Logitech x Baidu Brain VOICE M380 Voice Wireless Mouse Review: Free your hands and speak fluently

As the saying goes, the driving force behind technological progress is laziness. Indeed, from ancient times to the present, many inventions have been created to help people save some effort, such as wheels, dishwashers, and voice input.

Nowadays, voice input has become a very common feature on mobile phones, helping many people free themselves from typing on small screens. But on computers, this feature is not yet popular. Logitech, a well-known peripheral manufacturer, and Baidu have launched the voice input wireless mouse VOICE M380, which realizes intelligent voice input through Baidu voice input method and Baidu AI technology, allowing you to truly "type with your eyes closed".

Small and light, with wide applicability

Logitech VOICE M380 is as compact as many of the previously launched M-series office mice. It weighs only 70 grams with AA batteries, so it will not be a burden even if you carry it outside.

The appearance of Logitech VOICE M380 is basically the same as the Logitech M336 that I am using. The only difference from the front is that the custom button under the scroll wheel is replaced with a voice input button.

Both Logitech VOICE M380 and M336 are powered by AA batteries and support multiple devices such as Windows and Mac. However, the former requires the receiver to be plugged into the computer and then can be used without matching.

Accurately identify multiple languages ​​and can also be used as a part-time translator

To use the voice function of Logitech VOICE M380, you need to download Baidu Voice Input Method first. After installation, you need to activate it first. The activation code is printed on the back of each mouse.

After activation, you can start using it. Baidu Voice Input supports input in multiple languages ​​and dialects, including Chinese, English, and Japanese. It also supports translation between Chinese and multiple languages, including English, Japanese, Spanish, and French. The offline and online fusion function ensures that the voice input function can be used normally when there is no network connection.

Next, we will conduct a practical test, first trying Chinese pronunciation. Let's start with a relatively easy one, reading a well-known poem "Spring Dawn".

As you can see, after a simple processing, the ancient poem is correctly recognized. Here we also need to introduce that you need to click the voice button of the mouse to start voice input. After saying a sentence, click again and the system will start correction and select the text closest to the original meaning.

Afterwards, we found a piece of sports news for testing. The difficulty of this test is that it contains a large number of numbers and foreign names. In addition to voice input, it also tests the vocabulary of the input method.

It can be seen that the input method accurately recognized most of the content. It’s a pity that the last word was not recognized. However, I believe that the recognition accuracy will be higher after slowing down the speaking speed.

After the Chinese test was completed, the next step was the English test. This text contains a lot of numbers and dates, so it is also a big test for the input method.

The results show that all text was accurately recognized, so the English input ability of Logitech VOICE M380 is also reassuring.

Since the mode we chose is "Speak Chinese and English freely", we naturally have to test the mixed input capability of Logitech VOICE M380.

All Chinese and English words are recognized accurately, and even a mixture of Chinese and English does not stump the Logitech VOICE M380.

After the Chinese and English tests, we took the other language tests. Unfortunately, we didn’t know many other languages, so we chose a classic line from the manga “Fist of the North Star”, “お前は、もう死んでいる” to take a simple Japanese test.

At least Logitech VOICE M380 is fully capable of recognizing short sentences like this.

Finally, and most importantly, we conducted an English-Chinese translation test. We selected two English sentences from the website to test the translation capabilities of Logitech VOICE M380.

From the results, Logitech VOICE M380 still accurately recognized the English sentence, and the translation results were basically accurate, so it is more than enough to serve as a dictionary. The translation of the complete sentence is also smooth enough, and only manual fine-tuning is needed.

Summary: Three types of people are especially recommended

In general, Logitech VOICE M380 is basically fully capable of Chinese voice input, while other language input and translation still require manual review.

Logitech VOICE M380 has a very good user experience. Just one click can free your hands and you can input text by moving your mouth. This usage is very suitable for text workers who have sore hands after working for a long time. It can relax your hands without delaying the progress of work.

For office workers who often need to attend meetings, Logitech VOICE M380 can greatly improve the efficiency of meeting notes, and its lightweight size means there will be no inconvenience when carrying it in and out of the meeting room, so it is especially recommended.

In addition, for the elderly who are not familiar with computers, Logitech VOICE M380 is also a powerful tool to help them get started quickly. Based on this, I also think that if this product can integrate a voice assistant function, it will have a wider range of uses.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.