Google’s long-awaited improved voice typing is almost ready
Alongside the launch of the Pixel 4, Google gave Assistant a much-needed speed boost, promising future upgrades to certain features like voice typing. Last year, Assistant-powered dictation arrived on Gboard for Pixel users — only to disappear just a day later. It seems like Google is ready to re-unveil its latest AI-powered trick, but unsurprisingly, it’ll once again be limited to specific devices.
This report comes from Mishaal Rahman at XDA Developers, who noticed an updated description for “Assistant voice typing” — a slight name change compared to last year’s “Enhanced voice typing.” After spotting the setting, he reached out to the Google News Telegram group, which managed to enable the feature after spoofing a Pixel 6 Pro. While it’s cool to see it in action finally, it confirms what some might have feared: another Assistant tool made exclusive to Google’s newest hardware.
All of this looks cool, but I’m especially excited for voice-based emoji support.
Possible disappointment aside, this revised dictation tool looks really cool. It combines Google’s reliable text-to-speech with all-new commands for doing everything hands-free. Deleting, undoing, even basic emoji support — it’s all here. You can even move between fields in forms or emails without touching your phone. If you have hotword waking enabled, you can even say “Hey Google” to activate voice dictation entirely without a single touch.
It’s unclear whether this feature will remain a Pixel 6 and 6 Pro exclusive forever, but it’s likely using the Tensor SoC to do some of this. Google hasn’t dived deep into its new processor since its original announcement, but one of the few things it has highlighted was improved voice dictation compared to older Qualcomm chips. We’ll keep our fingers crossed it’s not limited to brand new smartphones, but we won’t know for sure until October 19th.
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