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Windows Mobile 6.5 Will Get TellMe Voice Commands [Winmo]

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Unlike some smartphones we know, phones running WinMo 6.5 will get a pretty incredible collectively voice command interface, courtesy of Microsoft subsidiary TellMe.

Here are already TellMe apps out here, everywhere the benefit listens to requests—search queries or requests for other data—and carries them out online. BlackBerry and Gallop Instinct have them, and the newest Ford Sync system uses TellMe for traffic data too. But in WinMo 6.5, TellMe isn’t just an app, it’s a one-pin hub for voice commands of all kinds, including text messaging, making calls, and also jumping to Microsoft Live Search with natural language queries like “weather in San Francisco, California,” “pizza in Kansas City” or “mother’s day gift thoughts.”

Microsoft has long been huge on the voice command thing, with PocketPC versions of it dating back five or more years, so it makes sense that they’d make a larger push with Windows movable 6.5 than others have done. Things are also more collectively now, so it also makes sense that a new voice command system would blur the line between what’s happening on the phone itself (texting, etc.) and what’s happening in the wireless cloud (searches, etc.).

I am a huge fan of voice commands, and am still pissed off that Apple has ignored their safety benefits, as well as their convenience, in iPhone enhancement, and I’m glad to see at least one of the power hitters pushing the thought towards the next logical stage.

The benefit will be free at WinMo 6.5 launch, either as a download from the awkwardly named Windows Marketplace for movable, or pre-embedded by the carrier or handset maker. [TellMe]

TellMe promo video: