Voice Wars

Until recently, voice-recognition features on cell phones had only limited use. You recorded a name and later, if you said it exactly the way you did the first time, the phone might make the call. Now a new class of phones is speaker independent: anyone can say a name and, in theory, the phone will call. Sprint PCS sells three such phones — the Samsung A600 ($350), VGA1000 ($260) and new VI660 ($230). Verizon Wireless introduced similar voice recognition last fall in the Samsung i600 Smartphone ($500) and this week follows it up with the VX4500 from LG ($120). We programmed the four new models with identical phone books. The three Samsungs immediately displayed a knack for recognition. Hard consonants and names with several syllables seemed to be easy for all, but the LG alone struggled with short words like Dad or Jenn, both of which it mistook for Deanna.