IssueTracker

I just want to add that in my and many states hands free means just that. I should not have to handle the phone in the car. I bought the droid incred. and was told the bluetooth worked fine.
Ater I recieved it set it up bought the extras I find that the bluetooth will not let me make a call without taking it out of its pouch and actually finding the number and tapping it to call. Like this the Phone is useless on the road and puts one and others in danger while trying to make a call!
Please fix this soon! I need this feature for work or I must turn this new phone Back.

Please don't confuse the issue. Regular voice dialing through bluetooth is a resolved issue, at least from Google's perspective, because it is included in Froyo via the separate application "Bluetooth Voice Dialer". What I am requesting is bluetooth mic enabling of the standard google Voice Search app.

Because Voice Search can dial contacts and much more (Navigation, etc.), it would be great if INSTEAD of voice dial, that activating the dialer via bluetooth would launch Voice Search.  Just get rid of the voice dialer and use Voice Search instead (give us an option to choose this), with Voice Search accepting speech from bluetooth and giving confirmation of choice over bluetooth.

Make it happen.

Would much rather have bluetooth activate voice search over voice dial!

Bluetooth Voice Dialer's voice recognition must have been trained by gorillas who in turn had been trained to speak English by Transylvanian immigrants!  It sucks!  On the other hand, Voice Search is wonderful!  It gets me!  (Amazingly, so!)  OK.  Enough exclamation marks.  Please let my Bluetooth headset button activate Voice Search.  And just please put "Bluetooth Voice Dialer" out of its misery soon!  (oops)

Interestingly, the 2.2 voice dialer over bluetooth seems to work better than using the built-in phone mic.  That said, I would really prefer the option to have voice search set as the default app invoked by pressing my bluetooth device button. I need to be able to use the new voice commands over bluetooth - far safer (and legal in my state) than fumbling with the phone to text or navigate) while driving and far more convenient than pulling over to the side of the road. Sure would be nice to hear from the good folks at Google if this tweak can easily be rolled out as an update to froyo...

My voice diameter works equally poorly via Mike or BT. I spoke to a Verizon
tech and he said to await the next update. Disappointing.

to

Voice search doesn't even activate the microphone on my headset, so I can't use it with my phone in my pocket.  Given the poor quality of the bluetooth voice dial application, I'm surprised they didn't go this route in the first place.  Could this be an application update to the Voice Search feature, rather than an OS update?

I'm not an expert but from what I've read it has to be an OS fix. I'm hoping
the next update will fix voice dial or, better yet, link the BT to voice
search.

Comment #9 on issue 36918291 by TNTC.Tig: Add voice search over bluetooth,
similar to voice dialer in 2.2


http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8973
Voice search doesn't even activate the microphone on my headset, so I can't
use it with my phone in my pocket.  Given the poor quality of the bluetooth
voice dial application, I'm surprised they didn't go this route in the first
place.  Could this be an application update to the Voice Search feature,
rather than an OS update?

I fully understand what the op is saying...It only makes sense to utilize the voice search with BT mic and eliminate the voice dialer app. Voice Dialer does work well with my BT but its counterproductive when you have so much more capability with the Voice Search function. With all of the states and cities within states going handsfree this should be an high priority immediate fix for google. If nothing else it is  the most sensible thing to do.  

I agree. Especially since, for me, voice dialer doesn't work with or without
bluetooth since the upgrade to 2.2.

Comment #11 on issue 36918291 by pdchemist15: Add voice search over bluetooth,
similar to voice dialer in 2.2


http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=8973
I fully understand what the op is saying...It only makes sense to utilize
the voice search with BT mic and eliminate the voice dialer app. Voice
Dialer does work well with my BT but its counterproductive when you have so
much more capability with the Voice Search function. With all of the states
and cities within states going handsfree this should be an high priority
immediate fix for google. If nothing else it is  the most sensible thing to
do.

I agree that Google should get this implemented sooner rather than later.  

The built in Voice Dialer app should be done away with and replaced with Voice Search (Voice Actions) through the bluetooth headset.  Basically, what I have been waiting for in a phone OS is for my bluetooth to be able to trigger any function on the phone using my voice and Voice Actions comes pretty darn close, but it is dangerous to try to unlock the phone and tap the microphone, hold the phone up to my face, speak and confirm while driving.  

Another vote for using a Bluetooth action button to start Voice Search and NOT Voice Dialer.  To my knowledge Voice Search does everything and MUCH MORE than Voice Dialer it only seems logical to do this.  If anything there should be an option to choose what program you want to launch when you press the action button.  

It doesn't seem like it would take much coding to replace the Search program as the default voice control and enable it for the bluetooth mic.

I agree with everyone wanting bluetooth voice search. I am a junior developer and I took it upon myself to research the intent-filter that is triggered when a bluetooth headset button is pressed. Wading through android code, I found this function. I even wrote a simple application to test overriding the standard bluetooth voice dialer, and I was successful. I even had it open up the standard voice search activity. However, what is very important and needs to be noted is that the API functions used for voice recognition over bluetooth are not public APIs. I do not know why Google has yet to add these APIs to the public code, but for now, it is technically impossible to incorporate voice recognition over bluetooth, even with the standard voice search activity. Who knows if there is a 2.3 in the works and this will be implemented. Until then, I will keep hoping like the rest of us.

Thanks for looking into it.  That does seem very odd.  So are you saying that the hooks used by the current Bluetooth voice dialer shipped with Froyo are currently not in the public API either?

Have you thought about submitting your project to the Android Marketplace?

That is correct. What my sample application does is listen for the bluetooth headset button to be pressed (via the specific intent-filter used by the bluetooth dialer) and then opens up the normal voice search. You can set this sample application to be the default app to start when the button is pressed. The problem is when the voice search is launched, it only listens to the mic on the phone, not the bluetooth mic. These APIs  that listen for bluetooth voice recognition are not public APIs as I have researched.

