Ivona TTS engine and voices - Nook Touch General

I'm still trying to work up a way to get a decent TTS voice engine on the NST, but what I have come up with so far may be of some use for Glow4 users who wish to try out TTS in reader applications with the Bluetooth capability.
First, SVOX, which was my primary target (because the voices are many and really, really good) looks hopeless. The engine installs OK and works all the way down to Android 1.6, but the voices--even the free "trials"--require PlayStore access to complete installation and SVOX is long gone from the PlayStore, so the whole thing just hangs. I've tried various dubious schemes provided by some users, including the full set of voice data, but they don't work because the app can't be made to see that the data is already present. At least that's my experience.
But Ivona! Also gone from the PlayStore, also works down to at least Android 2.1, and I just tried it on KitKat and it works very well there.
Here is a link to what is called a "complete" collection of voices as well as the engine: https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/dnspl3/tts_ivona_tts_engine_collection_all_voices/. Follow the directions for installation.
Alas, there are too few voices, and both English voices are female. I have a preference for male readers (please don't flame me...I have heard some very well-read audiobooks done by women) which is why I initially struggled with SVOX. That said, the Kendra voice is light-years ahead of the default Pico TTS voice or even some of the early Google TTS voices.
On KitKat, the change in engines is easy. Go to your Accessibiliy settings (well, if this is non-existent on a Glow4, someone will have to be creative...) and select Ivona, then configure the voice. This should result in a system-wide change. To test, I installed AlReader and opened a book. When I opted for TTS, Kendra started right up.
Alas, for the NST/G the story does not yet have a happy ending. The tts-extended service app does allow you to "change" the default engine, setup the default voice, configure it, etc. BUT, the vast majority of apps ignore these settings and use the Pico TTS engine and the dreadful voices included with that. According to the SVOX FAQ site:
Several apps support changing voices on Android 2.1: Talk To Me Classic, PDF to Speech, Smarter Alarm, Google Translate, and others. These apps use the Extended TTS API. Apps that don’t support the Extended TTS API, such as Google Navigation, only let you change the voice on Android 2.2 and later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I take it from that there must be magic code which is not present in, for example, AlReader, which would allow it to use the Ivona voice. Apparently this problem went away with Android 2.2. Naturally.
So...I'm still poking around for a work-around.
Edit: Eureka! See post #2 below!

[NST/G] AlReader speaks!
I have finally managed to modify AlReader 1.77 to work with the Extended TTS API. This allows the settings app to select the default voice engine and voice, rather than simply defaulting to Pico TTS (which is what otherwise happens in Android 2.1). Having said that, I can't claim it's always pretty. It seems like the much more complex voice data puts a bit of a strain on the NST/G. Once it gets up a head of steam, it's not bad, but it is a little slow to start. It "may" help to play a section of a book using Pico or even espeak (see below) and then exit the reader, go back to the settings app and reselect the voice engine for one of the Ivona voices. I'm not quite sure yet, still playing around. Curious? There's a bit of work to do. Here's how:
1. Install svox and espeak voice data to your sdcard. Here is a direct link to the Eyes Free project code repository: https://storage.googleapis.com/goog...gle.com/eyes-free/voicedata-(espeak+svox).zip.
Unzip the file and copy the two folders of voice data to your sdcard. Without these files present, the next step will hang because it tries to download this data from the Android Market.
2. Install the TTS Service Extended app from the Eyes Free Project repository. Here's the link: https://storage.googleapis.com/goog.../code.google.com/eyes-free/tts_3.1_market.apk. This is essentially an Accessibility Settings app for TTS which includes a pre-Google Voice api to enable voice engine selection for apps that use the api. It also installs the espeak voice engine (worse than Pico, really).
If you run the TTS Service Extended app you will find the espeak voice engine as an option (on the second screen of settings). Pico is the default.
3. Download and install the Ivona voice engine and any voices you want as described in the first post. I have tried both Kendra and Amy. Localization doesn't seem to be an issue for this business, so you can select UK English even if your device is localized for the US. Or, there are a few other English voice options (Welsh, Australian). Knock yourself out!
4. Open the TTS Service Extended app and go to the end where you can select the Ivona voice engine, then configure the voice. Back on the first screen you can set the default engine (Ivona) and select the Language to use. Don't check the box to have this app override the settings of whatever app is using the TTS service.
5. Install the modified AlReader 1.77 (attached below). If you currently use AlReader, you will lose all your settings unless there is a way to back them up and even then they might not transfer since this modified app has a new signature. Not sure about that. You cannot install this modified version over your current version, but must uninstall the old version first. Caveat emptor, blah-blah-blah.
I never did find a way to get the TTS option into the slider menu system on AlReader, so I ended up assigning it to a tap on the header. But you can also use one of the 9 action tap zones to assign a spot to TTS.
I'd reboot. If you have some trouble initially, try changing the default engine back to Pico or even espeak, let it read a bit and then go back to Ivona. That may sort it. In the end, there may be a buffering issue because of the size of the Ivona language files. It's a miracle that I actually figured out how to do this by examining the smali files of the decompiled app and comparing them with the smali files of the TTS Service Extended app. Some pattern matching and lucky guesses eventually bore fruit.
I'm working on the FBReader TTS plugin next. It seems like it should be simpler, but it's not

Hi, I installed Ivona succesfully but today Amy stopped working...I saw a message on the app saying "This is not downloaded from Play Store" French is still working..i tried everything (install, reinstall, restart...) so I tried to follow your instructions to install the tts extended, but I don't find where to extract the first two folders...I would appreciate if you make it clear, Amy was amazing...
Thanks!

josh90sp said:
Hi, I installed Ivona succesfully but today Amy stopped working...I saw a message on the app saying "This is not downloaded from Play Store" French is still working..i tried everything (install, reinstall, restart...) so I tried to follow your instructions to install the tts extended, but I don't find where to extract the first two folders...I would appreciate if you make it clear, Amy was amazing...
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just so I am clear before I start in on this, are you talking about the NST? It sounds like you did not at first have the TTS Extended app installed. I don't see how the Ivona voices could work at all without that on the NST.

I was exprimenting with responsivevoice.org - with tablet other than nook
Idea was to send text to his server as a HTML with settings and get it back as an audio stream.
Now they need to create an account to get access - but using it will be free.

Ivona
"Just so I am clear before I start in on this, are you talking about the NST? It sounds like you did not at first have the TTS Extended app installed. I don't see how the Ivona voices could work at all without that on the NST"
Yes, I downloaded the ivona apk(one for each language) and then installed also the Ivona Text-to-Speech HQ apk. After, i placed the audio folder into Android/obb/ and opened the different applications, and signed the learning agreement.
So i could choose the Ivona engine from Settings menu and it worked, I was using Moon Reader and I used it for several days until yesterday, when the unpleasant Samsung english voice surprised me.
Since then, I am only allowd to listen in french voice, that's how I arrived here. I got the apk you were talking about and the two folders but I dont know where to put them in order to get the app to work. It says: downloading from play store and then it closes.
Thanks for your reply!

josh90sp said:
Yes, I downloaded the ivona apk(one for each language) and then installed also the Ivona Text-to-Speech HQ apk. After, i placed the audio folder into Android/obb/ and opened the different applications, and signed the learning agreement.
So i could choose the Ivona engine from Settings menu and it worked, I was using Moon Reader and I used it for several days until yesterday, when the unpleasant Samsung english voice surprised me.
Since then, I am only allowd to listen in french voice, that's how I arrived here. I got the apk you were talking about and the two folders but I dont know where to put them in order to get the app to work. It says: downloading from play store and then it closes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot reproduce what you are describing. I don't understand your comment about the "Samsung" voice. On the Nook Simple Touch there are only the Pico TTS voices possible (and only if you install the voice data--svox at a minimum). The only way to get anything else is to install the TTS Extended settings app and find (or create) an application that supports this interim step toward Google TTS (which arrived with Android 2.2). That's what I describe in the second post. First the svox voices must be installed. Then the TTS Extended app. Then the Ivona engine app is installed. Then the Ivona voice data is copied into the Android obb folder as described.
After this, the Ivona voice engine is selected in the TTS Extended app and a particular voice selected. Now, I have only used this a little and not over a period of several days, so maybe there is a trigger somewhere based on time, but my understanding of these voices is that even when available on the Market, they were free, so I'm not sure why there would be a time limit.
My NSTG where I have this installed does have rudimentary GApps. I'm not sure if that matters.

