! This need to be done just once (per bluetooth binding? need to test again).

Actually, I meant to say "reboot", but from what you say about the Cyberon oddity on your phone, it sounds like the re-pairing may be more likely to help in your case.

I did know this method, but, to me, it is much more convenient to simply disable the app with TB. Besides, I used the "remove all updates"/"disable" method before and then, after re-installing the updates back, I had some problems with the settings panel, language selection (I do not remember what exactly was the problem, I don't want to try again).

The Disable alternative would be more useful for non-rooted phones, I guess. I've been back and forth between the TB Freeze and the app Disable alternative, and I haven't experienced any issues, but there must be some subtle difference in our devices, or configuration that is causing the behavior on yours to be different than mine.

saw it on google play, but I did not try it because it says it is English only.

Sorry, I didn't even think about alternate language availability - it's too bad it's only available in English, but I doubt the developer will be adding more, given the complexity of the app, and the fact that he is a one man operation.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mturconi]

Well:
Cyberon now is ok, apparently the access to the options was needed only once.
Google Now, and old phone dialer freeze are automatically mantained after a reboot.

So... YEAH!!!!

For the time being, I can live without google now.

Thank you again for the idea of using TB.

(I will spread this hint on other forums, maybe other people may find this helpful too)