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Software Editorial / Windows Reviews / Office & Business / Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking
Dragon software has been around for about 20 years in various guises (Nuance is the latest owner) and to their credit, the company has stuck with this speech recognition product to the point where the recognition is now around 99% and the feature set is very impressive.

What is even more remarkable is that this accuracy is achieved without reading a long script. Just install the software and start speaking. That’s it. I have a Scottish brogue and wondered how the UK English version would cope. In fact, it coped extremely well. Very rarely did it encounter spoken words it could not recognise.

Not only will the program allow you compose your documents, but you can do spreadsheets, email and just about anything else that you would normally type. Program commands are also voice controlled so that minimum keyboard intervention is required.

I was taken with two of the commands – Microphone On and Microphone Off. When the phone rings or people pop into the office this easy voice-spoken command prevents the conversation being typed!

There is also a very neat feature for transcribing where recorded audio is transcribed to text. This could be very useful for meetings.

Bearing in mind that 18 years ago this type of software would have cost you £5,000 and now you can get it for just £150, this is a fantastic buy. However, you do need to be prepared to spend a little time getting used to the software. And it is not a complete replacement for typing, as you will find the best combination is keyboard, mouse and speech recognition, although you will use the first two much less frequently.

Nuance state that you will be able to compose material 3 times faster with Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I never quite achieved that but I did get to twice the speed and that is a big improvement.

Ease of use - 7/10
Speed improvement over typing - 8/10
Value for money - 9/10

Recommended.

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