Overview
- Nothing began rolling out Essential Voice on Thursday via an over‑the‑air update to Phone 3 and Phone 4a Pro, with Phone 4a slated to get it in May.
- The tool lives in Gboard or behind a long‑press of the Essential Key and converts natural speech into clean, ready‑to‑send writing instead of raw dictation.
- At launch it strips filler words, supports Personal Mappings for custom phrases or templates, and includes a Translation Agent with auto‑detection across 100‑plus languages.
- Nothing says audio is handled on servers powered by Gemini 3 Flash, the feature needs a data connection, and the returned text is not stored on the company’s servers.
- Early hands‑on tests highlight accurate transcription and helpful formatting but note there is no rephrasing yet and dictation can stop when the screen sleeps, with context‑aware tone and broader device support planned next.