Review: Nuance Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium 13

Introduction and setupReviewers of speech recognition software often publish the unedited transcripts of their dictation sessions, with predictably hilarious consequences. Unfortunately for us Dragon 13 doesn't want to play that game: in normal circumstances with a good quality microphone it performed flawlessly, converting long texts into type without significant errors. The days when voice recognition software made irritating errors such as hearing "new paragraph" as "uterus" – hello, IBM ViaVoice! – are clearly long gone.Dragon NaturallySpeaking Premium comes in three versions: the standard version at £139.99, and the Wireless version, which bundles a Bluetooth headset at £199.99. There's also a Mobile version, which includes a Philips Digital Voice Recorder you can use to dictate when you're out and about before transferring the recordings to Dragon for processing. That's £199.99, too.Dragon is designed to do two things: to turn your speech into text in your various applications, and to enable you to control your computer using only your voice. You can dictate directly into Office (and OpenOffice) applications or into desktop or web-based email, get Dragon to post to social networks, search the web with voice commands and schedule calendar appointments without lifting a finger – and unlike many voice recognition programs, you don't necessarily need to wear a noise-cancelling headset to use it. Dragon supports a PC's built-in microphone and its own Dragon Remote Microphone smartphone app (not to be confused with the Dragon NaturallySpeaking app, which is a standalone product for on-the-go dictation), which connects via Bonjour to enable the use of a smartphone as a microphone. You can also use your phone's native recording app to record notes and ideas when you're out and about and then put them into Dragon when you get back to the office. However, if you work in a noisy environment a headset with a noise-cancelling mic is still the most effective option.Installation and getting startedWe encountered major problems installing Dragon on our previously problem-free 64-bit Windows 8.1 PC – it failed to install a required MSXML component, an issue that led to many frustrating and unsuccessful hours trying to identify and repair the problem. In the end we gave up, wiping our PC, installing a clean build of Windows 8.0 and then upgrading to 8.1. That solved our installation problems, but it seems we're not the only ones to encounter issues with Dragon's installer.Once we installed the program, we were pleasantly surprised: Dragon dispenses with the long and tedious training sessions of old (although they're still there if you have the time and patience). There's just a short microphone check and then you can start dictating via the auto-hiding DragonBar that appears at the top of the screen. This enables you to turn the microphone on and off, and to access Dragon's various features and settings.On Windows 8, Dragon works in both desktop and Metro/Modern mode with a few exceptions, so for example the web component works in Internet Explorer in Metro/Modern mode, but not in Chrome or Firefox.Performance and featuresNuance says that this version offers 15% more accuracy than version 12, and out of the box its recognition accuracy is truly impressive. We dictated all kinds of business documents quietly and quickly without encountering many errors, and the software coped easily with my fairly unusual accent. The errors that did occur were largely due to our pronunciation and heavy cold, and correcting them was a simple and quick process. Performance was good too: not as fast as our flying fingers, which have been tapping computer keyboards for decades, but more than fast enough to delight anyone whose typing is closer to hunting and pecking than touch typing. Accuracy was poorer using Nuance's remote microphone app on our smartphone, although we still achieved accuracy rates higher than 90%. As you might expect, processing recorded dictation depends largely on sound quality and background noise – speech recorded in a quiet office was transcribed faithfully but speech recorded in a noisy car was much patchier.The more you use the program the more accurate it becomes, and you can help personalise the vocabulary by getting Dragon to scan existing documents or sent emails, including web-based email services such as Gmail or Outlook.com. That latter option can take a fairly long time if, like us, your sent folders are enormous, but it does enable you to add contacts to the vocabulary and train any unusual pronunciations. You can also set formatting as you dictate, so for example in Word you can say "set font size to 18 points" and bold or underline key words or phrases. You can also create custom snippets for frequently used items such as addresses, company logos, directions and so on. Navigating by voiceSystem navigation commands generally work well. "Open My Documents" opens the appropriate folder; "Change screen resolution" opens the appropriate Control Panel page; "Maximise window" does what you say, and so on. Internet Explorer and Firefox integration is particularly good. "Launch Internet Explorer", "Go to the address bar", "w w w techradar dot com", "click go", "scroll down", all perform exactly as you'd hope, as does "open a new tab" and other navigational commands. Occasionally, however, Dragon appears to stop listening: for example, "Search for" commands often produced repeated "say that again" messages, even with simple search terms.It's worth noting that Dragon's capabilities differ between web browsers, so for example Chrome doesn't support commands such as "go to Address Bar" or "refresh page"; instead, you'll have to use global commands such as "move mouse upper left" and "press F5".The same global commands enable you to use Dragon to navigate in apps it doesn't know about. Saying "mousegrid" divides the screen into nine numbered boxes – choosing one divides that into nine, then choosing one of those divides it yet again, and you can then say "click" or "double click" to select an option or button. It takes a bit of getting used to but once you've got the hang of things, it's surprisingly quick.VerdictWe likedDragon's accuracy was already very impressive and it's better still with this release. It supports more ways to input audio – including laptops' built-in microphones – and requires considerably less training than before. The option to use a smartphone as a remote mic or recording device is useful too.We dislikedNavigating by voice can be a little hit and miss, and from time to time Dragon appeared to be thinking of something instead of listening to us. Some of the browser features don't work in Chrome, and we encountered nasty installation problems.Final verdictIf you've been disappointed by voice recognition in the past, we think you'll be pleasantly surprised by how accurate Dragon is – even if you don't train it. If you aren't a flying-fingered touch typist, need to record audio on the move or just like pacing up and down with a digital voice recorder or smartphone instead of sitting at a keyboard, Dragon does an excellent job of turning your speech into text. It's also very useful for anybody with repetitive strain injuries or mobility issues that make keyboards and mice impractical or uncomfortable.

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