Ready for a Samsung Galaxy S4  system dump and a chance to play with all of the goodies it contains? The folks over at SamMobile received one and have already begun pulling out apps for you to install. First up is the newest version of S Voice, the Siri-like voice actions application that was first introduced with the Galaxy S3. It’s still powered by Nuance’s Vlingo, so it’s certainly no Google Voice Search. But hey, if you like talking to your phone and found older versions of S Voice to be of use, feel free to give this new one a shot.

You’ll be able to voice dial, create memos, schedule appointments and tasks, set alarms or timers, ask “what the weather is like,” and find local listings to the best restaurants. From what I can tell, nothing has really changed, other than the S Voice icon. Pro S Voice users, feel free to tell me what I’m missing. 

These damn voice recognition apps, they just won’t go away. I’ll admit that they are probably more useful than 3D was, but how many people are going to find something like this useful on a daily or even hourly basis? Siri use has been hit or miss, so how will Samsung’s S Voice fair?

In our tests, it worked OK at times. For me personally though, I’m still struggling to find a way to fit it into my daily schedule, however, over time it could grow on me (assuming Samsung has plans to add in sports, movie and restaurant features). At this point, it’s only slightly better than some of the Android options and has a long way to go to become an ultra-powerful tool.

We took it for a spin below. Most of this video was featured in our full Galaxy S3 review, in case you missed it. 

Been thinking about turning your Galaxy Nexus into a Galaxy SIII recently? Developers over at XDA are on a mission to do just that, and with the release of these overlay files, I think they have completed the task. Once you flash the add-on files, you will have the sounds, wallpapers, applications, and other tidbits that seperate the SGSIII from every other phone on the planet. You will be able to utilize S-Voice, S-Memos, and some other neat little things Samsung have developed.

We made a quick walk through video to shortly show off the features, so check that out and if it looks like fun, follow the instructions down below to do the same. 

After the Galaxy SIII’s S Voice leaked over the weekend, user experiences were quickly halted as the servers that powered the service seemed to have been shut down or blocked. Some guessed that Samsung was behind it and sure enough today, they admitted that they were. Their reasoning? Well, because that version was only a test build and they did not want the world to assume it was the final product:

An initial test version of S Voice which was found online has been blocked as Samsung Electronics does not want consumers to judge the quality of the voice feature based on a test version. When the product is launched, users of GALAXY S III will be able to fully experience S Voice.

I’d say that makes a lot of sense. Usually these leaked ROMs are indeed test builds, so it’s hard to argue with that reasoning. Doesn’t part of you think that they did it so that one of the exclusive features to the GS3 was preserved, though? Can’t blame them for wanting that to happen either, especially knowing that the phone itself hasn’t even been released yet.

How has your experience been with S Voice? Game-changer or just another voice actions app?

Via:  The Verge

After enjoying Samsung’s new S Voice service that had been pulled from the Galaxy SIII, users started to notice a network error appear often enough to assume that Samsung had blocked the service. If you were running into this issue and can’t live without S Voice on your phone, there are a couple of fixes out there for you to try.

The first is a new .apk file. Simply uninstall the old one and install this one instead. You may even be able to install this if you aren’t rooted.

If that doesn’t work, there is another method that involves editing your build.prop to trick Samsung’s servers. You can find those instructions at the source link below.

Via:  XDA

Cheers Adam and Joey!

The S Voice app from the Galaxy SIII is available for any rooted device running Ice Cream Sandwich to try at this time, thanks to a leaked full ROM from yesterday. For those not familiar, this is Samsung’s attempt to put a Siri-like voice-actions system on their newest flagship device. Does it live up to the hype as being better than Siri or is it just another player in the game that already has too many? Let’s find out.