Cell phones and wireless PDAs have one perennial problem: either no keyboard or a very small one. That makes typing anything more than a phone number a tedious, fumbling task. But a solution is on the way: mobile devices that are adept at recognizing spoken language.

Some cell phones already use speech recognition as an alternative to keypad entry for simple tasks such as dialing a number, but someday soon you may also find yourself dictating a text message into your phone, asking your car for directions, or telling your MP3 player that you want to listen to the Beatles. Indeed, today's high-end cell phones are capable of running sophisticated speech recognition software that could eventually mean the end of pecking at keyboards. "The fundamental problem of inputting information into mobile devices is the interface, and voice overcomes that," says Rich Geruson, CEO of VoiceSignal, a speech technology company based in Woburn, MA.