nmyshkin said:
I cannot reproduce what you are describing. I don't understand your comment about the "Samsung" voice. On the Nook Simple Touch there are only the Pico TTS voices possible (and only if you install the voice data--svox at a minimum). The only way to get anything else is to install the TTS Extended settings app and find (or create) an application that supports this interim step toward Google TTS (which arrived with Android 2.2). That's what I describe in the second post. First the svox voices must be installed. Then the TTS Extended app. Then the Ivona engine app is installed. Then the Ivona voice data is copied into the Android obb folder as described.
After this, the Ivona voice engine is selected in the TTS Extended app and a particular voice selected. Now, I have only used this a little and not over a period of several days, so maybe there is a trigger somewhere based on time, but my understanding of these voices is that even when available on the Market, they were free, so I'm not sure why there would be a time limit.
My NSTG where I have this installed does have rudimentary GApps. I'm not sure if that matters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. Sorry if I wasn't clear, and I think I jumped into the wrong post. I am currently using a smartphone, I was looking for any help for my problem.
I will try to reset the phone because I was very happy with those voices.
Thanks again!

Related

TTS Discussion

Hi. This thread is made to bring all text to speech related topics in one place.
Post all your TTS queries here.
my queries
Which is the best free TTS engine? and which is the best paid one?
Also which is the best ebook reader with tts support?
Is TTS very taxing on the cpu? Does it drain battery quite fast or not?
Please reply.
I have a problem with Pico TTS. If I uninstall it, on boot the home screen is unresponsive until I press the Home key or the Back key. I'm on stock ROM with franco v14.1 kernel.
The problem goes away if I reinstall Pico TTS.
How do I fix this?
Sent from my LG-P500
VTTS Text-To-Speech service https://vtts.xyz/home lets you instantly get a human sounding voiceover. It is super easy to use. Just paste the text you want to be transformed into our online text editor and let one of our A.I. engines check your text and will add all the punctuation marks needed to make the speech sound natural. You can preview each voice to hear and find the one that best fits your needs. Also, you can add breathing sounds, longer pauses in the speech and even choose the tone of the speech: Serious, Joyful or just normal. In less than 10 seconds you’ll have your voiceover generated. You can play the voiceover directly from VTTS to see if you like it or you want to try a different voice go to: https://vtts.xyz/home/tryme
Transform any text into speech, Male & Female voices included. The only text-to-speech engine that adds inflections in the voice. Over 30 human-sounding voices

