On the road with Samsung’s S-Voice Drive mode

We get behind the wheel to see how Samsung's S-Voice Drive performs on the road.

(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)

Aside from sounding like it received its moniker from BMW’s product department, the S-Voice Drive driving mode is an extension of the Samsung Galaxy S4‘s S-Voice voice command app that adjusts the system in a few very important ways for drivers.

Firstly, it allows the driver’s interactions to be mostly hands-free. When in this driving mode, S-Voice Drive is able to be activated with a spoken command, rather than pushing a button. This allows drivers to keep both hands on the wheel. Simply say, “Hi Galaxy” and the device springs to attention, ready to accept your voice commands.

Next, Driving Mode simplifies the onscreen interface, presenting the driver with a mostly blank screen with large text prompts instructing the driver that S-Voice Drive is ready to accept commands and displaying a few examples of what sort of commands can be accepted. No app icons are present and there’s nothing too distracting to the driver.

Drive mode also makes voice command a persistent part of the UI, even when you’re doing something else. Start navigating and you’ll see a black bar along the bottom edge of the screen with a microphone icon indicating that, even outside of the S-Voice in… [Read more]

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