Pat PilcherPAT PILCHER shares all as he uncovers a sneaky hack that transforms his Android phone into a working audio-to-text transcriber.
Perhaps the most significant selling point of Google’s flagship Pixel 4 Android phone is the bevvy of really nifty features baked in. One feature that stands heads and shoulders above the others is simply called ‘Recorder’.
This isn’t your garden-variety audio recording app. While it can record audio, it also makes use of machine learning to transcribe the audio recording in real-time – with surprisingly good levels of accuracy. Because Recorder uses AI for speech recognition, you don’t have to be online or use mobile data. This means you’re left with even more of your precious mobile data allowance for use on the important stuff.
Most useful of all, you can search recorded transcripts for particular combinations of words. This makes finding specific tracts of speech for quotes dead easy.
For students attending lectures, budding journalists doing interviews or jaded corporates stuck in meetings, the recorder app is insanely useful. If only it were available on phones other than the Pixel, which for reasons that no one can fathom, Google has decided not to sell in New Zealand.
There is good news, though. Because Recorder is not a Pixel exclusive app, it can be downloaded and installed on almost any Android phone running Android 9.0 or later. Bear in mind though, that you sideload apps at your own risk. Given the unpredictable nature of installing apps meant for one phone on another, your mileage will vary. While I got Recorder running fine on my Huawei P30 Pro, running Android 10, it refused to work on my Note 10+.
Here’s how to get Recorder in three easy steps:
Using your phone’s web browser, visit this address.
Download the APK, and your phone will prompt you to allow the download, as it is from an unknown source’ (that is, not from the Android app store).
Once the download completes, you’ll need to install it. Your phone will again prompt you to allow the installation to happen. Allow it and let the install occur.
Open and run Recorder!
Good luck!