[HOW TO] Install Google TTS (Text To Speech) Software Noob (Simple) Version

In this Noob series we will look at How to: Install Google Voice Search with Speech Recognition Software Noob (Simple) Edition.
If you have already followed our [HOW TO] Install ICS Google Applications and Google Voice Noob (Simple) Version
then you already have Google Voice Search with Speech Recognition Software. It was included with the google_apps package. You may ignore this tutorial.
Prerequisites:
1. How To: 7" Kindle Fire HD Root - Noob (Simple) Version http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2069117
Speech Recognition Step 1: Downloaded the correct package here: VoiceSearch
Speech Recognition Step 2: Extract VoiceSearch.zip to VoiceSearch on your Desktop
Speech Recognition Step 3: Copy libvoicesearch.so, UniversalSearch.apk and VoiceSearch.apk from the folder VoiceSearch to the Download folder on your Kindle Internal Drive
Speech Recognition Step 4: Using Root Explorer or ES File Explorer, copy /sdcard/download/libvoicesearch.so to /system/lib/libvoicesearch.so change the libvoicesearch.so permissions to Owner: Read Write Group: Read Others: Read
Speech Recognition Step 5: Using Root Explorer or ES File Explorer, copy /sdcard/UniversalSearch.apk to /system/app change the UniversalSearch.apk permissions to Owner: Read Write Group: Read Others: Read
Speech Recognition Step 6: Using Root Explorer, copy /sdcard/VoiceSearch.apk to /system/app change the VoiceSearch.apk permissions to Owner: Read Write Group: Read Others: Read
Speech Recognition Step 7: Reboot the Kindle
Speech Recognition Step 8: Now go into Apps, you will see a new Icon named Search. Launch Search, then click on the little Microphone, speak clearly (I used the word Test).
Speech Recognition Step 9: The application will next ask you which browser do you want to use to display the results (I use Opera).
Speech Recognition Step 10: Next Open up Google Play Store, Search for "AVC (Alice)", here is the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=yourapp24.android.tools.alice_lite&hl=en
Speech Recognition Step 11: Choose to Install AVC (Alice), Google Play Store will then Download and Install AVC (Alice). This is a full blown Speech Recognition Software, it will even have a conversation with you!
Speech Recognition Step 12: After you test the features we highly recommend that you upgrade to AVC (Alice) Pro, here is a link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=yourapp24.android.tools.aivc
Speech Recognition Step 13: Finally, using Google Play Search for Alarm Clock Plus, here is the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vp.alarmClockPlusDock
Speech Recognition Step 14: Choose to install Alarm Clock Plus, Google Play Store will then Download and Install Alarm Clock Plus
Then just like that, your new journey begins!
AVC (Alice) Pro Notes:
Alice is your personal assistant. Alice can help you do things quickly and easily.
With Alice, Android users get a helpful assistant at hand, which understands more than just commands.
You can have a conversation with Alice, give her instructions or ask for general terms of information.
Currently Alice can assist you with following functions:
Call, SMS, Email, Translation, Navigation, Alarm, Timer, App Launcher, Calculator, Facebook, Websearch, Weather, Search images.. and many many more.
You can also define your own commands with Alice and you have the opportunity to control devices which are accessible via a web interface.
Additional to the lite version: Calendar, Play Music / Videos and Receiver Control for Enigma2, Dialog-Mode, Listen in Background.
Alice knows a lot and is constantly learning new things, some examples:
- Do I need Sunglasses?
- How far is it from New York to San Fransisco?
- Director of Inception
- Zap to CNN
- Set up a meeting on monday at 12 o'clock coffee with Megan
- How does my day look on friday?
- Play Whitney Houston - Step by step
- Show me my pictures
- How's the weather?
- Call John Smith
- Send a message to John i'm coming later
- Wake me up in half an hour
- What is 5 + 7 * 3
- How many contacts do I have?
- How many songs do I have?
- Set Timer for 20 seconds
- What's the definition of aspirin
- Translate into german hello how are you
- Start WhatsApp
- What is 5 meters in miles
- Do you know Barack Obama
- Navigate me to the next McDonald's
- Make the light on
- Show me New York on the map
- How many contacts do i have?
- Post on Facebook what's up?
- Search for pizzeria in New York
- Who is Angela Merkel?
- Mute / Silent
- Navigate to New York
- What is the capital of Germany
- How many people live in Berlin?
- How old is Rihanna?
- When is her birthday?
- Show me a picture of Michael Jackson
- etc...
Many options! Design, voice, App2SD and more. Button Animation with Alpha!
Like us on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/YourApp24
Requirements: Google voice search (available in android market for free) or Vlingo recognition
Currently supported languages are German and English.
If you have problems with setting the alarm, you can download Alarm Clock Plus in the Market for free.
The Online-TTS is powered by iSpeech®
How do I use text-to-speech (“read to me”) feature on Kindle?
Kindle can read text to you. In books and periodicals where text-to-speech is enabled (publishers may opt-out of the feature) you can start, stop and pause either by going to the text settings screen by pressing “Aa” button or by using the hotkeys: Shift-Sym to start/stop and once it’s running – spacebar to pause/resume. In the text settings screen you can also configure speech speed and switch between male and female voice. To start reading from specific location, select the location with 5-way controller and start text-to-speech.
Awesome man, can text and call as well with GV?
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
Google Voice Search
DNak206 said:
Awesome man, can text and call as well with GV?
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That depends if the application calls to the VoiceSearch.apk module. Yes, it should work if the application was designed around the GV Module. Since we left everything intact, there is nothing to stop another application from calling and using the VoiceSearch.apk module. This is where people like you come in: Install it, then test applications that were design to work with Google Voice and reply back with the results.
If the application was not designed around the VoiceSearch.apk, there is little chance it will work. So, if you have a friend with an Android, ask them what applications use Google Voice. For example, I know Google Voice works with the VoiceSearch.apk module when you search in Google Voice.
Keep me posted, I will be interested in your feedback.
DNak206 said:
Awesome man, can text and call as well with GV?
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe there's confusion around what is being talked about here... This thread will help install voice enabled google search. Google Voice is a completely different product. See: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fapps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dcom.google.android.apps.googlevoice%26hl%3Den&ei=s7zeUIyOHuSviAKQj4DgBg&usg=AFQjCNFBqz0CSZ3-2SmgeVYgLuK6o5DyBA&sig2=AVh3iLZEvXgi9ik3LwPd2g
Google Voice Search
helix4u said:
