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Will the voice dictation technology built into iOS 5.1 running on the new iPad be made available on the iPad 2?

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iPad 2 has the same processor as iPhone 4S but iPhone 4S has dictation. Explain that, Apple – user20391 Mar 19 '12 at 21:49
@Charlie : same processor, but no dedicated audio noise reduction chip. – Wyatt Barnett Aug 24 '12 at 21:15

5 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

No. I installed iOS 5.1 on a Wifi iPad 2, and opened the notes app. No microphone icon is displayed on the keyboard as shown in the keynote or as one sees on the iPhone 4S. This means that voice dictation is a iPad (3rd Generation) and iPhone 4S only feature. There may be apps that enable something like this in the App Store.

I can't guess about the lower priced iPad 2 16 GB, but existing iPads do not seem to get this feature with the iOS 5.1 update.

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FYI - I'm downloading 5.1 on my iPad now. Will update this question ASAP. – tlatkovich Mar 7 '12 at 20:25
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Ill update my answer once I finish my update, but I noticed that voice dictation wasn't listed as a feature. – jmlumpkin Mar 7 '12 at 20:28
I have updated my answer. – jmlumpkin Mar 7 '12 at 20:52
Ugh. I've confirmed your answer on my iPad 2. Thanks. – tlatkovich Mar 7 '12 at 20:56
up vote 0 down vote

Maybe it needs to be enabled in settings? See here:

http://9to5mac.com/2012/01/09/looks-like-apple-is-working-on-siri-dictation-for-the-ipad-ios-5-1-beta-reveals/

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I don't see this option on the final 5.1 release. Just checked on an iPad 2. – jmlumpkin Mar 7 '12 at 21:02
Thank you for checking. I am still hoping for some sort of miracle regarding this. Please post if any more info is discovered. Thanks. – Hopeful Mar 7 '12 at 21:09
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I just installed the iOS 5.1 update on my iPad 2, and dictation is not included.

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It doesn't come bundled with the 5.1 and I don't see any indication it will. That said I know I downloaded a dragon dictation app a while back for dictation. I sort of forgot about or was turned off because it uses dragon servers so it needs a network connection to work. Don't know if the apple model requires this or if the A5X chip is fast enough to handle speech recognition onboard. Anyway dragon is the only option for existing ipad owners. It's ok, just make sure you have a network connection or it won't work.

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I think Siri is what requires the connection on the 4S. But Dragon may work in a way where the dictation is offloaded. – jmlumpkin Mar 9 '12 at 19:03
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It's too bad Apple decided not to include this technology in the iPad 2. I'm dictating this response on Dragon and works just fine. The iPad 2 has ample horsepower to support dictation.

It's unfortunate that many perceive the dictation function was excluded for obvious marketing reasons, but the iPhone 4S features advanced noise cancelling and voice clarification hardware not present in the iPad 2.

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