And for your suggestion for the marketplace, my app is just a test app to see if I could override the bluetooth button press. It is pretty useless since you cannot use voice recognition over bluetooth. I do have a huge application in mind that is riding on these APIs being public, but that is another topic.

Another vote for using the bluetooth action button to start Voice Search and NOT Voice Dialer - and of course having Voice Search work over bluetooth.

This should not be medium priority. Many of us have been waiting over a year for functional hands-free dialing, as required by law in many states, and which was well-implemented on prior "dumb phones." I'd like to know what phone and OS @pdchemist 15 is using that allows him to use voice dialer effectively. At least this would be an acceptable interim solution. I've completely lost voice recognition capability with voice dialer since the froyo upgrade, so the phone's ability to recognize voice dialer via BT is a useless improvement for me.

I'm using htc incredible froyo 2.2   my Bluetooth is a
 jawbone icon

BUMP! Priority High, otherwise my TMobileG2 might have to go back in lieu of tried, tested & trusted TreoPro (WinMo Voice Command).

Thanks!

Voice search over BT would be FabTastic, just awaiting HTC Desire HD. Get it sorted Google and make Android even better than it is.

The ability to use the mic with bluetooth is crucial to my Master's thesis.  PLEASE add this.  I chose Android as my platform because it is far superior to iOS in many ways.  Why has this not been added?

Let me add to the request to implement this.  The Voice Dialer requires (for me) manual interaction with the phone to implement, it will never dial a contact without me approving the choice on my phone.  Voice Actions works flawlessly.  But not over bluetooth.  Having bluetooth functionality with Voice Actions would make this phone work flawlessly.  

Please count another vote for this!

/signed  

This seems like a no brainer.  I was shocked that this has not been implemented.  Fully agree with #21 on why this needs to be elevated to a high priority.

First, I want to say I too desire that the voice search option be available to the bluetooth ear bud.

 Having said that, there a few things to think about using the voice search over the voice command option.  Voice command is designed for complete hands free.  Voice command prompts you for option 1 or option 2 verbally for you to select.  It has go back and cancel and follow through command options.  

1. Voice search would have to be changed to provide like verbal cues for selection, cancels, go backs, things like that.  As effective as voice search is, it is not hands free.

2. Voice search transmits your every input to the google servers and it sends back the refined voice recognition.  I believe far superior to what voice command has, but still limited.  Voice command when searching your contacts can compare for best matches to return.  Voice search on google's servers are translating with those key references.  So when I request calling one of my friends' unique aliases... google has no clue trying to identify with it.
Also, because voice search uses google servers, it must have that internet connection.  My voice commands still work while driving through the mountains to run a program or lol up a contact address.

3. When Saponari worked to intercept the blue tooth voice interaction, keep in mind that blue tooth is a secure device to device connection.  You would not want some app to simply intercept that connection to access another device you established a seure encrypted connection with.  I can see why that code may not be available, but I hope some tags can be made to allow approved usage of the blue tooth and voice AND audio for verbal prompts. (Some one might likely have a strong rebuttle to my perception here.  :-)  )

Again... another big vote for voice search on blue tooth.  Or at least the ability for voice command to run voice search and actually connect to the bluetooth or at least still function.

Thank You for your patience,
-Zwergin

The reason I brought up this issue is that voice dial doesn't work at all on
my Droid 2.2 phone in terms of voice recognition. It used to be fair, prior
to OS update. Voice search is very accurate.

To respond to Zwergin's comment, my app does not "intercept" a bluetooth connection. One a headset is paired with a phone, a specific encrypted connection is established. Any program can listen for this connection with the public APIs available by Google.

Moving forward, I have done more research on my bluetooth voice command app, and I have successfully routed the headset mic to the device. So now, when you run my app (and your headset is already paired) and you want to "do something" on your phone, the app will listen for the headset mic, not the phone mic.

The test application that I made to pull up Voice Search instead of the bluetooth Voice Dialer was to see if I could tie into that service. But Voice Search is limited in its capabilities as it does not have voice prompts for your inputs.

I am currently working on an application that will listen for texts/emails and ask if you would like the message to be played all via your headset, and then once the message is played my app will ask you if you want to send a reply by talking through your bluetooth headset.

1 of 2 problems. The sensitivity on a bluetooth headset to listen for/and recognize audio is sub par..working on this problem as we speak.

2 of 2. I lost my bluetooth headset in the process of moving.

To comment on Zwergin's remarks about voice recognition connecting to the internet, most, if not all, voice recognition software on a mobile platform has to connect to some database/algorithm for recognition. The libraries, algorithms, phrases, languages IMOP are too large to be localized. Even Vlingo requires an internet connection (if I am correct, not sure though).

kevin, are you making a new release of BluetoothVoiceSearch.apk with the bluetooth mic work?

is tha true

I'd also love to see an option to use Voice Actions via Bluetooth (invoked via headset button). I had this years ago on Windows Mobile, and it was about the only thing they did RIGHT, but Voice Actions are a heck of a replacement.

@  saponari.bu17, Post 30 - What application are you working on? It sounds like this would solve the much anticipated issues here, or at least some of them. I have been wanting to use my bluetooth headset as a mic for my phone for a while now - even if i cant activate voice search from the headset, it would still be great to be able to push the button on the phone and speak to it with my headset. Is this app available? If not, any idea when it will be ready?

I second the motion to use "Google Voice Search" in place of "voice dialer". My big problem is I don't even have 2.2 for my Captivate so I have to drive down the road holding the search button and speak into my phone who I want to call. I am very impressed with "Google Voice Search" if it only worked with my blue-tooth headset. Please Google!!!!!!! Please!!!!!!!

