Google adding video translation to Google Translate
Back in May we covered a little app called Word Lens that got gobbled up by Google. Word Lens was (and still is) an app that would convert real time camera input into a display in your language of choice.
Evidently the Word Lens functionality has made it into Google Translate, or will be soon enough (it’s one of those Google just released it and some of you can get it and some will just have to wait or download an APK).
This means Google Translate can now translate via text, voice (two way translation), taking a picture, and live video overlay translations.
How well the video translate works depends on which language you’re recognizing, what ROM your phone is running, and how well the camera functions, so it’s not a miracle solution to translation, but it might just help out significantly on a trip. Based on the Word Lens reviews, the translation was so so as of a month ago, so we’ll have to see how well it handles in Google Translate.
You can get Google Translate in the Play Store for free, but if it doesn’t show you the Word Lens functionality you’ll need to either wait until the updates rolls out to you or download a signed APK here.
If you’re concerned about downloading an APK from a third party, install Google Translate from the Play Store. Even if you install an old version when you attempt to update to the new APK you should get a signature mismatch if the new APK was tampered with.
[iTechTriad] Thanks Alex!
