ChatGPT Android Review: Messaging App-Like User Interface, A Leap For Mobile AI
ChatGPT has made its debut on the Android platform, extending its reach to mobile users seeking AI-driven conversational experiences. Here's how it fares.
Right after being made aware that one can register (pre-order, if you will) ChatGPT on the Google Play store as the Android version will be released soon, I hopped on the bandwagon and signed myself up. Understanding the potential ChatGPT, its evolving versions and other generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools hold, my excitement was unquelled as soon as I noticed the app made available on my Android phone on Wednesday (July 26) evening.
OpenAI's ChatGPT has been making waves on the desktop platform for quite some time, offering users a glimpse into the world of artificial intelligence-driven conversations. Now, the Android version can be understood as another leap taken by AI to become part of a common mobile user. The targetted availability of OpenAI's ChatGPT Android version in India indicates the intention further, since 95 per cent of the Indian mobile population uses Android as an operating system, as per a Statista report titled "Market share of mobile operating systems in India from 2012 to 2022", and has high internet population penetration as well. The current ChatGPT Android version is also available in the US, Brazil and Bangladesh, besides India as of now.
Now, let's explore the features, functionalities, and user experience of ChatGPT as it makes its debut on Android devices.
ChatGPT Android Review: User Interface And Design
The Android version of ChatGPT comes with a default white background, which might not resonate well with users who have grown accustomed to the "green tinge" on opening the desktop version and the constant black left-side panel while using it. The absence of these elements from the Android version takes the "desktop vibes" away and gives the chat prompts more of an instant messenger feel. So, it can be said interacting with ChatGPT on Android is akin to conversing with a friend through a messaging app.
ChatGPT Android Review: Speech-To-Text Functionality
Despite having used the ChatGPT desktop version prominently, I have never delved into the speech-to-text version or explored that option available. One of the highlights of ChatGPT on Android is the visible speech-to-text feature. Users can effortlessly converse with the AI in English, making prompts more convenient, even with a noisy background. I spoke in a soft tone while sitting during a busy hour in the newsroom and the speech detection of ChatGPT was spot on in English.
While ChatGPT demonstrates impressive capabilities in English, when prompted "Kya Aap Meri Bhasha Samjh Sakte Hain [can you understand my language]" the AI detected Urdu and typed it in the same instead of the expected language (Hindi).
ChatGPT Android Review: Performance, Sync, Plugins
A crucial factor affecting user experience is that you are in a bad network reception area, making your Internet slow, which can severely impact the interaction rate with ChatGPT. The Android mobile app of ChatGPT offers synchronisation of conversations across all devices for users with existing OpenAI accounts. This clearly points to the inability to enable or disable certain features selectively. If the "chat history & training" setting is enabled on the desktop, it will remain enabled on mobile as well when used from the same account.
Additionally, after using chat or function features on the mobile version, I checked on the desktop version as well. While no lag in updating content was noticed, there was a minor (noticeable) sync lag between the desktop and mobile app versions after clearing the chat history.
On prompts, the response by ChatGPT on Android was as smooth as it is on the desktop version. I asked ChatGPT to give me details about individual athletes who remain the sole Gold medal winner for their country. It shared the answer in a listicle format, later also sharing it in a tabular format when prompted. The copy-paste function and options to partially copy the tabular data were also easy to use on the ChatGPT Android version.
One technical issue I noticed is that as of now ChatGPT on Android lacks support for plugins. Since I did not use the ChatGPT Plus feature on Android, I cannot ascertain if the plugins work on the upgraded version or not.
ChatGPT is more than just a fun tool. The generative AI can and is used effectively in various fields (such as social media planning for influencers, certain aspects of marketing, soft writing, ideas generation, etc) for assorting, planning, and resolving. With the introduction of ChatGPT on Android, daily-use AI applications are only set to increase.
Reviewer Constraints | ChatGPT On Android
- - ChatGPT Android version was used just over 12 hours before the filing of the review
- - Reviewer has never used or experienced ChatGPT on the iOS version
- - Text heavys tasks were included which can be rated slightly above basic prompts and just below heavy interpretation work
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