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Siri is clever, but isn’t terribly good at taking dictation. The free Dragon Dictation for iOS (https://itunes.apple.com/app/dragon-dictation) is far superior. Download Dragon Dictation, tap Europe as your region and choose whether you want to allow Dragon to access your contacts. We recommend giving it permission as it can then recognise your friends’ names when you say them. When Dragon Dictation is set up, you’ll see the ‘Tap to dictate’ screen. Speak calmly and slowly for the best results. You can edit notes afterwards using your iPad or iPhone’s keyboard. Tap the share icon to send the text as an email or text message or post it to Facebook or Twitter.

To get similar functions in Android, use the free ListNote Speech/Text Notepad (https://play.google.com/ListNote-Speech). The Dragon Notes dictation app for Windows 8 (http://www.nuance.co.uk//dragon-notes) is fantastic at recognising speech, but you’re limited to recording 30-second clips, which is a bit rich given it costs £16.99.