Database Develop

[Q] Google Nav: no turn-by-turn or Ivona voices

On my Bionic, I used to be able to use Google Nav with turn-by-turn instructions & Ivona voice. For the past few months, I can't get either to work with it. I've just been using Waze since it does give TBT, but I miss the Ivona voices.
I've done google searches on both these problems, and turned up nothing useful.
I've deleted cache, un-installed & re-installed Ivona, done the whole "set the default/play the example/reset the default" thing, un-installed Google Maps updates, re-installed the updates, gone into settings & disabled Google voice...nothing seems to work.
Does anyone know of a way to get one or both of these things to work??? It's making me nuts.
Or, failing that, any suggestions for a good GPS program that WILL let me use the Ivona voices? I miss the Aussie girl telling me where to go.
On JB, rooted. No special ROMs but would GLADLY put one on if it would solve the problem.

I have had the issue of no voice during navigation once in a while. I generally keep the voice on mute, but sometimes when I turn it on, I don't get the voice nav. If I keep it set for voice (not muted) and restart the phone, I get the voice back. I don't know anything about Ivona voice, though.

Groid said:
I have had the issue of no voice during navigation once in a while. I generally keep the voice on mute, but sometimes when I turn it on, I don't get the voice nav. If I keep it set for voice (not muted) and restart the phone, I get the voice back. I don't know anything about Ivona voice, though.
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Click to collapse
When this happens, do you not get any voice, or do you not get turn-by-turn? I always get a voice, just not the one I want and not as detailed as I want.

Typically I get the normal voice nav, but on a few occasions I would get no voice. A restart would bring it back. Apps like Google Now still 'talk' even when voice nav is silent. Have you checked with the Ivona dev or website?

Only the IVONA US voice (Kendra) will work for me in Google Navigation; not Ivona UK (Amy) or Australia (Nicole).
Even though Amy is selected as default, Kendra's voice is used in Google Nav. However Amy's voice plays correctly in all other apps.

Interesting. I'll give her a try!

Just an update, if it can help anyone
I'm going to follow-up on this, in case anyone was using Ivona & gave up.
With the latest Google Maps update (the one that removes the Navigation icon), I can use Ivona...mostly. Maps starts navigation with the standard voice, then quickly switches to my Ivona (Aussie Nicole, in my case) & gives turn-by-turn. If I re-route, then the standard voice comes back until it figures out where it wants me to go & it's back to Ivona.
So...if you had Ivona, dumped it because it wouldn't work or could only get one voice to work, try it again. It seems to be working again.

If It Helps Anyone...
I had this problem on my Note 2 (with and without cyanogen) - it would not use Ivona in google maps tts output, no matter how many settings I tinkered with. The fix for this was to download an app to force locale settings - MoreLocale2 and Set Locale and Language from the Google play store both worked perfectly when I set them to proper "English - United States".

Interesting. I use IVONA for a while, but nowadays I switched to Google's TTS (not Pico, the new Google one) that arguably sounds as good as IVONA.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.tts

Has anyone been able to get offline voice recognition working for keyboard?

With Tablet Talk working for full blown sms on the gear, the need to be able to reply to texts on the gear becomes more important. For those of us that can't use s-voice, google voice recognition works amazingly well but requires battery hogging bluetooth tethering.
Has anyone been able to get offline google voice recognition working?

crutzulee said:
With Tablet Talk working for full blown sms on the gear, the need to be able to reply to texts on the gear becomes more important. For those of us that can't use s-voice, google voice recognition works amazingly well but requires battery hogging bluetooth tethering.
Has anyone been able to get offline google voice recognition working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, there is a thread here on that. Pretty sure it involves copying downloaded offline phone off phone to watch

Holy Shaving Cream!! This works...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2549644
I now have a complete sms solution on the gear! I can easily receive texts and reply via voice commands without bluetooth tethering!

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2559197

Brendo said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2559197
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also working on a round inflatable tube that a carriage can be placed upon to better move people about!
I really did search before posting...lol..

OK, I'll go one better....When added to the Google Now Launcher, we can now have totally hands free phone use. Simply getsure to look at your watch and say "OK Google....Call MOM" ...and your watch will call your mother! :laugh:

crutzulee said:
OK, I'll go one better....When added to the Google Now Launcher, we can now have totally hands free phone use. Simply getsure to look at your watch and say "OK Google....Call MOM" ...and your watch will call your mother! :laugh:
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Click to collapse
Curious what's your battery life like with that setup
Sent from my Lenovo K900 using Tapatalk

animatechnica said:
Curious what's your battery life like with that setup
Sent from my Lenovo K900 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just set it up an hour ago... I have a full day at work tomorrow so I'll test it then and post results...
Everyday since I've had the watch I have added some new functionality. I've been amazed at how little battery life has been impacted since I started toggling bluetooth tethering which seems to be the largest drainer of battery on my setup.
I'm on the latest Null ROM. So far I have my gear connected via bluetooth to the original galxy note. I have the wake gesture set to on so that the Gear actually functions as watch. I have bluetooth tethering toggled on/off via a widget. I have Tablet Talk setup so that I can send and receive texts. I have offline voice recognition setup so that I can use voice typing even when not connected to the internet ( so that I can actually reply to texts without having to use the tiny keyboard ).
With this setup, I still have about 50% battery life after an 18 hour day. I've now added the Google Now Launcher in order to use the "OK GOOGLE" voice commands..We'll see tomorrow how much of an effect this has on battery. :laugh:

@crultzulee I'm glad to see you got the gear up and running on the og note!

How did you guys get Voice Search installed into your Gear in the first place?

klau1 said:
How did you guys get Voice Search installed into your Gear in the first place?
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First, make a distinction between S-voice and Google Now/Search Voice recognition. S-voice is a Samsung proprietary solution that requires a touchwiz framework. I believe that this requires S-voice (and thus touchwiz) to be enabled on both devices (phone and Gear).
What I have running is the Google Now/Search voice regonition. The option for Google Now is provided in the Aroma installer for Null Rom. That gets you basic functionality.
I have chosen to sideload the most recent apk for Google Search and the Google Now Launcher for greater functionality. You should also download the offline language pack as per the link provided above. This allows you to use voice search and voice dictation in any app that uses the google keyboard (like Tablet Talk).

440bro said:
@crultzulee I'm glad to see you got the gear up and running on the og note!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With the information provided here, I have turned this impulse buy "toy" into something that is becoming more and more integrated into my daily life.

crutzulee said:
First, make a distinction between S-voice and Google Now/Search Voice recognition. S-voice is a Samsung proprietary solution that requires a touchwiz framework. I believe that this requires S-voice (and thus touchwiz) to be enabled on both devices (phone and Gear).
What I have running is the Google Now/Search voice regonition. The option for Google Now is provided in the Aroma installer for Null Rom. That gets you basic functionality.
I have chosen to sideload the most recent apk for Google Search and the Google Now Launcher for greater functionality. You should also download the offline language pack as per the link provided above. This allows you to use voice search and voice dictation in any app that uses the google keyboard (like Tablet Talk).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried this before with the en-US bit and permissions and it didn't work. When pressing Google to enter Google Now and hitting voice Icon, it says something about no network available. Do I need this newer Google Search app you said you sideloaded? If so where/how to obtain it? I'm not worried about the Launcher at this moment, just want the Google Now Voice to work without being tethered to the internet. :angel:

lazer9 said:
Tried this before with the en-US bit and permissions and it didn't work. When pressing Google to enter Google Now and hitting voice Icon, it says something about no network available. Do I need this newer Google Search app you said you sideloaded? If so where/how to obtain it? I'm not worried about the Launcher at this moment, just want the Google Now Voice to work without being tethered to the internet. :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google now and Google Dictation are 2 different things.
You can use google dictation if you get the language offline.
Eg you can use the voice key on the keyboard offline to work for apps to handle dictation.
The fancier stuff needs Google Now to be connected to the internet. If you want to use "Ok Google, call mom" that requires Google Now to connect to the net for the contextual recognition.
I have the older setup so I have to press a button for google Now to work but it works to take notes, create reminders and phone calling.
You can use Wondershare to side load the Google Now launcher and the new Voice search and anything else you want.

lazer9 said:
Tried this before with the en-US bit and permissions and it didn't work. When pressing Google to enter Google Now and hitting voice Icon, it says something about no network available. Do I need this newer Google Search app you said you sideloaded? If so where/how to obtain it? I'm not worried about the Launcher at this moment, just want the Google Now Voice to work without being tethered to the internet. :angel:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about the en-US folder that is linked to in Brendo link, but if you follow the thread in my link, I was able to get that version working after setting the permissions wit es-file explorer..

