Google is set to launch an iPhone application that’ll let you search the web using the power of speech.

Simply boot up the app, tell it what you’d like to know, and it’ll display its findings in the iPhone’s web browser window.

According to a report by the New York Times, the app converts your audio search request into a digital file. The file’s then sent to Google’s severs, which interpret the speech and then pass it along to the search engine to hunt down an answer to your question.

It’s thought that you’ll be able to ask the app anything you like, without being required to first select a specific search category.

However, the NYT’s report claimed that Google’s iPhone app is “far from perfect” and said that it “can return queries that appear as gibberish”.

Microsoft has already launched a rival voice-recognition search engine app for mobile phones. But the Tellme service requires you to ask your question within well-defined subject areas, which, presumably, gives it a helping hand in tracking down the answer.

This isn’t Google’s first attempt at voice-based searching. Earlier this year, it launched one designed to hunt down addresses and business phone numbers.

Google’s unnamed iPhone app is expected to be available in the next few days through the Apple App Store. There will be no charge, apparently.