Dragon Dictation
Overall: 4
Functionality: 3+
Coolness: 5
These days most surgeons are aware of commercially available voice dictation, such as Dragon and other brands, however few know that Dragon Dictation makes a free app for the iPhone. That’s right: completely free. Not only that, but even without voice training (as is required for the full computer-based version), this app has impressive recognition capability the first time you use it. The app is limited by the fact that you can only dictate within the Dragon app, thus you cannot dictation directly into an email, text message, or note. Of course, this is a limitation created by Apple which prevents one app from running “within” another app. In addition, Dragon limits each dictation to 30 seconds. However, because you can perform multiple dictations within a single document, and because the app allows you to easily copy, email, or text message your text – these limitations are easily overcome. A great feature is that words that Dragon knows it may have mis-interpreted can be selected and the user is presented with similar alternatives. From my experience, Dragon is accurate about 90% of the time, and if you include the alternative options, accuracy increases to >95%. For someone who writes emails from their phone, this app has the potential to save you much time, frustration, and iPhone-related spelling errors. I cannot think of a reason not to download the app.
Cost: Free
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