tebore said:
Google now and Google Dictation are 2 different things.
You can use google dictation if you get the language offline.
Eg you can use the voice key on the keyboard offline to work for apps to handle dictation.
The fancier stuff needs Google Now to be connected to the internet. If you want to use "Ok Google, call mom" that requires Google Now to connect to the net for the contextual recognition.
I have the older setup so I have to press a button for google Now to work but it works to take notes, create reminders and phone calling.
You can use Wondershare to side load the Google Now launcher and the new Voice search and anything else you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the Google Now functions require internet connection. One notable exception is the one you mentioned. With the offline voice recognition enabled, you can actually say " OK Google...call mom" and the gear will call your mother through your phone WITHOUT bluetooth tehering to the internet enabled...We can't yet get google now to send texts because we are relyin on a third party app (tablet talk) to do this.

Ok, I'm beginning to half understand this. Pardon me because I have a bad fault of overthinking things.
The bit about using the voice button on the keyboard has me stumped. I don't have this as I use Flesky as I hear many others use on the gear or am I missing a setting within it somewhere?
And I must have misunderstood one of @crutzulee 's posts somewhere, but I swore he said he can simply use dictation - as in voice talk to Google Now Search OFFLINE (non-tethered) within it's app and say "Call Mom", ect...

OK, just as there needs to be a distinction between S-voice and Google Voice recognition there needs to be a distinction between bluetooth connection and bluetooth internet tethering. The former just means that the Gear is connected to the phone and can have access to its basic telephone functions. The latter refers to sharing your phones full blown internet connection so that apps on the gear can use the internet as they would on any android device.
Google search is an app/widget that allows one to search the internet and ALSO has some local functionality built in. It's widget has a microphone option that allows the Gear to "listen" to your query. It can then send the captured voice to googles servers over the internet for recognition and processing of your request. If you have the language pack downloaded locally, then it can do the recognition part on the device without uploading to google's servers. If your request is something that the device can do locally , it will. If it can't do that function locally, you will get a message saying that it cannot reach google's servers or something to that effect.
In the instance where you say "OK Google...Call mom" , google search will process your input locally (provided you have the offline language pack installed) . As this function does not require an internet connection and can be processed locally (provided you have the gear connected via bluetooth), the gear will open it's phone app and place your call (provided that you have a contact called "mom" with an associated phone number).

I should clarify, that if you only install the google search app/widget with the offline language pack, you will have to manually press on the microphone on the widget to get it to listen to you.
The advantage of having the Google Now Launcher, is that the mic is always listening for the words "OK Google" when you are on any of the launcher's home page. Thus you can place a phone call with a simple flick of your wrist, and utterance of the "OK Google...call Mom" command. All this WITHOUT be tethered to the internet.
I am running my Gear this way today to test for battery drain. I have sent and received a few phone calls and have noticed only a slight increase in battery drain over my use yesterday which was setup in a similiar way with the exception of the Google Now Launcher installed and always listening..

crutzulee said:
With Tablet Talk working for full blown sms on the gear, the need to be able to reply to texts on the gear becomes more important. For those of us that can't use s-voice, google voice recognition works amazingly well but requires battery hogging bluetooth tethering.
Has anyone been able to get offline google voice recognition working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just recieved my gear and installed the newest null rom and would love to set it up like you have sounds pretty cool!

Change voice assistant from LG to Google Now

If you have a Bluetooth headset, and you try to use to with LG's HORRIBLE voice assistant, it recognizes your commands about 1% of the time; totally not acceptable.
On other phones, Google Now comes up when you activate voice command; on this phone, I have tried EVERYTHING, but I can't get the LG voice command to not be the default action when I activate a voice command.
Has any one found a way to change this, either with other software, or by making some system changes?
On kitkat, on T Mobile, using a Plantronics Voyage Edge
Thanks!

I simply swipe up from the bottom and use Google Now. You probably can't change LG's voice assistant to use Google Now's speech engine.

Visa Declined said:
I simply swipe up from the bottom and use Google Now. You probably can't change LG's voice assistant to use Google Now's speech engine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There MAY be a way to do it kind of like how you can change the voice of Google Nav from the standard one to like Darth Vader and whatnot. Idk if anyone has attempted this BUT it might be worth a shot. maybe the actual application can be modified to reroute to Google Now instead of the base LG application. i might poke around to see what i can find

thanks; there are a couple of apps in the play store that used to do this for me with my HTC One Maxx, but they dont do anything for this phone; there are about 5 or 6 files that are related to LG's horrible "voice mate" app, but, with no way to restore my 4.4 rom if deleting any important files screws things up, I am hesitant to start deleting system files.

