Speaktoit, the popular virtual assistant for Android, announced Friday that it has introduced several new features that will expand the app's range of functions and make it easier to use. Users can now ask the app to read emails aloud, and Speaktoit will also allow for easy hands-free navigation while driving. Speaktoit also added a feature that enables premium users to wake the device up with a voice command when the display is off, making it the first virtual assistant capable of doing so. More information is below.

No hands, ma!: Speaktoit Premium now allows users to do something that no other app does: wake their device up without using their hands. A simple command of "Hey Assistant" is all that's needed to bring the sleeping display to life, thanks to integration with new technology by Sensory (see a video demonstration here).

EXCLUSIVE FREE PREMIUM GIVEAWAY FOR OUR READERS, DETAILS AT THE END OF THIS POST.

Speaktoit, a popular virtual assistant app for Android, iOS and Windows Phone, has just announced a new Premium service that users can upgrade to after they’ve downloaded the free app. (Keep reading for a chance to use Premium for free.) The basic version, which has been downloaded over 6 million times since launching in October 2011, will remain free, but Android users (Premium will come to other platforms soon) can pay $2/month or $20/year to use enhanced features.

So what do users get if they upgrade? A few things, but the most noteworthy and unique in the virtual assistant space, in our opinion, is the ability to teach their Assistant to say or do anything the user wants, customized to whatever phrase the user chooses. This eliminates instances when you ask your Assistant to do something and they don’t understand your command. Now, you can quickly program your Assistant to respond to the way you talk. For example, teach your Assistant to open your phone’s camera when you say “Cheese,” or teach it to open Google Maps with a list of nearby gas stations when you say “I need gas,” or teach it to read you the latest news when you say “What’s happening?” It’s essentially one big shortcut that does as much as you want it to.

The Premium version also includes more voice options for your Assistant (different genders and accents), an uncapped number of daily requests of your Assistant, and premium support for troubleshooting any issues that arise.

One of the most popular Siri alternative on Google Android platform - Speaktoit Assistant just got updated with some new features. The virtual assistant mobile app has been one of the most highly competitive spaces in tech for the last year or so. While Siri opened the doors when it launched on the iPhone 4G last year, the Speaktoit Assistant and others started getting traction by Android owners who didn’t want to be left without a virtual assistant of their own. Of course, with Google Now looking to get a slice of the virtual assistant pie, app developers like Speaktoit have to innovate.

Speaktoit appears to be doing just that. The app, which now has over 5 million users worldwide, added some new features this week that users might enjoy. Perhaps most notably, Speaktoit users can also now take advantage of the Daily Briefing feature. This allows users to customize information they want automatically read to them every morning, such as the weather forecast, their agenda, top news stories, etc. Although users could already have gotten this information on previous Speaktoit versions, the Daily Briefing function helps throw compilations of information into one tidy feature.

Apple's Siri virtual voice assistant seems to have sparked the demand for virtual butlers, tech giant Google is being reported all set to offer their own alternative to "Siri" as "Majel" named after "Majel Barrett" - the voice of the Federation Computer from Star Trek. While all the previous attempts to mimic "Siri" functionality on Android have not been very promising, codenamed project "Majel" will be an evolution to Google’s Voice Actions adding the ability to process natural language. Rumored to get released/announced publicly by end of this year this would be definitely the way to go for future of computing.

Comments from senior Google executive "Amit Singhal" very much sums what Google wants to achieve with "Majel" and change the way we compute today :

New Apple iPhone 4S features the much talked around "Siri" virtual voice assistant, luckily users having Google Android can benefit for something similar using free android application "Speaktoit Assistant". The user simply needs to ask an question to the assistant and it will perform the requested task like finding information, launching apps, connecting user with various web services - such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc., get maps, search for news and images, look up weather reports, convert currency and measurements, send email, and much more.

Speaktoit Assistant makes use of powerful multi-lingual Google speech-to-speech technology to answer your questions in natural language, performs tasks, and notifying users about important events.