From Speech to SMS

Samsung Electronics announced on January 6 that it would develop handsets equipped with a feature that enables “English speech to SMS” and export them to the U.S. for the first time in the world.

This handset, which can convert speech to text messages, works as follows: When the user speaks the message he/she wants to send into the cell phone, the phone recognizes the speech and converts it to a text message, which is then transmitted as a SMS message to the person on the other side.

For example, when the user says, “Send Message to John,” John’s number stored in the cell is automatically recognized, and the message called out by the user is converted into a SMS message to be sent to John’s cell phone. This feature of converting speech to text messages is as of yet available only in English.

Samsung Electronics explained, “With the development of a handset that can convert speech into text messages, even people who are not comfortable with sending SMS messages can transmit them easily and with convenience, whether you are behind the wheels or on the go.”

The electronics giant is planning to further develop and extend the voice recognition features, including the “speech to SMS” function in English to other languages such as Korean.

Byong-Ki Lee eye@donga.com