Voice dictation tools

Typing is the slowest part of a lot of knowledge work. You think faster than you type, and the gap is wider than most people assume.

When Stanford tested it, speaking was about three times faster than typing on a phone, even after you subtract the time spent fixing recognition errors. On a full keyboard the gap is smaller, but it is rarely under two times. Call it 2 to 3x, depending on what you are writing.

Speaking ≈150 wpm

Typing ≈40 wpm

// raw speech runs ~3x typing speed; count on 2 to 3x once you fix the errors

Dictation wins for prose, email, and notes. It loses for code, exact punctuation, and anything where the precise characters matter.

So this is not "stop typing." It is "stop typing the easy part": the Slack replies, the first drafts, the long messages you would otherwise put off. Keep the keyboard for the code.

The tools split on one axis worth caring about: where your voice goes. On-device tools transcribe locally and nothing leaves your machine. Cloud tools send audio to a server, which usually buys better accuracy and more features, at the cost of privacy, a connection, and often a subscription. The table below marks where each one runs.