Android Auto voice Command issue on Tablet

Hello all, I am coming here because my limited Android knowledge and Google search has failed me. I am trying to make a voice activated Google Maps GPS for my father to use while trucking. He specifically asked for Google Maps because he uses it on his phone and knows the voice commands, but the phone screen is too small and a new law that just went into effect in my state makes it illegal for him to have anything in his hands. For a trucker, that violation could cause him to lose his CDL. SO I am trying to help him out with this.
NOTE: there is no Truck/headunit interface in this deal; simply the tablet acting as the Android Auto command point. The device has wireless data connection.
The hardware:
Galaxy Tab A 2016 7" 32-bit architecture
SM-T280
Lollipop 5.1.1
Kernel version 3.10.65-12484970
Google version - 10.92.10.21.arm
Google play services - 19.8.31
Google play store - 18.3.24-all [0] [PR] 288734092
Android Auto version - 4.9.594933-release (Sideloaded)
With that setup, Android Auto works, is stable. However, it is unable to do any voice commands. For example, if I say 'OK Google, open maps' it simply responds that is does not know how to help with that command yet. On My galaxy Note 8, this exact command works fine. I am wondering what service or item I need to sideload to force these commands to work. I am not averse to Rooting and ROM'ing if it is absolutely stable and as close to OEM as possible. I am trying to make this tablet GPS setup as seamless for him as possible, I will be using an app task launcher for when the device wakes up or boots, it will automatically launch into Android Auto for him.
Please, any advice or options would help. I was thinking to try and sideload/force everything to match my phone, but the tablet is 32 bit, and the phone is 64 bit so almost nothing can be matched due to architecture.

Interesting. My Tab S4 will not let me run Android Auto (tells me device is not compatible), but I was trying to AA into my Subaru head unit. My impression is tablets, or at least Samsung tablets, are not well supported in AA, either through intention or neglect. That said, does he really need AA? Can the tablet be set to never screen off if plugged in and he just run google maps straight-up on the tablet, using voice?

Note10.1Dude said:
Interesting. My Tab S4 will not let me run Android Auto (tells me device is not compatible), but I was trying to AA into my Subaru head unit. My impression is tablets, or at least Samsung tablets, are not well supported in AA, either through intention or neglect. That said, does he really need AA? Can the tablet be set to never screen off if plugged in and he just run google maps straight-up on the tablet, using voice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's another idea I am going to try now. I think I can have Google Assistant and Maps launch at boot, and then google assistant might allow him to use voice commands such as 'navigate to xyz address' or so I am reading on Google Website. I am also experimenting with tethering widgets to make turning the data connection on and off easy for him when he pops in the truck. Plus downloading offline maps to the device as well, but I am wondering if there is voice navigation when offline.

I have exactly the same problem. I use a Lenovo Tab A7-10F with Android 5.0.
I installed the latest Google App, Google TTS and Maps (all 3 requirements for starting AA). AA v.4.5.592853 is working fine, but the assistant function in it not. It always answers "I don't know how to help with... navigate to New York" or similar. The same problem happens when using Maps directly.
Whereas when opening the Google App and ask something there works fine. F.e. I can start maps navigation with "Navigate to New York" or set an alert or similar.

cj182 said:
I have exactly the same problem. I use a Lenovo Tab A7-10F with Android 5.0.
I installed the latest Google App, Google TTS and Maps (all 3 requirements for starting AA). *link* is working fine, but the assistant function in it not. It always answers "I don't know how to help with... navigate to New York" or similar. The same problem happens when using Maps directly.
Whereas when opening the Google App and ask something there works fine. F.e. I can start maps navigation with "Navigate to New York" or set an alert or similar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey CJ, I haven't tested this in the hands of my father yet, but the solution I have been testing in my own car is I have Google Assistant and Maps launch at startup/unlock. Then, I have the google assistant voice matched so that it recognizes my voice and can be used at any time while the tablet is on. I then say 'OK google; Navigate to XYZ address' and it will open maps, set the navigation and begin in right away. This seems like the best solution I've come to in order to get around the stupid limitation on the AA voice command not working. I also downloaded the offline maps so that navigation will work even with weak cellular data signal.
So far that setup has been working. I had it tethered via Wifi Hotspot. I plan on finding a widget that will work for turning his wifi on and off so he doesn't have to navigate through Settings or worry about sliding down on his small screen when he is driving truck to activate. I have Android Pie on my phone and it seems like all the widgets for this stopped working after 8.0, so I can't test the viability of this tethering widget until I get his phone in front of me.
One thing to note; depending on the performance of your tablet, the autolaunch of Maps and Google Assistant on startup can be slow and cause errors. In one case I started using Google Assistant too fast and it just said 'something went wrong' and closed out. I rebooted and waited an extra minute and then it worked fine. This is on a Galaxy Tab A (2016) which is some very basic hardware compared to many other tablets.
I'll reply to this once I get this in my tech-challenged fathers hands and see how it works out for him.