I believe there's confusion around what is being talked about here... This thread will help install voice enabled google search. Google Voice is a completely different product. See: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CDQQFjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fplay.google.com%2Fstore%2Fapps%2Fdetails%3Fid%3Dcom.google.android.apps.googlevoice%26hl%3Den&ei=s7zeUIyOHuSviAKQj4DgBg&usg=AFQjCNFBqz0CSZ3-2SmgeVYgLuK6o5DyBA&sig2=AVh3iLZEvXgi9ik3LwPd2g
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct, there can be a bit of confusion. In our How to: Install
ICS Google Applications with Google Voice Search Noob (Easy) Version
we actually use the Talk.apk which Google Voice. The problem is that we
have not found a way (yet), to pip this over to applications like Voice Chatting. Although we are
working on it and should have this functional by February 2013. Either way, this step will be
a Prerequisite in getting the entire package to work properly. Start here, give us feedback.
Speech Recognition Software
To All,
We just ported over, AVC Alice, which is used like an assistant.
We will be adding the install notes in the next 30 minutes.
great!
Great Tutorial. I've got it installed and it works great. It crashes on my KFTT when I ask it to make a note for me. It tries to attach a file and fails to find an app I think.
AVIC (Artificial Intelligent Voice Control) (Alice) - Missing App
bbanghyung said:
Great Tutorial. I've got it installed and it works great. It crashes on my KFTT when I ask it to make a note for me. It tries to attach a file and fails to find an app I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bbanghyung,
Wow, I am sorry. I know I responded to this Thread 8 plus hours ago but my response never made it
into the XDA Thread. Hmmmm. Anyway, you nailed it on the head! The problem when you tell AVC Alice
to "Open Note", she should respond with her intended action. Now what she wants depends on the Launcher used.
In my case, I use Go Launcher EX and HD, she detects this and knows to call up "Go Note Widget", so this
needs to be installed and setup. Just take your time, go into Settings, you will see there is a lot to AVC.
So far how do you like AVC? Fun stuff and really helpful once it has been setup.
Anyone find a way to access the voice in/out settings? I have a couple of Ivona TTS voices I'd like to try on Alice.
TTS EXTENDED looked promising, but it either forced closed or froze. There might be a trick to it. Anyone?
Alice is great. I still can't get notes to work, it just says an error has occurred. I'll take a look at it again later though. Also alarm clock plus crashes every time I attempt to access it's settings. I have moved it to my system folder and restarted and still same problem occurs.
Sent from my KFTT using xda app-developers app
All Alice is giving me today is "an error has occurred." And just like a woman, she won't tell me what's wrong. And I apologised and everything...
Edit- It may have been the FB reader tts (deleted) or just low memory (I deleted some deadwood), but Alice & I seem to be on speaking terms again. Still hoping someone knows a way to access the tts-picking menus. I'd love to experiment w/voices. I tried several things last night, but no joy.
AVIC (Artificial Intelligent Voice Control) (Alice) - Settings
BELASCO said:
All Alice is giving me today is "an error has occurred." And just like a woman, she won't tell me what's wrong. And I apologised and everything...
Edit- It may have been the FB reader tts (deleted) or just low memory (I deleted some deadwood), but Alice & I seem to be on speaking terms again. Still hoping someone knows a way to access the tts-picking menus. I'd love to experiment w/voices. I tried several things last night, but no joy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BELASCO,
Yes AVIC Alice requires her space (memory) and if you do not give her space, she can become
snappy, kind of like PMS I guess. The message "an error has occurred" can be memory issues,
missing application (like if you say "Open Note", she requires Go Note), application conflict, etc.
We included this package since it is by far the best in the industry, like Dragon Naturally Speaking
is the best for a PC. I an excited to hear you are interested in experimenting with the voices. This
is exactly my goal, to improve the Kindle and spark enough interest to have others involved with
the development. Please send us responses as you work with AVC, we will be really interested
in your work. We have a few developers on site, so send me a reply with the details of your
interests with AVC and I will forward the request to my Senior Developers.
I was looking to change the KFHD's voice (and Alice's) to Ivona's Gwynneth or Amy, but found the usual Android menu lacking on the Kindle. Know of any way to get at it?
Menu Missing
BELASCO said:
I was looking to change the KFHD's voice (and Alice's) to Ivona's Gwynneth or Amy, but found the usual Android menu lacking on the Kindle. Know of any way to get at it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BELASCO,
When you have AVIC Alice opened, look down at the home task bar, between the < arrow and the Magnifying Glass (Search) is a
upside down U with 3 lines through it. When AVC is open, press on this upside down U with 3 lines through it and you should
see a menu pop up. Do you see the menu options - Help - Text Input - Manager - Settings?
The choices see on my KFHD are "male, female & system" in settings.
AVIC (Artificial Intelligent Voice Control) (Alice) - Settings
BELASCO said:
The choices see on my KFHD are "male, female & system" in settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BELASCO,
Yes, of course, you have the free version which is limited in the options. It is worth it, upgrade to Pro Version
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=yourapp24.android.tools.aivc
it costs a whopping $2.36 and adds an enormous number of features and options, including everything you
want to do. Play with voices, custom responses, etc. Over 100 options added to Pro. The Basic Free
Version is meant for testing and simple development to integrate AVIC Alice into other application, then
it is meant to be upgraded. Do the Upgrade, you will love it.
I HAVE the pro version. What menu items am I missing?
AVIC (Artificial Intelligent Voice Control) (Alice) - Settings
BELASCO said:
I HAVE the pro version. What menu items am I missing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BELASCO,
Go back to Google Play Store, search for AVC (Alice) Pro. Then click on the AVC (Alice) Pro Edition.
Does it show Installed? If yes, uninstall, reboot and reinstall. You are missing a lot:
Help > Help System
Text Input > Place to make Custom Voice Commands
Manager > Place to Manage Commands and Alias's to Contacts
Settings > Here you have about 80 Options inside of Settings
If you click on Settings > About us it will advise you of the Version.
Version 2.8. I did as you suggested reboot it all but it's made no difference in my menu. And it is the pro version. There are only 3 menu choices under voices.
AVIC (Artificial Intelligent Voice Control) (Alice) - Voice Settings
BELASCO said:
Version 2.8. I did as you suggested reboot it all but it's made no difference in my menu. And it is the pro version. There are only 3 menu choices under voices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BELASCO,
I am sorry, I misunderstood you, I thought you were saying the only options
you had were 3. My mistake. You are fine, I am wrong. Maybe if you go
to the developer site http://www.yourapp24.com/ they
may offer other voices. You may also email them at [email protected]

