Score: Jott 5, SpinVox 4

Round 4: accuracy
Accuracy is definitely the make or break point for a voice-to-text service. For the tests, I wrote out the message I would leave and then alternated between which service I would call first, assuming that practice would give the second service a slight advantage. In actuality it didn't make much of a difference.

I expected my accent to make the biggest difference so I thought SpinVox, an international UK based company, would have an unfair advantage over the Pacific Northwest-based Jott. It's hard to say if that was true as the inaccuracies in both systems seldom matched.

Test 1
Jott started off well with 6 out of 8 correct words in the first test. SpinVox had 5 out of 8, but also added a word. I wasn't terribly pleased with either.

Test 2
The second test had a very interesting result. Jott scored a perfect 10 out of 10 and included both unnecessary and incorrect punctuation. SpinVox scored 8 out of 10, but the mistake actually made more sense than what I had said.

Test 3
For the third test I decided to say something that would be fairly similar to something I would really say. Don't think too hard about what I said.

Note: "After finishing kangaroo motorcycle must work on buffalo umbrella. This is test number 3."

For anybody who follows me on Twitter this makes perfect sense, but would it make sense to a natural language engine?

SpinVox: "After finishing Kangaroo Motorcycle must work on Buffalo Umbrella. This is test no. 3"

Color me impressed! And by adding the capitalization it makes those items sound like code words for top secret projects. Well done! I also liked the "no." abbreviation.

Jott: "After finishing the kangaroo motorcycle, must fix a(?) buffalo umbrellarge(?). This is test number 3."

This is the message that took Jott the longest to deliver. I had actually given up on it and thought I'd get a message saying the message didn't work. The extra words are wrong, but not too bad. The "fix a(?)" was odd, but maybe I mumbled. "Umbrellarge(?)" is what bothers me. It isn't a word. It's just wrong.

Test 4
I threw this test out as SpinVox sent me an email stating "Sorry, the message you left couldn't be converted." and Jott sent me absolute gibberish.

Test 5
Jott: 18/20 with incorrect punctuation. SpinVox: 18/20 with grammar correction. So what if I no speak good?

Test 6
Totally unfair to both companies I said "I've been feeling rather more morose than mordant as of late, but never fear. I'm just as pretentious as ever." SpinVox missed three words, each of which was highlighted with a question mark. Jott replaced a few words with an underlined blank and changed "pretentious" to "the tenacious," which made me chuckle.

Test 7
"Write article for that brilliant editor David G. at ZATZ by Monday" came back from Jott and SpinVox with the word "ZATZ" being questioned. Well done! [Hmm... sucking up to editors is always a good strategy. :) — DG]