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Google's new Pixel 11 voice typing turns rambling into clean text

Rambler, a new Gboard voice typing mode on the Pixel 11, adds punctuation and tidies speech into clean text. One reviewer says it beats standard dictation.

By the Dashline deskSource: How-To Geek
Google's new Pixel 11 voice typing turns rambling into clean text
Photo: How-To Geek

Google's Pixel 11 has a new voice typing mode called Rambler, and one reviewer says it made regular voice typing feel outdated. You talk, tap stop, and get clean, punctuated text. Rambler is on by default on the Pixel 11 series.

What it does

Rambler is part of Gboard, Google's keyboard app. Most voice typing shows words on screen as you speak. Rambler does not. It keeps listening until you tap the microphone button again, then shows the full text at once with punctuation and formatting.

The reviewer, Joe Fedewa of How-To Geek, found this strange at first and wasn't sure the phone could hear him. After a short adjustment, he compared it to having a personal transcriptionist.

How it compared

He tested Rambler on a Pixel 11 side by side with Gboard's standard voice typing on a Samsung Galaxy phone. Rambler turned his rambling into neat paragraphs that were nearly ready to send. Standard dictation produced a long stream of words with no punctuation and many mistakes.

Rambler was not perfect. It failed to understand the word "Rambler" when he said it.

Fixing text by talking

Editing also works by voice. After you finish speaking, tap the microphone again and describe the change you want. That means no moving the cursor around the text.

  • Ask it to rewrite the text in a friendlier tone.
  • Ask it to replace words with emoji.
  • Describe other changes in natural language.

What to watch out for

Google includes a warning. Your text, audio input and personal dictionary are temporarily processed by Google. The company also says Rambler can make mistakes, so check the text before sending. A sparkle icon on the keyboard's microphone shows Rambler is active.

Who can get it

Google announced Rambler at its I/O event in May and said it would reach all supported Pixel phones this year. It later said the feature is only for the Pixel 11 series, citing the Tensor G6 chip. The reviewer notes that people have already ported it to other phones. The old standard voice typing is still available on the Pixel 11. The material does not give a price or say whether Google plans to offer Rambler more widely.

The takeaway

If you dictate texts or emails on a Pixel 11, try Rambler, but read the result before you hit send because Google says it can make mistakes.

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