[Comment deleted]

I feel like many others that this should be something that is an option that is prompted to me, and savable. The voice that plays back for Bluetooth voice-dial is creepy and in my opinion seems less accurate than the Google search. 99% of the time I am in an area with 3g coverage, and I have unlimited data, so using data for a voice search is of no concern to me. I prefer accuracy over data-savings 100% of the time. Also I get the impression the voice dialer was created and just dumped as a project, it feels completely unpolished and "beta like" compared to all the other great google experience apps for Android.
Thanks!

I don't understand why this option isn't like deciding what keyboard you want.  You should be able to select what ever voice recognition app you want as the default.  

I would like to know more about how to intercept the bluetooth dial button.  If I could do that, then I could tell tasker to launch google voice instead of the default voice dialer.  Can someone either tell me how to do that, or let Pent of "Tasker" know what needs to be added to intercept that action.

my application overrides the standard bluetooth voice dialer and allows you to start the voice search app

What is the name?

it's just on my phone right now, not on the market..still doing some tests to make sure it's 100%.

ahh, i see...its anxiously awaited, obviously! please post when it is ready.

I just downloaded "Bow Tie" (available in market), and it is supposed to do the same thing except has some glitches, like you cannot do a voice search twice in a row without hitting the home button in between and also the quality of "hearing" on the phone side is very poor when using BT, however this could just be my headset, not sure. May be a good benchmark for your program...

I saw; I do not have my bluetooth on me but what I was trying to do was in essence "wrap" the standard Voice Search with my discovered BT functionality. I can try to have it on the market within a week.

awesome...please post here when its available so we can all try it out! good luck

It's inconceivable that this blue tooth dialer can't differentiate between calling "work" or "mobile" on my Droid 1 with 2.2 and moto blue tooth headset.
This thing is worthless.  It still forces me to drag my phone out of my pocket, take off my gloves (when outside) and manually select "work" or "mobile"  Do those two words sound at all alike?  However I pronounce "work" it dials "mobile".  I finally just gave up and put the "work"  number in the "mobile" slot, since I call it the most, and made mobile "other".  Ridiculous.

I vote !!!YES!!! on initiative 8973.  Please make it possible to use bluetooth with voice search on android (and it definitely needs to be able to "hear" the voice from the headset and not from the phone)

Google engineers - please add a feature to Android to allow users to use the softkey on bluetooth headsets to activate Voice Actions.

Thanks!

Voice Actions is great, but its usefulness is limited by the need to look at and use the touchscreen, and to have the phone close to the face.

I too would like to see the voice search be activated instead of the voice dialer. Google folks, the fans are demanding it hardcore...

A program that has worked relatively well for me (available on market) is Vlingo. It seems to get the job done, though it doesn't use google's stuff, it uses its own (or at least that's what I think? not a tech guy...) I was able to bring it up with the BT button on my HEADset (had to set vlingo as default first to have it connect directly). The hilarious/dealbreaking downside for me, was that the application wouldn't turn on if my screen was off! It would ask me "say a command" as soon as i turned the screen on (even in the unlock screen, don't have a password). Kinda defeates the ENTIRE PURPOSE of having a hands free program.

But anyways, try it out, maybe it's just my device? maybe they'll update it to fix the bug?

USING N1 AND SUPER PROUD

My UK supplied HTC Desire HD doesn't have any sort of bluetooth voice dialer so this is a must.

Can I also add a request for Voice Search to mute audio (i.e music playback) when activated (via bluetooth or otherwise)

Google. I beg you to remove Voice Dialer and use ONLY VOICE SEARCH and make it work with bluetooth. PLEASE! My dad is returning his evo because he relies so heavily on voice recognition which is a darn shame because he LOVES the phone and what it can do! I know i'm told not to say "+1 Me too!" but this is how important this is!!!!

As a business user I find it especially troubling and frustrating that with all of this functionality, I have lost the ability to activate a call with my headset, have the phone ask me to confirm the command, and make the call.  It seems basic and easy, but impossible!  It should be a no brainer to be able to make a call without touching the phone, right?  HTC Incredible and 2.2

I starred this so that I would be notified when updates are made available. Sadly that does not seem to be the case, only other poor souls in the same situation as I, looking forward with some hopefulness that somehow Google will fix this issue.
I have a UK Desire HD, stock from VF. As someone else has previously noted there is an app, Bow Tie which bridges some of the gap in BT voice dial functionality however as stated it is not perfect.
To be honest voice dialling is a necessity, borne out of legislation that directs that mobile phones cannot be touched whilst driving. This is not a 'nice-to'have' and is a fundamental failing in the Android platform if it is to support phone capability.
I had hoped v2.3 (Gingerbread) would have something in it that would address or even help but from reports it does not seem to be the case. Considering the status of this enhancement still stands at NEW what indications are there that this will ever be addressed? Will Android handset owners be looking to either the device manufacturers or 3rd parties to implement a solution? This will lead to a very fragmented implementation, not the stuff of dreams, more like nightmares and we take a step back in mobile phone evolution - do you remember the days when there were different standards of BT radio, some headsets would only work with certain phones.

Sorry I have rambled on for so long, not often that something annoys me, especially related to my lovely Desire HD! If I need to take a call now I either break the law or pull over. At least with Bow Tie I can ANSWER calls with a button press, halfway there I guess!

All BT headsets should ANSWER a call. Most Android phones have software that allows you to also voice dial numbers via a click of the button on your BT device but for some reason HTC (UK supplied phones at least) don't ship with the BT dialler software. The Google Voice Search app doesn't support BT at all for dialling, which is what people are asking for.

/signed

Not just Bluetooth though, be sure headsets are included.

So as I have said in the past, I was working on an app that basically wrapped the Voice Search functionality to communicate through the BT headset on the press of the headset button. After extensive testing, The speech recognition with this process is abysmal.

