Ideas about how to use cell phone with voice-only

[ogopogo]

I recently started using a cell phone for navigation and calls while riding. Others must have mastered this, hoping to read some good tips.

So far I've set my (physical) home button to call up Google Assistant. With that I can command navigation with voice only. It's easy to start any app, but with the Naviator app I prefer, I'd still need a finger or stylus to proceed. But if I just say "navigate to ....," Google maps starts in nav mode with no more input required. I can stop Google navigation by voice, but not close the app, which doesn't really matter. I'm not keen on Google maps, but so far it's the easiest to use unless I want to change from map view to straight ahead view, which requires a finger. I see a conductive tip in my future, on my left glove index finger and thumb

My intercom answers call automatically. I can command a call to a contact easily with Google Assistant, which offers a chance for confirmation, but only with a finger as far as I know. So in case of misdials I set my power button to end calls. (Android, accessibility settings) Here's what happened yesterday, before I figured out some of these quirks... I asked Google Assistant to call "1 Barbara," which is how my wife's contact is entered so it's at the top of the list. Google called One something or other Heating in Santa Barbara. So helpful, and by the time I whipped my glove off and cancelled the call, it had rung once. A while later, the guy from Santa Barbara calls me and wants to know why he got a missed call from BC.

Music is easiest. My intercom will start and stop play so long as the music app has already been started, which I can do with Google Assistant. Oddly enough, pressing the button on the intercom used to start the app and start playing. But I changed apps and that changed the behavior. Navigator reads its direction alongside the music, while Google maps dims the music while reading directions. Both apps clip the first part of the directions if music isn't playing.

Google assistant can switch apps by voice.

Any tips about how to do this stuff appreciated.

 

[Mr_Canoehead]

Have you tried Tasker? It lets you program tasks in Android and you can make them conditional (if A exists then do B ). I could see that you could use it to fix some of those annoying issues.

I kinda gave up on getting things to work via voice on my Galaxy 5, but I just upgraded to an Galaxy 8+ and the integration of voice is much better - just had to dump the awful Bixby voice app.

 

[Uncle Hud]

Never got Siri to work within the Sena comm channel. She kept trying to make video calls to buddies from my Saudi days -- which killed all data and voice tranmissions until I could stop and manually reset the phone.

Bought some inexpensive techno-gloves. Problem solved. (Well, THAT problem got solved.)

 

[Bill Lumberg]

Siri worked fine for me with Nolan n-com and with the 595lm as a hub (with or without). I think iPhone is really all most will ever need for even distance riding. I had difficulty seeing the screen when it was sunny, but I got by just fine. The deal killer for me was when both my phones upgraded to iPhone 7, and I could no longer wake the phone with gloves. There is no physical home button and pilots gloves (that work with iPhone screens) won't wake a 7 up. Upside is they went water resistant. I've used a couple of different onboard maps programs on iPhone that negated the need for cellular service. Co-pilot worked great but there are others. I have had time to evaluate a nice motorcycle gps vs my longstanding iPhone setup for navs. I always have two different iPhones from different carriers. They've worked pretty well. The garmin is definitely better. It's like a huge touchscreen display like you'd find in a modern car, that handles everything from comms to nav to music. But given the price, I'm not sure the garmin does enough more or enough better.

 

[wfooshee]

The Garmin screens work with gloves.

I have an ancient StreetPilot 2820 that I still use as everything but a music player. (I don't listen to music on the bike. My helmet speakers are good for voice but not for music, and besides, as a musician, I find it distracting, taking my attention from the riding. I can't hear music without listening.) I can voice dial a contact or digits. The Garmin shows me the caller ID. Basically, the phone thinks the Garmin is the headset, and my headset thinks the Garmin is the phone. Added advantage, the phone can stay in my jacket pocket, in the top case, or plugged into the charger I have under the seat.

I can only imagine how much better integrated a modern GPS would be!

Instead of fighting so hard to find something that gives you non-touch access to Android apps, you ought to seriously look at a real GPS. You'll get true routing capability, by which I mean the ability to enter a start point that isn't "here." A Garmin can store several routes and let you select from them to navigate. You can build the routes on a full-size screen in the air conditioning (or heating) of your home or hotel and transfer it to the device. Since you can route from any start point rather than just your current location, you can plan day trips you might use when you get where you're going, and have them already set up and stored.

And your gloves will work the touch screen.

