Hands-on with Samsung Galaxy S4's S Voice Drive (pictures)
Samsung makes a variation on its voice assistant that's meant specifically for cars.
Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica Dolcourt is a passionate content strategist and veteran leader of CNET coverage. As Senior Director of Content Operations, she leads a number of teams, including Thought Leadership, Speed Desk and How-To. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on iPhone and Samsung. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds.
Jessica led CNET's How-To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones and home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick (UK).
Samsung launched the S Voice Drive app</>, debuting first on the Galaxy S4. A standalone app designed specifically for the automotive cabin, S Voice Drive uses voice commands to place calls, play music via Bluetooth, send messages, and, of course, take you where you want to go.
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Here it goes
I have typically found S Voice to be extremely slow and laggy. It's hard to gauge performance from my brief experience deep within a GPS-blocking building, but S Voice didn't feel as slow as in the past.
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Play that funky music, Galaxy
The first command I tried was to play a song. I didn't know what was preloaded onto this device, so I just cried out, "Play music!" And it did.
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Navigate me to coffee
I also made the most typical demand that I could, asking for the phone to take me to Starbucks. I wasn't able to vocally choose which location I wanted by street name, a drawback, but there may have been some other way to voice my preference. Instead, I tapped.