I currently have an application on the market called Blue Control, which:

plays incoming SMS through the BT headset
announces caller id through BT headset
and allows the user to reply to SMS by speaking through the BT headset.


This app implements a speech recognition different from the standard Google pop-up recognition. This implementation is 1000% more accurate, yet I have to write all the recognition (which means I have to test which apps/functionality I can access). I am currently devoting all my time to this application, and post update weekly with new functionality. Some of the new features will include:

Start a call by pressing the BT headset button and saying "call john doe"
Send SMS by pressing the BT headset button and saying "send text to john doe"
Tie into the user Gmail and read/reply/compose emails by voice through BT headset
Tie into Google Calendar and read/write events by voice through BT headset



Since my app is not a "Google App," I am not sure if I can tie into the Maps application or Navigation app, but my thoughts and ambitions for future updates lead me in that direction.

I want this app to be the standard app for driving and accessing necessary functionality of your phone, hands-free.

email me if you have any questions, suggestions, feature requests, etc

saponari.bu17@gmail.com

'Voice Search' over bluetooth please... this functionality was perfect on Win6.1 and I have made a GIANT step back moving to Android in this department.  At least recognize the safety concern here, will ya?

Adding my vote.  Very high priority.  Need google voice search enabled on bluetooth instead of the default bluetooth headset's voice dialing, which is a joke.

Also adding my vote...I agree that Google should get this implemented sooner rather than later.

Sounds like it should be done!

I just bought 2 evos last week. I drive for a living and after a few days all I can say is the BT functions are lame. Otherwise the phone is great. Hate to return them for this but...ince people have been asking for this for 7 months in this thread and no person from google has even bothered to post even a B***S*** reply, I guess they are going back.

Check out my app, blue control..I am adding more functionality as the weeks go on. It will solve the BT issues

It is necesary to have true handsfree to enable a better access for all mobile communications.

Has anyone from the Android team even followed these comments?  Are we being heard at all?

Adding my vote for this to be a function add. Please, Google, Please!


This aside, I am loving Froyo.

Check out Blue Control. It builds on the basic features of the stock voice dialer and adds much more functionality:

Listen to incoming text messages through your BT headset
Respond to texts via your BT headset
Caller ID through your BT headset
Start calls just like the stock dialer

more features coming

It is the best alternative out there.

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sapapps.bluecontrol

Um... Blue Control definitely does *not* do what people are asking for in this issue, so either you misunderstand or you're just coming in here and being vague about it in an attempt to market your app.

So I'd say, if you're going to use the Android issue forums to market your app, the best way to do it would be to *add the functionality people are asking for* before you come in and post your fairly-overt ad.

Quite the contrary, Blue Control aims to be the best hands-free solution, eradicating the need for android users of this issue to sit around and wait for Google to listen to them.

I have taken it upon myself to solve the issue using Google's own API's for voice recognition, text-to-speech, and search capabilities to create a fully functional replacement of the stock Bluetooth dialer.

I am trying to tell the followers of this issue that a solution DOES EXIST and they need not wait for Google to push an update to the voice dialer (this may never happen).

You may sit around as long as you like, but other users have found Blue Control to be a viable option for hands-free capability in REPLACEMENT of the stock Bluetooth voice dialer.

I've been using Choice Dialer for awhile now. What makes your app better?

Bow Tie works as an interim too.

Saponari, your previous comments have all explicitly stated that your app does NOT respond to dial commands via a Bluetooth headset mic -- on 1/28, you said that this was a *future* feature, not a current one. Are you saying that now it's a current feature?

If you are saying that you've added the feature, which voice recognition engine does it tie into -- the on-phone one (that's terrible, bad enough that this very issue was created), or the one that Google Voice Search uses?

Choice Dialer, from my limited use, does not respond to dial commands and does not read incoming messages, does not solve distracted driving issues, turns screen on/wastes battery

Can you make Blue Control available for Samsung Captivate? As it stands now the Android Market states that this is not compatible with the Captivate.

It does respond to dial commands (I use that feature constantly). I haven't tried to see if it'll read incoming messages.

It's solved distracted driving problems for me and it only turns the screen on when you press the soft key on your headset to launch the application. It doesn't waste battery power.

OK, I installed Choice Dialer, and as Chris said above, it *does* support "dial X" commands. My issue is that I don't know what voice recognition engine it's using -- I don't think it's using the Google Voice Search one, since I don't think I'm seeing any network activity when it's doing its recognition thing.

But then I installed Ear Buddy (same software shop), and it does *exactly* what this issue asks -- it uses the BT headset to initiate Google Voice Search, uses the BT headset's mic to perform the search, and works perfectly.

Saponari, I'm assuming from your lack of a response that Blue Control does neither of these things, correct?

Sorry for the delay, busy day. My comment was meant to inform readers of this thread that third-party applications will solve this issue, and I have done my job as you have gone out and purchased these apps. Regardless if the app is mine or not, there are solutions to this thread, and the readers do not have to sit idle any longer.

No problem -- but seriously, there's an outstanding question here that you haven't answered. Does your app -- Blue Control -- allow users to initiate Google Voice Search via the BT headset button, and utilize the BT microphone as input to the voice search? Because that's the behavior people are asking for, and I don't want anyone to be misled into spending money on Blue Control if it doesn't support those functionalities.

Not fully, functionality increases each week. Check the market page for current and future functionality. Does that seriously answer your question?

Again, I'm trying to raise awareness that third party apps have some functionality users are asking in a thread that hasn't been resolved for 8 months. Readers be proactive and search the marketplace for apps; the functionality is out there.

OK, to stop beating the dead horse, here's a summary. The functionality people want is to use the BT headset button to initiate Google Voice Search, and the BT headset mic as the voice input. As of now, there's one confirmed app that does this:

* Ear Buddy ($3, https://market.android.com/details?id=com.resounding.earbuddy)

and one app that *does not* do this is Blue Control.

