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One of the key features of Google Android is its voice recognition and text-to-speech engine which lets you talk to your phone and receive spoken replies. But if your phone’s voice has always sounded a bit… basic, the latest version of the Google Text-to-Speech app could improve things dramatically.
Instead of voice data files that are about 5MB, the new files can be nearly 300MB. It may be time to uninstall Ivona from my tablet.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- Google Android’s text-to-speech adds high quality voice support
Google is rolling out an updated version of its text-to-speech engine for android, adding support for additional voices, including high quality voices and support for male and female voice options. [Android Police] - Is Lenovo really working on a Miix 3 tablet already?
Just months after introducing the Miix 2 line of tablets, pictures of a model allegedly called the Miix 3 appeared online. I suspect these might just be different color options for the Miix 2 though. [red dot 21] - Evernote for Android gets handwriting recognition
On-screen keyboards are cool and all… but did you ever wish you could just jot notes on your phone using good old-fashioned handwriting? Evernote’s latest version of its Android app lets you do just that. [Evernote] - Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 ships March 9th
Got $650 in your pocket and a love of oversized Android tablets? Your wait is almost over. [Android Central] - Close-up shot of the new HTC One (M8) dual-camera lenses
Just in case you hadn’t seen one of the 1001 leaked images or videos, HTC’s upcoming flagship phone is expected to feature two cameras on the back. This picture gives us the best look at them we’ve seen so far. [@evleaks] - Voice dictation coming to Google Drive/Google Docs?
Google lets you talk to your phone or your web browser to search, ask questions, or launch apps. Soon you may also be able to dictate documents using Google Drive for your desktop or notebook. [+Marques Brownlee] - Bodhi Linux 3.0 Alpha released
Based on pre-release versions of Ubuntu 14.04 and Enlightenment E19, this Linux distro is like a tiny taste of the future. [Jeff Hoogland] - Samsung’s Android 4.4 KitKat software updates seem to kill the boostmark-benching CPU performance tweaks
Once upon a time someone at Samsung apparently thought it was a good idea to have their phones automatically boost performance when you were running popular benchmark apps to make their devices seem even faster than they were. It looks like they’ve had a change of heart. [Ars Technica] - Windows tablets could sell for as little as 10,000 rupees ($161) in India by mid-2014
In the US there are already plenty of cheap Windows Tablets available for under $300. Now that Microsoft is making it possible to run Windows on devices with even less storage and memory, prices could go even lower… at least in developing markets. [Times of India]
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Forget the Miix, Lenovo should be working on a new 8″ ThinkPad tablet with a stowable Wacom stylus.
I agree with you completely.
They might not do that, though, unless several of their
competitors do so. In the past, an active digitizer
has been part of their higher end ThinkPad products.
For example, there was a convertible ThinkPad
Edge for around $600-$800, but it didn’t have an
active digitizer (it used a capacitive stylus). The
Edge is one of their lower end lines, although sometimes
how they distribute features to segment models is confusing.
Then they should make a ThinkPad X8 for their “high end” Wacom one. I’m definitely not getting the current 8. I’d rather get the ASUS Vivotab Note 8.