Develop - use speech to text engine on device

I'm building a WearOS app and would want to utilize on device speech to text convertor. Is there an example or api documentation I can refer. My search ends up with Gboard, which is not what I am looking for.
The app is something like virtual assistant and listens to user's voice.
You can try mp3 to text converter. It is cheap, fast, and easy to use. Also, you can choose between Automatic and Manual Transcription Services. It depends on your needs, budget, and time.
I registered finally! been reading this site for years. (for like ten phones worth).
I just wanted to ask, if the app is/went well? You did not get good response to your question, and well, that bummed me out. (nice try McLellan, but too little too late, truly).
I would assume you would want to utilize Google's speech to text engine, to get the text, and then script out what to do with the input yourself. I AM look for an opensource solution to G-S-to-T right now, myself....
-JJ
Yeah OK, 2019 was a triumphant year for people that use their voice to a keyboard: https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/16/google-open-sources-live-transcribes-speech-engine/
now I just gotta figure out why AICP is not, using it.....
So, I fixed my problem. Gboard, for whatever reason, had rendered itself useless. So using Aurora, I uninstalled, re-installed , configured, and now i can talk out my SMS text messages in public to all-who-can-hear-me's annoyance. And, I can still talk to the voices in my head and look sane too (and my phone don't even need to be on! just in my hand.) I have never tried WearOS, but, I might need to look that up, cuz I keep hearing about it. Good luck to you and such.
-JJ

