How To Tell Your Android Phone What to Do with Voice Actions

With Google Voice Actions, you can do some pretty cool things without having to touch the screen, making it a good feature to use when you’re on the go. We especially like the ability to send a text message via voice and to get turn-by-turn directions without having to type in an address. Here’s how to do it.

Send a Text Via Voice

1. Press and hold the search button on your phone.
2. Say “Send text to” followed by the person’s name, pause briefly, then speak the message itself.
3. Make any necessary corrections and then tap Send. In our case, our Android phone correctly transcribed “Send text to Mike…Can you please pick up some wine” We just added a question mark.

Speak to Get Driving Directions

1. Press and hold the search button on your phone.
2. Say “Navigate to” followed by the full street address.
3. If the address is correct, you can either tap Go or wait for Google Maps Navigation to load. If it’s not, hit Cancel and try again.

In our case we said “Navigate to 1410 Broadway New York, NY” and our Android phone automatically and started calculating a route to the correct address. Pretty sweet.