 

[Brodie]

I've been using Senic in the iPhone platform for my navigation. It allows me to quickly plot a route with up to 97 waypoints as well as a start point and end points of my choosing directly on my phone - on the side of the road if need be. It also is able to import GPX files from other software, and will track me as I ride. I get to save routes for future trips, and even share them with others on other platforms by exporting GPX files. It works with off line (local maps) so is not dependent on a cell signal. I've been running it since NAFO last year, and have been quite happy with it. With the iPhone 6s in a Water tight LifeProof case in the X mount, an the Sena Bluetooth, it's a pretty slick set up. When it's not raining I have the iPhone plugged in and charging.when the wet stuff starts falling I just unplug and shut the charge port door. Being plugged in and navigating it allows the phone to be unlocked and viewing its map at all times.

Senic, it's in the App Store.

Brodie

 

[ogopogo]

Never got Siri to work within the Sena comm channel. She kept trying to make video calls to buddies from my Saudi days -- which killed all data and voice tranmissions until I could stop and manually reset the phone.
Bought some inexpensive techno-gloves. Problem solved. (Well, THAT problem got solved.)

I'm going to check the local fabric store to see if they have any metallic thread. Apparently a few stitches in each fingertip should do the job. But I hope to do as much as possible with voice. I've already mastered phone, nav, email, texting, adjusting screen brightness and audio volume. That's about all I can imagine needing while riding. It's pretty slick to say "ok google, navigate to nearest gas station," and have it work entirely hands free. Time will tell which approaches are the most practical. For example, I can wake Google Assistant by saying "ok google" or by a long press of the home button.

 

[ogopogo]

Siri worked fine for me with Nolan n-com and with the 595lm as a hub (with or without). I think iPhone is really all most will ever need for even distance riding. I had difficulty seeing the screen when it was sunny, but I got by just fine. The deal killer for me was when both my phones upgraded to iPhone 7, and I could no longer wake the phone with gloves. There is no physical home button and pilots gloves (that work with iPhone screens) won't wake a 7 up. Upside is they went water resistant. I've used a couple of different onboard maps programs on iPhone that negated the need for cellular service. Co-pilot worked great but there are others. I have had time to evaluate a nice motorcycle gps vs my longstanding iPhone setup for navs. I always have two different iPhones from different carriers. They've worked pretty well. The garmin is definitely better. It's like a huge touchscreen display like you'd find in a modern car, that handles everything from comms to nav to music. But given the price, I'm not sure the garmin does enough more or enough better.

Which is best for displaying TPS reports?

 

[ogopogo]

Have you tried Tasker? It lets you program tasks in Android and you can make them conditional (if A exists then do B ). I could see that you could use it to fix some of those annoying issues.
I kinda gave up on getting things to work via voice on my Galaxy 5, but I just upgraded to an Galaxy 8+ and the integration of voice is much better - just had to dump the awful Bixby voice app.

I tried Tasker for something else a while back. Couldn't master it. But I can see how it might be just the thing to conquer some pesky quirk.

 

[ogopogo]

The Garmin screens work with gloves.
I have an ancient StreetPilot 2820 that I still use as everything but a music player. (I don't listen to music on the bike. My helmet speakers are good for voice but not for music, and besides, as a musician, I find it distracting, taking my attention from the riding. I can't hear music without listening.) I can voice dial a contact or digits. The Garmin shows me the caller ID. Basically, the phone thinks the Garmin is the headset, and my headset thinks the Garmin is the phone. Added advantage, the phone can stay in my jacket pocket, in the top case, or plugged into the charger I have under the seat.

I can only imagine how much better integrated a modern GPS would be!

Instead of fighting so hard to find something that gives you non-touch access to Android apps, you ought to seriously look at a real GPS. You'll get true routing capability, by which I mean the ability to enter a start point that isn't "here." A Garmin can store several routes and let you select from them to navigate. You can build the routes on a full-size screen in the air conditioning (or heating) of your home or hotel and transfer it to the device. Since you can route from any start point rather than just your current location, you can plan day trips you might use when you get where you're going, and have them already set up and stored.

And your gloves will work the touch screen.

I've owned a few Garmin units, and still have an older one in my car. It's a love-hate relationship though, and it has its own quirks. Besides that, I'm hoping to cure my addiction to gadget overload. My phone (Note 5) should be flexible enough to do what I want. Lots of apps that are very Garmin-like, work offline, etc. I know what you mean about the audio. Even with the Quiet Ride muffs it's a little less than a concert hall. Fortunately I can live with the audio quality.

 

[Uncle Hud]

ogopogo posted: Which is best for displaying TPS reports?

PLEASE, don't get him started ....