And finally, the point of this issue isn't for a third party to provide the functionality -- although that's a nice outcome. The point is to ask Google to add it into the Android OS itself; let's not lose track of that.

While this thread is meant for Google to implement this functionality into the OS, there are solutions to the problem! You can keep waiting around for Google to "hear your voice" on this dead thread, or you can be proactive and find a solution.

Yes, it would be great for them to have this built in, but will they REALLY implement it? My guess is no since we have all been complaining to each other since last June and have not heard one iota from El Goog, and, there are public APIs available for developers to tap in to.

I appreciate your summarization on which third-party app actually delivers the functionality; we are both raising awareness! My job here is complete. I motivated users (you) to search the marketplace and respond back with viable alternatives.

Here's to you waiting for a response from Google,

Cheers

Folks, please, stop talking about some other product. Take it to email, Google Talk, or whatever. I (and no doubt others) am ready to un-star this issue due to the recent influx of spammy emails coming in from a few people having a debate!

Then un-star it and shut up. Attempting to use reverse psychology is childish and rude.

While the end goal is to have the Android team natively implement a solution, there are people that want a solution now, whether it's native or not.

A debate amongst apps available on the Market that provides a solution is something people reading this thread for the first time will want to see. A solution. Just because it's not the solution YOU want doesn't mean we should stfu and go away.

Lastly, Saponari, you were trying to promote your app. You weren't trying to motivate people to search the market for alternatives. That's a lie. I, personally, don't want to by anything from a dishonest person.

Promoting my app and raising awareness go hand in hand. I am not sure my app would handle someone who has spelling issues (it's 'buy' not 'by').

I don't have spelling issues. I goofed on a homonym. I was typing quick. It happens.

And no, they don't go hand in hand. Using your app doesn't require any proficiency in spelling either.

Please go back to school and learn how to argue. You aren't very good at it.

VLINGO (free on Market) supports triggering of Voice Recognition via bluetooth headset, listening to spoken audio through the BT headset and will do dialing, navigation, read text messages and respond to them, submit facebook/twitter updates (through BT and voice reco), tell the time, date, do google searches and more.

I stopped using Google Voice Command and Google Voice Actions in favor of this application which does everything those applications do and more all through the BT headset.

VLINGO works like a charm on my EVO 4G.  BTW - I'm not selling anything, and I don't work for vlingo.  ;)

I just tried VLINGO out. It works great. My only complaint is that it doesn't launch via the headset softkey if the screen is locked.

It's one of the reasons I've stuck with Choice Dialer. I can set it to launch when I press the softkey on my headset and it'll work even in the screen is locked. Basically, if I have to take my phone out of my pocket for any reason for the app to work, it's not going to work for me.

But thanks for mentioning it.

Just tap the VLINGO In-Car, and you can go completely hands free.  Even activating it is hands free.  Just say "Hey Vlingo!" and it will respond (in your bluetooth) "What do you want me to do?", then you can say just about anything.  

However I see your point of being able to just make a call with your phone in your pocket by pressing the BT button and speaking (locked or not), my very old school phones used to be able to do that, and Windows (gasp!) phones can do it with the Microsoft Voice Dialer app.  That was the only feature I missed after moving to Android.

Just updated Dell Streak from 1.6 to 2.2 and discovered this issue.  The Nuance voice dialer Dell provided in 1.6 worked reasonably well.  It's replaced by the Android Voice Dialer in 2.2, which briefly asks for the command over the headset, and then crashes.  Eventually requires force close.  

The Google voice actions works well, except not through Bluetooth, and requires screen interaction for use.  I add my vote.  This urgently needs to be fixed, and with an application update, not an OS update that will take another year for Dell & AT&T to deploy.

I would also like to support this request. Vlingo is now free and you need to compete. Your program and recognition software is better but if is does not automatically come on like vlingo's it not too usable.

try bluetooth launcher from the market. its free you set it up once and youre done. choose voice search then the file that ends in "recognition activity".

aallen, I can't find the right bluetooth launcher that will let me start Voice Search when I press the bluetooth headset connection button.  Any more details would be appreciated.

I second (or 95th) this request: make google voice search launch through one touch from bluetooth headset

I've given vlingo an honest shot and it's OK, but it's just not as good or as versatile as Voice Search.  I would much rather just have Voice Search work through my BT headset.

Voice activation of vlingo's functions is nice too, which Google could work into a car-mode

aallen: I couldn't find the app you mentioned either.  Could you be more specific or provide a link?

FYI

Earbuddy is no longer available in Android Market and seems to have been replaced by Bowtie (http://www.resounding.com) which also is no longer on Android Market. The Choice One Dialer available from the same company is still available but the recent reviews are pretty bad.

I'm still using Choice Dialer. No complaints here.

I've e-mailed the dev with suggestions and questions. He's pretty receptive
and apparently, Google has done a really bad job of documenting all of the
bluetooth APIs. It makes his job much harder.

I can't believe that this post has yet earn some consideration from Google themselves. This should be a simple feature users can turn on or off. I have successfully enabled the same feature in the past with windows mobile it worked in windows mobile 5 on HTC 8125 by tweaking the registry to enable the bluetooth button to activate voice command and via WM registry edit you can actually pick any program to run.  This phone came out in 2006, which 5 years ago. Now why can't Android do the same? Google should work on this issue to please users like us before Windows 7 takes over the market just like how Android took over iPhone's market.

Hey Google engineers!  Great job on the Voice Search app!  It's the first time in my life that I have seen a speaker-independent large vocabulary ASR system work!!!  It works except when there noise in background, especially if the noise falsely triggers the start of my voice.  It's the speech segmentation problem in the front-end of a ASR system.  Jawbone Bluetooth headset have great noise suppression and if this 8973 issue is resolved, you would be one giant step closer to having solved the voice recognition problem!!!!!!!!  

