Microsoft Releases Torque Voice Search App for Android Smartphones

Microsoft last week brought its Torque Voice Search app to a more mainstream market, the Android platform, by publishing it on the Google Play store. The search app was introduced in October for Android Wear devices.

The Torque v2.0, unlike the voice command activation 'Ok Google', can be accessed when the Android device user shakes the handset. Notably, the Torque app on Android Wear devices activates in a similar fashion. The Android Wear users would simply have to twist their wrists to open the search app.

Microsoft on Torque's Google Play listing page adds that the 'Shake Anytime' option on the app will be disabled by default. Users would have to check the 'Shake Anytime' box to activate the feature. Also, users would need to sign into their Microsoft account (Outlook, Hotmail or Live) to use the voice-based search app.

The app's listing page features a description by the company, "Microsoft Torque Voice Search brings the most powerful voice-enabled web search to your Android Phone or Wear. You can shake your phone to say what you want to search without interrupting your current app session. If you have a watch, you can flick your wrist to do the same thing. Without breaking the flow of your mobile application, you can talk to your Android Phone or your Android Wear to search for a quick answer."

Except for the app's unique activation method, Torque Voice Search v2.0 works in a similar way to Google Now. The voice-based virtual assistant offers information on weather updates, sports scores, nearby restaurant details, stock market information and more. The new app also features some quick answer to queries on flight status and local event details. The app is powered by the Bing search engine. The firm also added that "Voice output is in our plan and will be added in our coming updates," under the app reviews section in Google Play listing.

Users can swipe left or right within the app widget on the home screen to access more information. While a long press will let users move the position of the widget, a simple tap anywhere outside the app widget would close the app. The Microsoft Torque Voice Search 2.0 app is compatible with devices running Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and higher, and weighs 14MB. The app is now available to download from the Google Play Store.

The new Torque v2.0 has been created by Microsoft's Garage project, a group that experiments with cross-platform applications. The organisation is also responsible for creating other apps like Journeys & Notes and Next Lock Screen for Android, and Voice Commander app for Xbox One. The full list of apps can be seen on the Microsoft Garage website.

Notably, the Next Lock Screen app was updated on Thursday by the company, adding the ability to get weather information, select home wallpaper as the lock wallpaper, and hide the system status bar, apart from better integration with the default device lock on Samsung devices running Kitkat, and other performance improvement and bug fixes.