 

[Kneedragger55]

Guess I'm late to the show, but I never see which phone or Sena unit you're using?. I think that makes a big difference. With Sena 20S and Moto X (2nd gen) or Pixel I haven't really had any of the issues you speak of unless I'm paired to another intercom (wife); in which case I cannot verbally communicate with my phone through google, only Sena.

I'm guessing you got everything figured out, but when I press the "phone" button on the 20S, I can basically make any request I want, whether it's call, navigate, text, music, etc. Pixel has just now updated to where I can have it read text to me, which is pretty helpful even though there are apps for that. I used "Headphone SMS" before, and although it worked fine, it would not dim navigation or music sounds, which essentially made it useless. But if I know I got something, I can now ask google to read it for me. All call and text prompts have "are you sure" confirmations so I don't dial the boss on a sick day. I also use CoPilot for long trips, but it's WAY less handy than google for normal stuff, so I rarely use it. You also can't interact with it via google like normal google maps. I basically use Google for everything, which is pretty nice. I hate that Google still doesn't have a way to build and navigate custom routes, except through exporting a KML file into a route converter, and then using something like CoPilot to navigate it.

All that said, I have a Ram ball X Mount that is SUPER handy; and I found a nice spot on the left thumb of both gloves that I can click with. I didn't realize how nice this was until I rode the sport bike on a longer 200 miler this past weekend and needed that click at times.

EDIT: You can make a custom route in google maps by adding multiple way points to get the desired route. That said, I usually click my way to "continue" so that the navigation keeps running when I pass the rando house assigned to the way point I needed. On the sport bike this weekend, I had no click, and could not get Google to recognize "continue route" or anything of the like, so by the time the navigation started humming again, I had missed a turn and had to whip a Youwey.

 

[ogopogo]

Update.

I think I should call this quest "quirk city," because that what it seems like. Eventually maybe I'll compile a complete list of things I've found useful. But for now here are a couple I figured out the hard way.

Somewhere along the line while I was experimenting, a new music gremlin popped up. Sporadically, Samsung Music Player (bloatware) app was starting WHILE I was using any music app. Why not just use the Samsung app? Because the only thing it ever did was say "failed to play file." Of course it was uninstallable. I added Package Disabler Pro app to kill the Samsung dud, as well as a bunch of other bloatware that came on my phone. Now the play button on my intercom stops and starts music in whatever app is active, but only if I start the app and click play initially. As I mentioned previously, that button used to start a default app AND start playing.

I tried several nav apps, each with good points and bad. But nothing so far that's as slick as Google Maps in terms of hands-free. I found that I can get around some of its limited functionality by planning routes on a PC. Which is really nice for making custom routes by dragging the default routing to where you want it. But if you share the route, when you open it on the phone (or any device), the Google app ignores all the customization and simply chooses the shortest route from A to B. The workaround is to save the map and email the link to myself. Click on the link and the fully customized map will be there. Except.... if I'm not AT the start point of the route, then the start navigation button will not appear. So I had a nice map but no way to commence navigation. The fix was to change the route start point to my current position, and then the start button would appear. Anyway, mostly I only need here to there navigation, which Google is very good at so long as there's an Internet connection, or the area has been cached.

I'll keep looking for improvements, but for now I can make calls, listen to music, and commence navigation fairly well with voice alone. The wireless charger works as expected. It does fall behind about 5% per hour if the display is on full time at 100% brightness. (Note 5)

One other quirk is a bit funny. Very occasionally when I lean enough in a turn, the display orientation flips. Today it flipped upside down. No way was I leaned THAT far. It usually flips back on another lean or hard stop.

 

[Mr_Canoehead]

For managing google maps, I use myrouteapp.com It works pretty well and can create and read GPX's into Maps. I have been meaning to write up a review here.

I'm going to look at Package Disabler to kill the bloatware. On my old phone, I rooted it and deleted all that crap but every upgrade became a nightmare, so I am going to try to avoid that approach this time.

I used Custom Bixby Button app to thwart Samsung's Bixby and launch Google Assistant.

 

[eflyguy]

I use Siri with my Sena units without issue, but that doesn't help a 'droid user.

Conductive thread is available on ebay and amazon for a few bucks, I have used that in the past to help with things that voice alone couldn't do, but then I bought a pack of cheap, short stylus' (styli?) designed for phones and tablets. At first I simply tied one to the phone mount, then later attached with a magnet (x-mount has steel arms).

Since moving to the larger iPhone a couple of years ago, I needed a bigger Ram X mount, so that stylus is still attached to the old mount, wherever that may be - shows how much I miss it!