Eric Jing (DSP engineer at Jawbone)

I agree with everyone on here that I am annoyed that I cant use my BT for voice search!! Come on google hear us out and at least acknowledge the issue!!!

I'm with everybody here.  Voice Dialer is horrible and Voice Search works great but it is now almost useless since I use BT most of the time with my EVO in my pocket or holster.

can anyone send me the Bowtie apk?  I had it on my old phone and didn't backup and now its no longer on the market.  thanks.

Moto Bravo running Froyo 2.2.1 and Moto HF850 bluetooth car kit. Anyone figure out how to make one button voice dial work?? Car kit worked perfectly with my old Razr.

Hello. community.

My name is Lloyd and I just cant believe that a phone so powerful is incapable of placing a call using a bluetooth, to be honest i never cared until a couple moths ago that i was very close of getting a ticket an officer made me realize that this is your life that depends on.

so i went and bought a motorola roadster (which is probably the best one or at least the most expensive one motorola has)and test it and didnt work, then i went and bought a Blueant S4 ( not cheap either) and guess.... didnt work.

so i start my little investigation and call Sprint technical support told me that there's nothing they can do but they know the issue, HTC Technical support told me that there's nothing wrong with the phone and they don't support any third parties company (referring to the bluetooth manufactures) so they wont be able to help. and finally i don't know google's technical support. i don't think they have one.

so i think its time that someone takes responsibility. i hope google can stand for us here. i know that gingerbread has been announced to arrive soon and hopefully this has been taken care off with this firmware update.

*note if you know a better way to get closer to google please let me know. i am really into get this thing resolve. (without giving up android)

best regards,
lloyd

Hello, again.

I was able to make calls successfully over bluetooth After doing this.

My phone im using is HTC Evo and the handsfree is the Blueant S4.

1.-unpair any bluetooth devices from htc evo.
2.-force stop and clear data on the voice dialer app.
3.-turn HTC Evo off.
4.-remove battery for 10 secs.
5.-turn blueant s4 on.
6.-turn HTC Evo phone back on.
7.-pair the phone and your done.

now, i still think that the native voice dialer is so unqualified for the job considering todays technology and to have the possibility of using voice search instead would do my life so much easier.


regards,
Lloyd

I thought I upgraded from a windows 6.1 phone (which opened everything on bluetooth)to the new Thunderbolt Android. I was very disappointed when I could not get voice search to work on my bluetooth helmet headset for my motorcycle. I use navigation alot (can't now) and I agree voice search for bluetooth should be the standard voice prompt.

The ability to voice dial through the bluetooth mic is a must.
There are some nice applications to voice dial with voice tags so that voice recognition is not a problem.
But we must take the android mobile from the pocket to speak the name of the person through the phone mic.
I don't see any solution coming soon ...
This is a shame and I'm leaving Android because of it.

I was shocked when I found out that I could not use Voice Search with my bluetooth headset. Seems like it would have been something on the required features list during the application planning. The conversation may have gone something like this:
Developer 1: "What buttons are available to activate a Voice Search action?"
Developer 2: "The soft buttons on the phone, perhaps a bluetooth command button, and perhaps a wired headset. Pretty standard stuff."
Developer 1: "Great, the app should have the ability to work with all three. Now what different ways can there be voice input."
Developer 2: "Let's see, the phone mic, perhaps a wired headset mic if they're using some headphones at the time, and of course a bluetooth headset."
Developer 1: "Awesome, why wouldn't we have it work with all three? My phone from 2004 did that just fine. Besides, most of these Voice Search actions will probably be used the most in the car when someone is using a headset."
Developer 2: "I have no idea, let's make it happen."

Instead we got this:
Developer 1: "What buttons are available to activate a Voice Search action?"
Developer 2: "My phone only has the phone soft buttons on it, why would we do anything else?"
Developer 1: "You're right, that's the same with mine, why would we bother developing for optional equipment? Now what different ways can there be voice input."
Developer 2: Looks at his phone again and says, "I just see a phone mic."
Developer 1: "Me too."

Don't get me wrong, I love the Voice Search app...I just don't understand outside of some HUGE technical hurdle that this is not in there and how it hasn't been addressed since the initial release. Heck, it's been a year since this thread started.

I don't get it.  Bluetooth is the *obvious* application for voice search, and Google seems to have gone out of its way *not* to support it.

The only theory I can think of that makes any sense is that there are patent issues.  Can someone from Google confirm whether or not this is the case?  Can someone from Google please tell us what the holdup is?

Still don't believe that we cannot use Google Search with Bluetooth, what is the hold up or problem?  Some sort of comment would go along way to quell the frustration.

I also find it frustrating but Google has provided so many excellent apps and features I am sure they will fix this soon.  If you are an Open Source software user like me you will know that these kinds of issues arise and are usually address by large corps like Google quite rapidly compared to purchased software but we need to support them not crucify them.  I am not suggesting that this is an Open Source code but Google has used the Linux kernel in the Android development and its origin is Open Source.
Open Source Rules!!!!

One more reason for this is that I can give Voice Search commands in my language (Spanish) but for some reason Voice Dial only accepts English.

I don't know about ya'll, but I'm getting tired of yelling at my docked handset in the car dock while driving...

I echo the request for someone at Google to PLEASE give some insight into this...

I'm a huge fan of android, but am pretty amazed this has not been solved.
This is very basic functionality and stopping my recommendng android to colleagues on bb.

I can't believe this thread was first brought up a year ago and it's still going on. You have the app, you just need an option to change the trigger. You can press and hold on search to start it...so why not give us the option to change from voice dial to voice search? Why LIMIT our functionality? Come on Google. You're sounding a little like Apple.

