Samsung Notes vs. OneNote: Voice

Speech to Text tools have been around for years. I not so fondly recall my early days of trying to use Dragon Naturally Speaking on my PC to offset my slowish typing speed when it came to writing and note taking. Now with the power of smartphones, we have options in our pocket we may never have considered. Let's focus on two on the Android platform: Samsung Notes and OneNote.

When using Samsung Notes on your phone, you have the option to do voice recordings and have them stored in a note. This is accessed either from within a note or from the widget which will start a blank note and add the recording. The recording is an audio file you can access from Samsung Notes on either your phone, tablet, or PC (as long as it's a Samsung device.)

Using OneNote, you can record either an audio file or use the Dictate function to convert your voice to text on the fly. From a productivity and practicality standpoint, this is the better option. Not only can you see what you said during the real time voice to text conversion, but this content is now searchable within OneNote.

That said, you can create a similar effect in Samsung Notes using either the Google Keyboard or the Samsung Keyboard, both of which allow you to record voice to text in any app.

Winner: It depends on your preference.  As a OneNote user I use the Dictation mode far more than the built-in keyboard function. As a Samsung Notes user, the voice keyboard option is a great way to provide a similar user experience and end result.

Regardless of the tool or the path, the process of voice to text can be an excellent way to efficiently capture thoughts and ideas into both tools for later searching and reference.

If you're an iOS user, what do you use for Speech to Text and how well does it work for you? Let me know in the comments.