This week, we'll be taking a look at Apple's Voice Control on the iPhone. This feature was introduced on the iPhone 3GS, works on the iPhone 4, and lets you use the included Apple earbuds with a remote and mic, or any other compatible earbuds and headphones. Get ready to start telling your iPhone what to do, but be prepared to listen once in a while because the device might have something to say back. Sorry iPad users, you'll have to sit out on this one.

Activating Voice Control

There are three ways you can activate voice control: holding down the Home button, holding down the the center button on the iPhone earphones, or pressing the equivalent button on a Bluetooth headset until the Voice Control screen appears and you hear a beep. Press Home again to cancel and return to the iPhone home screen.

How to Say it Right

Once you've heard the beep, Voice Control is waiting to hear what you have to say, so make the best of it. It is important that you speak as clearly as you would normally when making a phone call. You can speak into your iPhone microphone, earbud microphone, Bluetooth headset or car kit.

Voice Control is expecting you to speak in the language the iPhone is currently set for. You can see what this is by launching the Settings app, tap General, tap International, and finally tap Language (there is a separate setting for the Voice Control language setting if you wish to select a different dialect or accent).

Note that not every language is supported, so if you expected to use Klingon or Romulan, you're out of luck. You can browse the available languages within the settings options mentioned above.

Voice Dialing and the Locked iPhone

Apple is conscious about security. so you have the option of preventing voice dialing when your iPhone is locked. If you launch the Settings app, tap General, Passcode Lock and turn the switch to off for Voice Dial. Note that iPod voice controls are always enabled regardless of whether the iPhone is locked or not.

Voice Control Dialing

On your iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, you can use Voice Control to call someone in your Contacts, or dial any number.

If you want to call someone in your contacts use the CALL command. You can even specify the specific number you want to call if the contact has multiple phone numbers. Examples:

Call David Martin
Call David Martin, work
Call David Martin, home
Call David Martin, mobile

If you want to dial a number you can use the CALL or DIAL command. If the number is an 800 number you can say "eight hundred. "

Call Eight Hundred 555 1212
Call Eight Hundred 275 2273
Call 2 8 1 2 0 4 0 5 0 0

In the case of asking Voice Control to dial David Martin, the tables were turned on this writer. Voice Control had something to say.

It said that David's entry had multiple phone numbers in the following categories: home, work, other, iPhone, and work fax. It listed them by speaking each category aloud and waited for a command. After speaking the word "work,it dialed David's work number.

It is recommended that you always speak the full name of your contact that you wish to call, especially if you have multiple Davids or Martins in your contact list, otherwise Voice Control will ask you which of those contacts you want call. In many cases, you'll end up with something you don't want, so stick to the full name rule.

Next week, we'll look at how you can control the iPhone and the iPod touch using Voice Control.