How to Cure Google Maps of Multiple Personality Disorder (or How to Change the Android Voice)

If you've upgraded your Android in the past few months you may have noticed that the little person who lives in your phone and reads all of your mail and tells you where to go in Google maps has well-

You know, Gone insane.

 See, there are two voices now.One is a perky young woman, and the other sounds like how the young woman might sound after she has turned into a zombie.So at this point you might be asking really good questions like:

What in the name of the great Metal Robot Lord is going on?

So here we go:

I have not even the slightest idea. Though some forums have suggested it’s a glitch that happens when the voice switches from navigation to the text to speech voice.

BUT- (wait, don’t leave, Androids with MPD are still good! Also-)

You don’t need to know any of those things to fix it.

There are three options for changing the voice. The first is a basic option that can be used to change to built-in voice. This is also the option that’s needed to change the voice in general, after you've downloaded some of the other options.

Changing the Voice in Android (including without apps)

1- Hit the menu button on your Android phone and select “System Settings.” You’ll get this screen-

2-Click where it says “Language & input.” Click “Text to Speech output.”

3- Select your voice engine and click the gear.” If all you have is the Google one, then you can still change the voice by clicking on the gear next to the entry. Click on “Language,” and then select a new Language. If you want to keep it English but with a different voice, try the “United Kingdom” one for a British accent. Otherwise click on any other engine you have installed and follow the prompts to choose a new voice.

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SVOX

SVOX is an Android voice app that you can try out for free. By clicking on each voice in the app you can select "Listen to a Sample," "Buy this voice," or "Get a Free Trial." The Android app will then let you try out individual voices.

Voices -

“Michael”-The sample of the voice has it reading out a canned line about how natural sounding it is. This line sounds roughly like this- “My naaaaammmm es Michkeeeyalll and I-have-a NAT-you-RAL VOICE.” It really sounds just like some guy sounding: roughly the way you might sound, if you’d ran head first into a wall, and then I handed you a canned script to read.

“Benny”-You know those helium balloons you had as a kid? Well Benny sounds like Michael simply wandered over to a carnival tent, took his fill of a helium balloon and then went to town on the script. If you want your navigation instructions read to you by a voice that sounds like a chipmunk on speed, then this is the voice for you.

“Dark Lord”-This time Michael is reading his canned lines by saying them into a water jug. This is like one of those cheap voice changer toys you might find at Toys R Us. Fake five dollar voice effects sure are scary!

“Ghost”-This time “Michael “has got himself one of those big square fans and is reading his self-proclaimed “natural” sounding voice directly through it, making it sound full of vibration.

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IVONA

IVONA is an Android app with high quality voices available for free during its BETA stage, which is happening right now. You can click on the play button on the right side of each voice to hear a sample of that voice.

Voices -

Kendra- This one is OK, but kind of underwhelming.

Amy-Amy has a proper sounding British accent, and it really does sound natural as far as I can tell, and oddly enough it sounds even clearer and easier to understand than the American English one to my ears. Warning- It’s never safe to suddenly snapped to attention, salute and say “Yes mum!” while driving.

Gwyneth(English)- Gwyneth has an exotic sounding voice to a US English speaker, but I have a feeling I’d be driving around, Gwyneth would give a direction and I’d think- “Wow! That was so cool sounding! Now what the heck did she just say?”

Others- The Australian one- Nicole sounds fine, as for the others- well they aren’t in English so I can’t really comment. Important Note- Just because a voice says “U.S.” doesn’t mean that it’s in English. Make sure it actually says “English” under the name. Having “U.S” can just mean the voice is speaking a foreign language with an American accent. An example of this is Penelope. So in conclusion, if you want to confuse the heck out of yourself and all of your friends, and never actually find the road your looking for, feel free to set your android voice to a foreign language.

Always Awesome-The voices in the app really do sound natural, at least to my ears. Also, maybe at some point they will add "Klingon." Awesome! Then the voice will probably say something like "If you do not turn left at Happy Road, you have no honor." But seriously though- these voices are a major upgrade over the default Google one.

Never Cool- I'm not sure how long the Beta will last. The coolness ratio will likely go down in direct proportion to just how short the Beta period is, and exponentially compared to how hmuch the final apps cost to use.