US Bank is out ahead of the competition in two major areas of mobile banking: voice input and image input into mobile devices.

The bank is alone among major US banks in providing mobile photo bill pay capability, and is also experimenting with voice control technology that will allow transactions using the voice alone. Only USAA offers a similar capability. Voice transactions can specify amounts as well as dates, as in, “Pay $100 to my credit card company on May 10,” but the bank is still experimenting with how complex the voice commands can be.

But in an interview with Bank Innovation, Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer for payment services at US Bank, did not explicitly say that the bank would continue to assume the lead position in these two facets of smartphone banking.

Rather, Venturo touted the power of smartphones, exemplified by these features.

“Smartphones are touch devices that respond to voice as well,” he said. “They have sensors that can detect location, leading up to augmented reality such as locating ATM machines.”

There is also the smartphone camera and the software behind it, which together can pull the relevant data from a bill to create a profile of a biller in the space of just a few seconds. Both those features are on Venturo’s radar.

US Bank’s voice commands are powered by Nuance, a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of digital imaging and voice technology. The voice software, known as Nina, responds to any voice, not just the user’s voice, which may bring up security concerns. (Similar concerns have arisen over Google Glasses — what if passersby accidentally, or deliberately, issue commands to the device with a loud voice?)

“There are different security protocols that operate independently of Nina,” Venturo said. Indeed, smartphones have the possibility to be very secure, partly by the use of biometrics.

Nina needs to be able to understand a variety of accents and normalize the many differences that make distinguish each voice to distinguish the command or request, whereas biometric technology measures those differences to establish identity. Since both functions are software-based, it seems like the functions could be unified, but, of course, everything needs to happen quickly in order for users to execute their transactions in a timely manner.

Nina is currently being tested with a number of US Bank employees who are are given weekly tasks to accomplish and issued surveys to gather results.  Venturi said participation has been enthusiastic. The testing is expected to run for 9 to 10 weeks.

A smartphone’s sensors, and the fact that it is always with its user, are what truly make it such a powerful device for banking. From PC Magazine:

Most smartphones now come with three inertial sensors: a compass (or magnetometer) to determine direction, an accelerometer to report how fast your phone is moving in that direction, and a gyroscope to sense turning motions.

Apple has already filed a patent for motion-based payments that differ based on the motions used. What’s next? We bet US Bank wants to know.