How to use voice commands to page up and down on Android?

October 4, 2013 10:39 PM

I often cook with a recipe open on my phone. If my hands are messy, I don't want to touch my phone. It seems like there should be an app or a built-in way to use voice control to page up or down. I am happy to use Tasker, Autovoice, or to install a specific app to do this, but I can't figure it out. Any suggestions? My phone is a Nexus 4 running the latest version of stock Android.
posted by lollusc to Technology (8 answers total)

Response by poster: I forgot to specify: the recipe might be on a website, in my email, or in a text file. I would settle for a solution that works for any one of those situations, but I would rather have one that works for all three.
posted by lollusc at 10:41 PM on October 4, 2013

An alternate solution to your problem; cover your voice in a single layer of cling film/saran warp. It still lets you use the capacitive touch screen without getting gunk all over the phone.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:23 PM on October 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

Until i saw it was the Nexus 4 i was going to suggest a USB otg cable with a cheap mouse but the usb functionality does not work on that stock device. That would have allowed full access as if you were using a finger.
Along the lines of His thoughts were red thoughts you could also use a small stylus to scroll.
posted by stuartmm at 12:31 AM on October 5, 2013

Best answer: I just toss my iPhone in a ziploc bag when I am cooking with it. Bonus tip: The gallon size bags will fit an iPad and now you can read ebooks in the bathtub!
posted by Rock Steady at 1:45 AM on October 5, 2013 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Okay, these alternative solutions solve the cooking problem. Thank you! But if anyone knows the answer to the original question, I'd still like to know, because there are other times when I have wished for voice controlled page downs too. For example, when holding a stretch in an awkward position while reading something on my phone. And I'm sure there are other times when it would come in handy that I can't think of right now.It's a question that's been bugging me for a while.
posted by lollusc at 7:26 AM on October 5, 2013

Best answer: Okay, just had a quick play with this. In Tasker you can create an input task that sends a 'd-pad down' event that I just tested, and it scrolls the browser down a little. Unfortunately you need root for this by the looks of things. Then it looks like you should be able to voice trigger that with AutoVoice which is a Tasker plug in, although I haven't tried this part.
posted by markr at 12:24 PM on October 5, 2013

Had a chance to give things ago with the demo version of AutoVoice and got it all working. The UI of both Tasker and Autovoice is pretty ordinary, so if you want to give it a try I can do up some instructions if you need them.
posted by markr at 4:37 PM on October 5, 2013

Response by poster: Genius! It works! Thank you! I looked in "input" briefly, but it didn't occur to me to explore "Dpad" because I thought that sounded like some sort of keyboard thing that a phone wouldn't have.
posted by lollusc at 6:28 PM on October 5, 2013