Being able to launch a voice recorder app and take down notes really quickly has always been one of the best features of having a smartphone in your pocket.
Whether you’re a journalist, a med student, or just someone who doesn’t have time to write things down on a notepad, being able to take notes with your voice is both helpful and efficient. And now Google is making that process even smarter for Pixel owners.
“Pixel’s new recorder is years ahead of alternative options on the market.” Abby Hao, the head of marketing at WellPCB, told Lifewire via email.
Simple and Fluid
It might seem silly to think of a voice-recording app as revolutionary or ahead of its time, but Google has put a lot of power in the hands of its users with the Pixel’s new recording app.
“Google’s Recorder app is very dependable to begin with,” Dane Hale, chief operating officer at Twin Sun Solutions, told us via email. “It is also a very intuitive and simple app to use.”
Hale says that you can record audio at the press of a button, and the app automatically will transcribe the content without having to set up any additional options.
While other recording apps do offer transcription, many of them lock it behind paywalls or require you to jump through hoops to get it working. With Recorder it’s as easy as opening the app and just pressing the record button.
What makes the transcription service even more useful is the ability to access those files from a website that Google has set up. This allows you to easily share links to recordings with others, which can be useful for those who collaborate with others a lot.
You then can access the same smart features that make the app so useful right there on the website, whether you own a Pixel or not.
Machine Learning
Transcription and a website on which to view your recordings aren’t the only big features, though. Recorder also can pick up on different noises, speakers, and more.
“Recorder supports Google’s audio recognition technology, which can detect which type of audio is being recorded,” Hao told us. “Impressively, the app can even tell whether you’re recording speech, whistling, laughter, or even animal noises.”
She noted that the waveform also will change colors depending on the type of audio, and that it even identifies each section with its own title to make your recording easier to navigate.
The newer version of the app also will let you search through the transcript of the file, which will then take you directly to that point in the audio recording.
This is where those titles that Hao mentioned come into play, as they can help you quickly navigate longer recordings like lectures or meetings.
Furthermore, you can edit the audio by simply highlighting sections of the transcript and deleting them. Doing this will simultaneously cut down the corresponding portions of the audio file, ensuring that everything stays clean and concise across both formats.
Highly Sought After
Where voice recorders used to be simple, we’re finding that we now need more out of them than simply creating audio files, since an increasing number of people are turning to them.
Whether you’re a student, marketing director, or just someone looking to make some notes while on the move, being able to open an app and record something that you can then search, edit, and even read a transcript from is exceptionally useful.
“As a med student I am constantly using my iPhone’s voice recording app to record lectures, seminars, and any important patient interactions,” Will Peach, a fourth-year medical student, told us via email.
“The most frustrating thing about it is the interface and general lack of functionality. I’d love to be able to edit, cut, and past audio segments on the fly.”
