Vlingo, the voice recognition system that has been bundled in limited form with most Nokia smartphones over the last few years, has finally gone completely free, with Vlingo Premium now available for all through the Ovi Store. The utility lets you call contacts, dictate messages, emails, notes and Facebook updates - and more. 

There has been a UI refresh too, as you might spot in the screenshot gallery below. Note that if you have Vlingo bundled in your device's firmware or default application set, the new free Vlingo Premium will show up as an 'Update' in the Ovi Store client and you can install over the top.

Voice recognition isn't quite as good as that in Google's Android OS, but it's good enough for simple messages (see the small error above). Note also that there's a homescreen 'Tap and Speak' widget, so that you're only a tap away from dictating at any point. Handy.

Get Vlingo as a free download from the Ovi Store.