What’s (NOT) On My iPhone–Part 1– VoiceThis Dialer

By
On August 5, 2008

I still find it kind of hard to believe that the iPhone still doesn’t have native voice dialing app. Every phone I’ve had in the past "I don’t know how many years" has had some kind of voice dialing app built in but not the iPhone. It is hard to believe.

So when third party apps came to the iPhone I figured we would finally see one. Sure it would cost a few dollars, but the convenience of being able to dial by speaking would be worth it. Unfortunately the early apps for voice dialing have been poor.     

That’s why I was so excited to see the VoiceThis Dialer arrive on the App store tonight. The description sounds great–

Description:
Finally, a world class voice dialer for the iPhone! Call any contact in your address book by voice. No training required. One tap to launch app, everything else is voice controlled. VoiceThis Dialer runs completely on your device. No sending any of your private information to servers. No need to worry about your network connection. VoiceThis Dialer is accurate and fast whether on Edge, 3G or Wi-Fi. We recommend speaking close to the iPhone mic or headset mic. Voicethis Dialer is full of useful features not common in most voice dialers: Call numbers in your recent call list Redial a contact 100% voice controlled- No push recording Confirmation on/off Even quit app by voice! Plus, look for other VoiceThis products for the iPhone coming soon!

So I immediately bought it…  Bad Call!

Unfortunately, on my brand new iPhone 3G whch is working perfectly with every other app all I get from VoiceThis is the splashscreen. It hangs for a few minutes and then crashes. It looks like this…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 $9.99 for that???

"No problem" I figure, "I’ll just go to their website." Problem- the website is a placeholder that looks like this–

"If you are the owner of this website you have not published (or incorrectly published) your web site."

Doesn’t exactly make you feel confident about putting their software on your iPhone, does it?

ADVICE–  Do Not Buy. (At least not yet.)

This is the first time I have emailed Apple to ask for a refund. After submitting the report iTunes told me they "Took Note Of The Issue" but I would have to contact the developer directly. They were kind enough to provide a link. The link went to… the website placeholder that states- you guessed it….

If you are the owner of this website you have not published (or incorrectly published) your web site.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, I hear back.