The voice recognition features of the latest version of Google Mobile App got a lot of attention, but the program was fairly limited in what it let you do with your voice really, when you analysed it closely. What if you don’t just want to search, what if you want to call people, or look up maps, or even send a Twitter message without the burden of extra finger strain?

Vlingo on Wednesday announced the launch of its iPhone voice-recognition application, which aims to bring voice commands to several different facets of the iPhone’s interface, which don’t traditionally allow voice control. Using voice recognition, the free application allows you to dial your contacts, search on the Web, look for maps, and even update your status on several social sites.

There are a few thoughtful features as well: the Web search can use Google or Yahoo to look for results, and saying a contact’s name can automatically dial that contact unless told otherwise, saving extra finger taps.

Vlingo is available for free from the App Store and runs on an any iPhone.