Forbes Digital Tool recently tested two state-of-the-art voice dictation programs: IBM's ViaVoice Gold and Dragon NaturallySpeaking from privately held Dragon Systems.

FORBES: Saline tube is a p.m.

The iPad is based on the new A5X quad core graphics chip, features a 5 megapixel camera, 1080p video recording, and voice dictation.

FORBES: Apple: More than The New iPad

This particular button is simply the myTouch-branded version of voice dictation: tell it to make calls, dictate texts, search the web and set up your navigation.

ENGADGET: T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q coming August 8th for $50, we go hands-on

We weren't able to test it out during our brief tenure with the phones, but we can't imagine the experience will be much different than your standard voice dictation service.

ENGADGET: T-Mobile myTouch and myTouch Q coming August 8th for $50, we go hands-on

If you like to talk rather than type you'll be happy to know that SwiftKey now incorporates Google voice typing for continuing dictation, if you are using Android Ice Cream Sandwich or Jelly Bean (4.0 or 4.1).

ENGADGET: SwiftKey 3.0.1 brings new themes, languages and bug fixes

Sure, there were exceptions to the rule like Dragon Naturally speaking for dictation and voice command and control, but that really only caught on in vertical markets like legal and medical where the dictionaries were precise and users used headphones to improve accuracy.

FORBES: Intel Can Boost the PC Category

While direct dictation garners the most attention for voice-recognition programs, it's the ability to launch and control applications that impresses MacSpeech's Rogers.

CNN: Review: MacSpeech demos voice recognition

As with Siri and iOS dictation, you need to be online for this to work: Mountain Lion captures your voice and sends the recording to the cloud for processing.

CNN: Review: Mac's Lion adventure continues