Vlingo is a step towards the Voice Recognition application that we have all wished the inbuilt Application would be for a very long time.

I first came across Vlingo back in March when they were BETA testing the S60v3.1 version of the application, and was very impressed at the time. The only reason I stopped using it was that I changed my phone from a Nokia N95 8GB (S60v3.1) to a Nokia N97 (S60v5).A week or two ago I found out that the Nokia 5800 version of Vlingo worked on the N97 providing the wonders that are Vlingo with a tough interface.

As the Nokia 5800 and N97 share the same basic OS (S60v5) the N97 widget was already embedded in the 5800 version. Now we are lucky enough to have a fully supported N97 version of Vlingo downloadable from the Vlingo Website . Just point your phone at the website and click on the download link.

Vlingo replaces the standard Nokia Voice Recognition application, providing voice controlled application opening, Voice dialling, as well as Voice based Searching, Note, SMS and e-mail creation.

There are two versions of Vlingo:

• Standard - Free version - Providing a maximum of 5 voice-based SMS or e-mail messages
• Plus - Paid for - Providing unlimited voice-based SMS or e-mail messages

Although Vlingo Plus is paid for £12.99 does not appear excessive as a one-off payment.

While we're talking about money I should point out that Vlingo uses your data connection to aid in improving Voice Recognition. The amount of data used is minimal, but means that you need a data plan on your mobile contract to best use Vlingo.

One of it's most useful features for me is it's ability to open More applications than the default application can. For me this was vital on my N95 8GB as it enabled the opening of Nokia Maps post Phone call without having to hunt out it's application icon. Some would say this is not as much of an issue on the N97 as the Shortcut bar provides a larger icon than that of the N95 8GB Standby Screen, but Vlingo for N97 also provide a dedicated Homescreen Widget, providing a larger shortcut button.

There are a few issues and suggestions I have for the future development of Vlingo including the following:

• Auto-start - This feature was in the BETA versions of the S60v3 version and speeds up the opening of Vlingo. Presently the first opening of Vlingo takes a few seconds, whereas once running in the background it opens instantly.
• Call Button Long Press - As Vlingo Standard is going to be provided within the v20 N97 FW update it would be nice to replace the Call Button Long press activation of the default Nokia Voice Recognition software with Vlingo.
• Homescreen Widget Expansion - Presently the Homescreen Widget is just a larger shortcut button to open Vlingo. Although this is useful as it eases the opening of Vlingo when not paying as much attention to the phone screen, you are left feeling it could do more. Whereas the Non-touch interface Vlingo version provides One-Click Voice Recognition, the touch interface requires the user to Click on the shortcut and then on a large Hold & Speak" button. The Homescreen Widget could be modified to either:
  • Activate Voice Recognition for a set period after pressing the Widget. This could enable the application to either open an application or initiate Vlingo for note, SMS or e-mail creation.
  • Split the Widget in half with one half opening Vlingo and the other half replicating the previous option.

After discussing these ideas with the Vlingo team I have found the them eager to here ideas for future improvments/expansions of the product.

Now it's over to you. The team have provided 5 Vlingo Plus VIP Licenses to give away to the best suggestions for the future development of Vlingo for Nokia.

All suggestions must be posted on this arcticle.

Closing date for suggestions is 1st November 2009.