TXZ and Toppal

Can anyone enlighten me on how TXZ and Toppal Service as found on some head units go together and exactly what they do? I know that Toppal is classed as 'Artificial Intelligence' by the sellers, and TXZ is started by Toppal ( Toppal goes under another name from a different seller). I believe TXZ is a text-to-speech app or something like, but 'TTS Tool' doesn't find it, only finds Google text-to-speech. There are very few references to TXZ found by a Google search other than utilities to work with files that have a .txz extension, which is nothing to do with this app.
So I deleted all of those apps but from what I have found the txz app was just to make top appear as an overlay and added the ability to click him to open a quick access voice prompt then the toppal apps just do most the hard work I guess but in reality I just deleted both of them and installed Google assistant has will do all the same stuff and has better voice recognition.
tay_a said:
So I deleted all of those apps but from what I have found the txz app was just to make top appear as an overlay and added the ability to click him to open a quick access voice prompt then the toppal apps just do most the hard work I guess but in reality I just deleted both of them and installed Google assistant has will do all the same stuff and has better voice recognition.
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Please. How did you uninstall TXZ? On my headunit it is a system app. My headunit is new. ADB and rooting do not work.

SM-G975F on Canadian Networks and Best ROM

Hi everyone. I am getting an SM-G975F with the Exynos chipset. I was planning on flashing LineageOS on it but now I have stumbled upon MicroG for LineageOS and been doing a little reading up on it. Now I am not clear what the best choice would be from a privacy perspective.
My intention with LineageOS was to *not* install GApps and see how much I can make do with the default apps (i.e. the stock mail app, etc.). If that is my intention, then am I better off with LineageOS? or MicroG?
I don't really care about Google Apps. The only thing I can see myself struggling without is without some kind of semi-decent mapping application like Google Maps. Is there a decent alternative? Do I need MicroG for that? If I do cave and find I need Google Maps, then would I be better off with MicroG or LineageOS?
Also, is there a way to get Office apps (Word, Excel, etc.) on LineageOS? Or is that undesirable from a privacy perspective?
Lastly, is there a way to enable LTE bands 29, 30, and 46 on the SM-G975F model? These are enabled on the SM-G975W (Canadian) model, and I will be using the phone in Canada on Bell Mobility.
If these questions have been asked/answered elsewhere, can you please just drop a link?
Thanks,
The Fish
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Moved to Questions and Answers.
Hi XDA’ers
I thought I would provide an update on my experience thus far with LineageOS 19.1 on my Exynos SM-G975F and answer some of my own questions which I asked above. Maybe some of this is obvious stuff or maybe not. Maybe it will be helpful for others in the future.
The operating system​I installed LineageOS from the official lineageos.org website. I did not install GApps so I am operating without the Google Play Services.
While Android itself is open source, the “Google Play Services” are not. They are a proprietary library from Google that are included with most (all?) Android devices and provide a number of services, APIs, etc. to apps running on Android. It's not part of the operating system per se, but lots of apps require it. So, I am operating with LineageOS only without the Google Play Services.
As a side note, there is an open-source re-implementation of Google Play Services called microG. MicroG cannot be installed as an app but needs to be installed as part of the OS. There are basically two flavors of LineageOS that include microG. They are “LineageOS for microG” and /e/OS. Both of these include microG. Pure LineageOS on its own however includes neither Google Play Services (unless you install GApps bundle) nor microG.
I was surprised how small the download file was for LineageOS. It weighs in at just 777 MB. I am used to Samsung firmware that weighs in at about 6 GB. So, this seemed really small to me.
Upon first boot up I was impressed with how clean the operating system was. Not only is there no bloatware but there is basically almost nothing at all. There is a dialer app, an SMS app, a camera app, a calculator, and a mini browser. There is also a local-only address book (no link to cloud services) and a local calendar app. The browser is fairly limited but gets the job done. Notably there isn’t a mail app (although I understand that there used to be one on previous versions of LineageOS). So, I set about seeing what I could do.
Apps​I installed the F-Droid app store but there are not any mainstream apps in there. Some of the apps in there might be good (I still need to explore it more) but I needed a solid email app. My company is on Office 365 so Outlook would be my first choice.
I stumbled upon APKPure and APKMirror. Both are very ad-filled spammy looking website that seems to be a web-based front end to the Google Play Store. Using these sites website, you can download official APKs for mainstream apps like Outlook, Word, Excel, etc. Be very careful where you click. Lots of the ads on the site include "Download Now" type buttons that you can click on thinking you are downloading an APK but instead are clicking on a spammy ad. So, navigate carefully on these sites.
