Co-founder Carl Pei hasn’t typed messages in months, according to a post made on X. Instead, he’s been using Essential Voice, a dictation-style AI-powered feature coming to Nothing’s phones.
Akis Evangelidis, co-founder of Nothing, also took part in the feature. He called typing “slow and inefficient,” and said we are moving toward a “voice-first way of interacting with technology.”
I, along with most anyone with ears, am here to implore you to put your voice first, and please continue typing the majority of your messages, regardless of how accurately the AI promises to transcribe your musings, and eliminate the ums, ahhs, and pauses at the same time.
I didn’t expect this underrated little phone feature to save me so much time, but it did
I ignored the little icons on my keyboard for years
Testing Essential Sound
It’s very effective
To be clear, it’s how Nothing, and many other companies, are pushing a “voice first” future that annoys me, but what about the Essential Voice feature?
I tried it on the Nothing Phone (3), and it was very impressive. It’s activated when you press the small icon below the keyboard, or by long-pressing the Important Button on the side of the phone in the app where the keyboard appears.
You speak, transcribe, and indeed omit unintentional filler words, including “you know” and “so,” but are smart enough to recognize when they are part of a sentence.
It’s not delayed by being long-winded, and you don’t have to press anything once it’s done. It seemed he knew it instinctively.
It also automatically pastes text into the app you’re using, so there’s minimal friction, which encourages you to use it.
I like that this is a free feature in the operating system, and there is no approach to on-device AI in general.
No doubt this is a great and useful feature. However, I don’t think it, or other tools like it, should become the standard.
Obvious problem
Like leaving your front door open
Let’s discuss the real issues with a “voice first” messaging approach. The privacy and security concerns that arise as every message is transcribed to your smartphone should not be underestimated.
Voice notes are great for short responses or long messages containing personal or private information when you’re in the car or in situations where typing isn’t possible.
But by adopting a voice-first approach to messaging, your business suddenly becomes someone else’s business. There’s a real danger in getting too comfortable talking out loud on the phone about everything.
We are all conditioned to be careful online. VPN ads flood YouTube, telling us that connecting to public Wi-Fi is tantamount to giving criminals free access to our personal data. Samsung makes the information on your phone screen private on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra all over identity.
Talking loudly on the phone in public is just as problematic in this situation, but typing is not.
The sound is amazing
Until they don’t
The second voice, not the first, should be the default if you are interested in keeping things private. But what if everyone suddenly prioritized their technology, as Evangelidis suggests?
Think about all the people you see every day typing on their phones, and now speaking out loud to them, and the cacophony of voices we hear, wherever we go.
Listening to random people’s constant messages about remembering to buy cat food, how their boss doesn’t appreciate them, or that their partner forgot an important date sounds like hell.
Don’t forget, we will probably also hear every reply, because the other person will also be talking on the phone.
I think headphones will be used in many vehicles, but looking at the conditions of public transportation one day, I’m not sure.
This may not only be the message we need to hear, but it may also be telephone control.
Do you want to hear everyone talking to the AI, adjusting settings on their phone, activating Do Not Disturb mode, opening apps, or even playing games? I do not.
This is what a keyboard is for when you are in a public place.
However, despite my fears, I didn’t even think that would happen. Talking to any electronic device in public is embarrassing enough, and not everyone is so aware that they happily use voicemail to every message they sent.
Wait, there’s a problem
The keyboard is terrible
I don’t want to hear everyone talking on their phones, smart glasses, smart watches, or laptops.
At this point, I have to say that typing is a great skill to have and hone. Stop, and you risk forgetting. Just like my handwriting is terrible now, because I type everything and write nothing but my signature.
The problem is, the cellphone keyboard is not good. I type on my Android and iOS phones every day, switching between tapping letters and typing with swipes, and rarely do the results turn out to be completely accurate.
It’s not always my fault either. The accuracy of swipe typing, which is my preferred option, on iOS seems to be worse, and the same words keep getting it wrong, over and over again.
I’m using an Honor 600 currently, and the default keyboard is Microsoft SwiftKey. I’ve tried it, in case it gets better over the years, but it hasn’t. It’s slow, and because it doesn’t “know” me, it’s very inaccurate.
Gboard Google knows me, and for the most part, it’s the best mobile keyboard option.
However, when typing on a smartphone isn’t always great, it’s hard to resist looking for alternatives.
Voice has always been faster than typing, and AI continues to get better at transcription, but are we seeking perfection in our messages?
Death of identity
I quite like ums and ahhs
When Nothing’s Essential Voice transcribes your voice, Nothing will also remove what Nothing calls “filler words,” for “simplified and considered output.”
If we are encouraged to use our voices, why would Essential Voice want to take away part of our personality?
Digital services, automated phone lines, and robots should always have outputs in mind, but we as humans should not.
Conversational flair, vocal tics, and “filler words” are not always negative. They can be cute, add emphasis, or be a personal signature. They give character to sentences, can convey sarcasm, and can be used as punctuation.
Deleting all of this is fine when you’re dictating an important document or something for work, but voice-first suggests that for everything, and I think that’s a problem.
Say no to Essential Voice?
No, just don’t prioritize your voice
Essential Voice has some interesting and rarely seen additional features. Multilingual, auto-detects up to 100 languages, and automatically translates to the selected language.
The shortcut feature lets you assign addresses to keywords, which helps with privacy. Plus, everything is built on the device, not in the cloud, and the feature has to be enabled manually and isn’t always listening.
It is part of Nothing OS 4.1 and will be available on Nothing Phone 3 first, then on Nothing Phone 4a Pro, and Nothing Phone 4a later.
I know this may sound like I’m speaking out against Essential Voice, but I’m not. I am more opposed to the concept of a sound-first approach to technology.
From Dragon NaturallySpeaking in Windows 95 to today’s Essential Voice, it hasn’t really taken off, and for good reason. You don’t need to say everything out loud.
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