Device maker Philips has launched a voice recorder that is said to be an upgrade to the basic ones that journalists use.<\/p>\n
The Philips SpeechAir<\/a> was developed by Speech Processing Solutions – Philips’s Austria-based subsidiary which focuses on dictation products – and is aimed at legal and medical professionals.<\/p>\n At first glance, it could be easily mistaken for a smartphone. Unlike most digital voice recorders, it comes with a 480 x 800 pixel IPS touchscreen which supports over 16 million colors. This is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass and a rugged, antimicrobial housing. It even has a 5 megapixel rear camera, which can also be used to read barcodes. The gadget’s case includes physical buttons, a slider, and an oversized microphone grille to support its primary function.<\/p>\n It runs a heavily-customized version of Android 4.4.2. Powering the device is a dual-core Cortex A9 CPU, which comes clocked at 1.6 GHz. It also boasts 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.<\/p>\n The press release makes no mention of Google or the Play Store, so it looks like you won’t be playing Angry Birds on your voice recorder.<\/p>\n The SpeechAir also includes three different microphones, each suited for different tasks. In addition to the usual 360\u00ba microphone, used for recording meetings, it also includes a directional microphone for speech recognition, and a MEMS microphone for making VOIP calls.<\/p>\n The package includes headphones, data and power cables, an international power supply, and a desktop docking station.<\/p>\n Perhaps the biggest coup-de-grace of the Philips SpeechAir is its software. Not only does it automatically protect recordings with 256-bit AES encryption, but it can also be remotely administered.<\/p>\n