Why does it require so many people to ask for such a basic feature?  95% of the time people need voice commands while driving.  Its illegal for us to hold the handset while driving.  Hence its common sense to enable bluetooth for voice commands.

Why does it require so many people to ask for such a basic feature?  95% of the time people need voice commands while driving.  Its illegal for us to hold the handset while driving.  Hence its common sense to enable bluetooth for voice commands.

Plus one.  I have been griping about this for a while now.  Now that google has some voice competition with siri, maybe we can get the coolest features of Androids voice commands in the only place we use voice commands...in the car, using bluetooh.

 

Yes, please... I really seems like a no-brainer. Yes to Bluetooth, No to yelling.

I was really surprised that this was not a feature already. Clearly there is a voice path to the application processor because of the current bluetooth dialer so the solution should be pretty simple. No excuse really!

I know it's not really the answer people want, but you can use Vlingo (dl from market) It will do what you're asking.

PLEASE!!  Do it ASAP, or I'm getting a freakin IPhone

WOW!!!  Why can't this get done?  I used Bluetooth Launch and it opens Voice Search.  Just goes through phone speaker not bluetooth.  LAME

Agreed! Would love to have voice search over bluetooth.

Agreed! It would be awesome to have voice search over blue-tooth

Another vote for Voice Search over Bluetooth (including the BT microphone!)

Disappointing this isn't included in ICS :-(

Any day now google..

+100,000,000,000,000 for bluetooth microphone instead of phone microphone...

Indeed!  Please fix.  I just bought a Jawbone ICON and was very disappointed to learn it could not be configured to launch Voice Actions.  (Jawbone has a "Voice Control" app that's downloaded into the headset.  But, with 2.2 it does not work.  After reading this thread, I now understand why.)

This is a serious problem. I bought a Bluetooth car stereo, all excited that I'd be able to use Bluetooth to dial or search for music using Voice Search. Imagine my surprise when pushing the Bluetooth button on my brand new stereo brings up this ancient, horrible, Voice Dialer app. It's about enough to make me switch from Android. Everyone mentions Vlingo, but it can't do a music search and I've had trouble getting it to use the Bluetooth mic.

I am absolutely blown away that this hasn't been implemented yet.  These phones and tablets are capable of so much rediculous junk, that an ability like this woul really benefit the community.  I will definetely be holding off on buying a bluetooth headset until this is resolved.  One more vote!

+1 for voice search via bluetooth...  I'd have thought ICS would have this after all these years.

Would also appreciate this. Voice dialer frequently miss-dials with the tone of my voice. I actually find it more dangerous as I scramble to stop the wrong call because there is no confirmation.

It's absurd that this functionality has not been implemented. It's clearly the way it ~should~ work.

Wow! I just bought my first smartphone a week ago and my BT headset yesterday. Although it dialed perfectly with voice commands I still would have liked a confirmation. But next big test was using the BT for voice search on navigation which did not work at all. I thought something was wrong with my head-set! I am not only amazed that something this intuitive has not been built into the OS, I am astounded that this feature has been an issue this long with no aknowledgment or even support for those trying to build a work-a-round.

This still hasn't been fixed after 2 years. What is google waiting for?? Voice actions should have been designed FOR bluetooth first and foremost.

+1 This is simply a must have feature. Voice Search needs an option to enable the Bluetooth Mic. I have a Moto RAZR and it has a nice little voice command app with it but I really dont need any of that. Would much prefer to have it use the Voice Search app. My Jawbone Icon HD has the ability to launch that app on a button push but it still just defaults to the Voice Dialer thing (from Motorola?). You can tell that app to launch the Voice Search but since Voice Search doesnt allow for the mic you have to yell at your phone to get it to hear you.

Voice Dictation of all sorts should be added or fixed.  Its very annoying and distracting to to have to Do Voice Actions/Voice Search or even dictate an email response by screaming at the phone when you have a head set on.  On my 3rd Android phone so far, and I Love it, but this should addressed.    

Wow. Voice actions over bluetooth was such a logical step when voice actions were first introduced.

Can anybody explain what is holding this up? Are "medium" "enhancements" simply ignored?

this is a must do.  wow, my super powerful Gnex can't use voice commands over bluetooth to navigate to a destination.  But I look super cool screaming at my phone in the car.

+1 for voice search via bluetooth...
What's the sense of voice action when i must have my phone in my hand ?

I'm getting an Iphone 4S since I can talk to Siri over a bluetooth connection

Wow...When people are willing to drop Android and go to apple over this issue, then you know it is serious. Google, WTF is wrong with you?

Please fix this. I want voice search over bluetooth!!! And able to launch search with call button on bluetooth.

Please allow the launch of Google voice search via bluetooth!

Please enable bluetooth microphone for voice search!!!!

Please allow the launch of Google voice search via bluetooth!

It's depressing that this feature request (which is extremely basic, and which old feature phones are perfectly capable of) is over 2 years old without any progress.  Please don't forget what a phones primary function is! (hint - it's not fart apps).

Just found out about this issue today after getting a Bluetooth headset. It's not nearly as useful as I thought it would be because of this.

+1 its a must what happened google

This issue extends to Google Now on Jelly Bean. This needs to get fixed.

Google's silence on these _grave_ functionality bugs (bluetooth mic does not work correctly with some stock applications, including voice input/search) is very discouraging.

I've spent thousands of dollars on Android hardware, contributed to the community, and promoted it like nobody's business.