I was able to install Word, Excel, OneDrive and Outlook. This was huge because I needed a decent mail app. Being able to install OneDrive meant I could now sync my camera with OneDrive. All the Microsoft apps worked flawlessly on LineageOS even without Google Play Services. The one thing I noticed however is that Outlook does not give me notifications when I get a new email. I have to go into Outlook and swipe down to refresh. I believe this is due to the lack of Google Play Services. Maybe using microG would eliminate this problem (not sure). I can live with this for now but would obviously like a way to resolve it.
Installing Outlook synced the local Calendar and Contacts apps with my Outlook contacts and calendar so that worked great.
Bible Apps​Both the Olive Tree Bible Reader app and the ESV Bible app installed no problem from APKPure. Both of these are offline Bible apps (they download the whole Bible and can be used offline). I like Olive Tree because I have several translations (including the SBLGNT) and Olive Tree lets me switch between them. The ESV app is great because they have recordings and so you can hear Kristyn Getty or David Cochran Heath read the Bible to you in natural non-synthetic voices.
Signal​I installed Signal directly from their website (they offer the APK directly on their website). Signal detects that it is being installed on a device without Google Play Services and so registers itself as a service and consequently I do get notifications for new Signal messages (unlike Outlook). I wonder if there is some way to make Outlook run the same way. I tried installing Microsoft Teams which we use at work but don't get any notifications when people send me messages. So that makes Teams pretty useless.
Browser​The build-in default browser renders HTML/CSS just fine but is very limited in terms of features. When you install a progressive web app as an app on the home screen it works but launches in the full browser with the address bar visible which breaks the app-like experiance which is really the whole point of a PWA. So I set about trying to fix this. To my surprise I was able to install Microsoft Edge without ANY issues whatsoever. It works great and web apps pin to the home screen the way they should (and open as apps). So I made Edge my default browser.
Keyboards​The default keyboard in LineageOS does not have stickers or GIFs. That is as it should be I think for a default built-in keyboard. But it does not support swipe typing either. This surprised me. It seemed like a huge step backwards to have to tap out every letter with my thumbs. Do people still type like that on their phones?!?! Oh, the humanity!
There is a microphone icon at the top of the keyboard for speech-to-text transcription. I used this all the time before on my Samsung S8+. But tapping it did nothing. Apparently I am missing a speech-to-text engine. This surprised be because Outlook has dictation built-in using Microsoft's engines and works well. But it only works in Outlook and not universally throughout the phone as it would if it was built-in on the keyboard.
I installed the Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard and that gave me stickers, GIFs and... swipe typing! Woo Hoo! But I was really hoping it would give me speech-to-text since I dictate almost all of my text messages. I figured it would use Microsoft's engine like Outlook does since it was a Microsoft app. But tapping the microphone on the SwiftKey keyboard promptly tells me that I need to download "Google Voice Search".
Microsoft Authenticator​I installed the Microsoft Authenticator app for 2FA and it installed just fine. But it was impossible to add any accounts by scanning the QR codes. I think this is due to notifications not working properly, probably also due to the lack of Google Play Services or microG.
Outstanding Issues​So, the outstanding issues I have right now are:
Microsoft Authenticator is non-usable. This is a huge issue for me
No speech-to-text transcription from keyboard
No notifications in Microsoft Teams
No notifications in Microsoft Outlook (this I can live with).
What I Like​What I like about LineageOS is the clean, minimalistic design of the operating system. I am not pushed into any particular "ecosystem" be it Google, Samsung, Microsoft or Apple. I can decide which ecosystem I want to participate in and to which extent. For example, I could download Outlook without downloading Edge and I don't need to backup my photos to OneDrive unless I want to. You can do this, to some extent, with OEM versions of Android, but it requires ignoring and disabling things. Come to think of it, that is really what an operating system should be - a platform for running apps, not an on-ramp into an ecosystem.
What irritates me is that not all apps work as they should. It seems like Google Play Services is an important part of the mix and many apps fail to function properly without it. Signal seems like one exception. It detects that you are not using Google Play Services and adapts the functioning the app accordingly.
Just a minor update. I tried several diffrent TTS engines (Pico TTS, Flite TTS, RHVoice) and none of these gave me text typing.
I ended up installing Speech Services by Google and it worked. I was surprised that it worked considering I do not have GApps (and thus no Google Play Services) and no microG on my phone.
So, I guess I can live with a little Google on my phone, but I would have preferred to find an open-source alternative or, barring that, a Microsoft alternative.

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