Google announced today that its search by voice is now available for Nokia S60 phones. Although it has only been available in English, the company also announced that the new version of Google Mobile App for Nokia S60 devices is now available for Mandarin speakers.
Through a handy shortcut to Google search on Nokia phone's home screen, users can search for virtually anything by using their voice or typing. Whether they are in China or the U.S., users can search for movie times or a restaurant and the feature will provide nearby results.
"Mandarin speakers can now search by voice for complex queries like 清华大学附近的水煮鱼 (which translates to 'water-boiled fish near Tsinghua University,'" said Software Engineer Elke Michlmayr. "Although this only works on the Nokia S60 at the moment, we're working on adding support for Mandarin speech recognition to our products on other mobile platforms, such as Android and iPhone."
The new system in Mandarin may not be as polished as the English version, reminds Michlmayr. For example, if users have a strong southern Chinese accent, it might not work as well as for people with a Beijing accent.
-Melanie Saxe
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