Why can't I remove apps from my Market history?  You have time to waste renaming Google Market to the quite unprofessionally titled "Play," but not enough time to implement device deregistration?  Seriously?  Where is the app-setting and content backup/restore?  Why can I not buy a new device, and restore it from a snapshot of my old device, including media, applications, settings, SMSes, etc (leaving aside 3rd party solutions like Titanium Backup)?  Why is rooting not a simple (recovery, autoinstall /system/bin/su) procedure, even on Nexus devices?  Why haven't you put massive pressure on manufacturers to keep their customers' devices up to date?  My captivate glide - less than a year old - is appallingly buggy, and now three major versions behind mainline.  Why hasn't Google told Samsung "keep your customers up to date, or we'll withhold access to the proprietary apps?"

On this bluetooth issue - why are apps able to choose their microphone source anyway?  This is something that should be handled by the kernel / pulse audio, NOT the application.  Google voice search should not be able to choose an input device!

This is 101 stuff, and it hurts to see this happening to Android.

I'm sure no one from Google monitors these threads (or are under strict orders not to reply), but on the outside chance that someone from Google is:

PLEASE talk to the higher-ups about transparency and accountability.  Google (and Android) are generally loved and popular, but competition is merely a heartbeat and a few killer apps away.  Stop focusing on eye-candy, branding and rampant consumerism, and put some effort into core functionality.  Don't give potential competition such a strong opportunity to gain a foothold.

Google NOW looses much of it's functionality if it cannot be used via Bluetooth - the main hands-free input for mobile phones.

This is one of my biggest complaints with Android, makes connecting to my car completely useless. Please fix!

This needs to be moved to to a priority issue.  Google, you spend to much time on frivolous stuff and pay little attention to usability, both in basic functionality and user interface design.

Since many states are passing, or have passed, laws that disallow use of a phone in a car, I would think this would be a primary motivation to get this working.  If I get a ticket for using my phone in a car just to launch Google Now, to whom should I send the ticket to at Google to have it paid?  

Or worse, what if someone is in an accident because they were trying launch Google Now on their phone because they *have* to take their eyes off the road to find the right spot on the screen since there is no tactile feedback.  With a bluetooth headset, that is not required and I can keep my eyes on the road.

Maybe more people/websites need to bring this up as a big shortcoming of Google Now, then maybe Google would pay more attention.  I think maybe we should do that that.  Send emails to lots of high profile Android sites about this.  *AND* send it to lots of Apple sites as well.  If commenting here doesn't work, maybe some negative publicity will...

Google, can you please get this to work. My old blackberry can follow commands better than the useless "voice dialer" I hate knowing a have a great voice command app but cant fully use it with my bluetooth headset. Samsung's S voice pulls up like a charm, iOS devices with Siri pulls up like a charm. ISC bring a crappy voice dialer... com'on whats up with that???

Greetings. I am in support of the Google Android dev. team working on this as soon as possible as well. I have had "dumbphones" 5 years ago that did a better job of recognizing and deciphering voice commands (with a small amount of user training - i.e. "dial" followed by digits, "call" followed by a contact name, "check time", etc.) I would suggest combining the voice search and voice dialing functions into one voice command function which would be the default action for Bluetooth call button. Voice dial, initiated with a Bluetooth audio device connected, already functions using the bluetooth audio device but lacks a little flexibility. Adding the capability to send a char. string from it to the (very nice if it would only work using Bluetooth audio device) voice search would be most beneficial. In addition, I DESPISE the fact that a voice command does not request confirmation. Let's face it, real world voice commands are not always going to be properly interpreted. Going back to my old "dumbphone" example, every voice commanded "dumbphone" I've ever had has repeated back its interpretation of the voice command and given the opportunity for the user to either say "yes", "no", and my favorite ones accepted the "cancel" or "exit" commands at any prompt. On the contrary, most "smartphones" do NOT feature this functionality and I have always wondered why. It is very frustrating when I say "Call John Doe at mobile" and the phone says "Calling Jane Lowe at mobile." without asking if the interpretation was correct. Pressing the Bluetooth call button doesn't work until the call is in progress either, which makes it MORE frustrating. The hardware is more than capable of this functionality as far as I am concerned and the software has been made before so I highly recommend that this issue be reviewed as it is currently one of the largest sore spots of the Android operating system as well as most other "smartphone" OS's. This is a great opportunity for Google to lead the market on something which enhances safety and proves innovation, yet this thread has been in existence since 2010 and continues to bear the "New" status.

come on google sort this out already!!

This has been an issue since 2010. I would assume Google would have taken care of it by now. C'mon Google! Let's not leave so many people on the road without the ability to use their phones!

Moving from an iphone this is a huge disappointment.  I had iphone for 4 years and switched to Windows Phone 8 and returned it and got a galaxy s3.   Both iphone and WP8 had blue tooth that utilized the microphone on my car.   This should be a standard on all phones as well as a law that all phones in the car can use the phones Äì over the vehicles blue tooth

As a new user of android (from iPhone), when I found that by default bluetooth microphone is not used for voice actions, I was flabbergasted.  Isn't this a law suit waiting to happen (I guess Google can afford it)?  I guess technically these phones are voice dial capable with built in mic.  But no carrier/ad/review makes it clear that bluetooth mic does not work for voice dial. Only after searching did I find that this is the case.  

Some one mentioned that Google Voice Actions engine needs higher bit rate than bluetooth hands free can provide, but Siri works with it, so there must be a way.  Cyberon Voice Commander also works with it (though limited command set).  May be a limited command set when using bluetooth is a happy medium?  Also, there are more recent Bluetooth profiles with higher bit rate.  Hope this issue gets the attention it deserves.

This is annoying, Siri works fine, I move to android and it can't use voice commands or s-voice in the car.

can someone please tell me how to get my regular voice commands working, all of a sudden after Jelly Bean upgrade google took over the voice commands and it just stinks when I push my Bluetooth button, why is it when we get upgrades there is always something we have to deal with that just messes with things that were not an issue, ugh!!!!
I have a droid razr maxx

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