Hi XTwarrior! Thanks for your answer.
Ok, I will probability also go this way and just use Maps with voice commands without AA.
Unfortunately I can't install Assistant on my tablet (Tab 2 A7-10F) due to Android 5.0 limitation, but the Google App works. With Google and Maps I still can use voice commands like " Ok google navigate to XYZ" and maps opens with navigation. But what is (mostly) not working is to further ask details during navigation such as:
when do I arrive?
Help
Exit Navigation
etc. They all are answered with "not sure how to help with [command repeated]..."
But strangely that works
How's traffic ahead?
Here is another nice trick described in this video : you could modify your Tablet such that it boots automatically when a charger is connected (i.e. starting the car) and shut down automatically after 20 sec of no charging connection (with a task of AutomateIt).
XTwarrior1985 said:
Hey CJ, I haven't tested this in the hands of my father yet, but the solution I have been testing in my own car is I have Google Assistant and Maps launch at startup/unlock. Then, I have the google assistant voice matched so that it recognizes my voice and can be used at any time while the tablet is on. I then say 'OK google; Navigate to XYZ address' and it will open maps, set the navigation and begin in right away. This seems like the best solution I've come to in order to get around the stupid limitation on the AA voice command not working. I also downloaded the offline maps so that navigation will work even with weak cellular data signal.
So far that setup has been working. I had it tethered via Wifi Hotspot. I plan on finding a widget that will work for turning his wifi on and off so he doesn't have to navigate through Settings or worry about sliding down on his small screen when he is driving truck to activate. I have Android Pie on my phone and it seems like all the widgets for this stopped working after 8.0, so I can't test the viability of this tethering widget until I get his phone in front of me.
One thing to note; depending on the performance of your tablet, the autolaunch of Maps and Google Assistant on startup can be slow and cause errors. In one case I started using Google Assistant too fast and it just said 'something went wrong' and closed out. I rebooted and waited an extra minute and then it worked fine. This is on a Galaxy Tab A (2016) which is some very basic hardware compared to many other tablets.
I'll reply to this once I get this in my tech-challenged fathers hands and see how it works out for him.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Android Auto and Google Assistant Problem!

Dear all,
My problem with AA is the following:
Google Assistant (currently used in AA) does not work with many languages (most of the small languages are excluded) which is a big problem when pronouncing an address in Google Maps using that language.
In the past AA used the "Speech to text" module, which supports most "small" languages and works flawlessly (eg when pronouncing an address in Google Maps directly on a mobile phone).
Is there a way, patch or similar, to allow AA to use the "speech to text" module again, instead of Google assistant?
Thanks in advance

I have exactly the same problem. Wrote to Waze. I am considering getting an Iphone for Android auto...

Only with tricks. I made it work with Tasker script. But is a big script which does many other things, and if i remember well it needs root. The basic idea which I use Is this if anyone want to re create it:
- Detect if android auto is running.
-If android auto is running, change keyboard to Google voice (so now speak to every app instead of writing).
When you use any app in android auto, for example waze, just pressing the icon to open keyboard to mobile to write there, which is happening but now in phone what is actually open is Google voice (as this is now the "keyboard" so you just speak as you done at past. . It works the same.
- when you exit android auto, tasker detect it and put back the keyboard you was using..
The script to change keyboard need root as i remember. There was other most complicated ways which didn't need root. I don't know if still work. Most I tried wasn't..
You can make it more complicated. For example, using Google voice only to specific applications, and not all, if you also need this. I may create a YouTube video for this and post it here if i have time.

Problem solved with AA Speech 2 Text app.