Google Mobile Apps Rival Apple, Vlingo

 

Vlingo's SuperDialer for Android application connects users to businesses on the Web. Vlingo's Android app also lets users speak commands to send text messages or call numbers and make reservations.

Siri's and Vlingo's apps are iterative in that they "got smarter" as people used the application, remembering spoken commands to make connections more quickly for users. It is not clear if Google's Voice Actions for Android offers the same level of intelligence.

One thing neither Siri nor Vlingo do is enable users to pipe messages from their computers to their mobile phones.

Google leveraged the cloud-to-device messaging API in Android 2.2 to build a Chrome browser extension that lets users send links, phone numbers, Google Maps and YouTube videos to their smartphones with a single click.

Users may download and install the Chrome to Phone extension, where it will sit in the Chrome browser toolbar. Users will also have to download the Chrome to Phone Android application from the Android Market.

Here's how it works (in English only for now). Suppose a user accesses, for example, a Google Map while surfing the Web from their desktop but doesn't have time to finish consuming it.

He or she can click the Chrome to Phone icon and push the map to their Motorola Droid, Droid 2 or other smartphone that supports Android 2.2. This also works for phone numbers and other information that users highlight on a Web page in Chrome.

This technology provides an easy information conduit between the user's desktop and his or her handset, something that was not possible before. It's also technology Apple may be forced to pay close attention to for its iPhone.

See the Chrome to Phone demo here. Also, see more information on Google's Voice for Actions and Chrome to Phone launch on TechMeme here.