ZTE’s voice control features on the Star 2 smartphone really impressed us when we tried out the phone earlier this year, but we were frustrated the feature wasn’t available on a phone we could actually buy. The good news is this will (probably) all change, because ZTE has announced it will add the feature to all its devices in the future.
Adam Zeng, ZTE’s CTO of mobile devices, called voice control a “core focus” for the company, and said it will continue to develop the technology on the Star series of phones, but “will no longer limit it” to this series alone.
What makes ZTE’s voice control system so great? First, it actually works, and works consistently. It was its continued ability to instantly respond, accurately, to our requests that made it standout. The system doesn’t need a data connection to work, and can be used to perform various functions on the phone, from opening apps to taking photos. It’s even possible to swap between the front and rear camera using a voice command.
Related: ZTE’s voice control system makes Siri look silly
At the time, the feature was only confirmed for release on the Star 2 in China, although the system responded perfectly to English — using both British and American accents — and we’re checking with ZTE to see whether this new announcement changes that situation.
Sadly, while ZTE says it will be adding voice control to more devices, it’s likely to only be introduced on new hardware in the future. The Star 2 uses the Audience eS704 voice processor to enable the feature, so it’s not just a case of a simple software update being sent out. For now, we’ll have to wait and see what ZTE has planned, and we’re told to expect more news in the coming months.
The voice control system isn’t the only new ZTE feature we’ve been impressed with recently. We tried out the retina security system on ZTE’s Grand S3 phone at Mobile World Congress, and found it to be an accurate, speedy way of unlocking a smartphone.
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