In this blog, I will be talking about an app that I found while I was scrolling through the app store. It is an app called Word Lens which was created by an American company called ‘Quest Visual’ that translates text from one language to another.
The app uses the cameras on smartphones to detect foreign text and translate it into the user’s language. The words are displayed in the same font, on the same background as the original text, but the words are in a language that the user will be able to understand.
When the the camera is pointed to the text that needs to be translated, the app will
translate it and display the result in a real-time image of the graphic, or there is an option that allows the user to take a picture of it if they are not able to stand there while the apps translating it.
This app has been around for a few years, but it has only just become popular on the market because of the improvements made to it. The first few versions of the app were very slow, and some of the text was not read, therefore it was not translated. The newest version translates and displays the text to the user in seconds, but it still cannot translate text that is in cursive. Quest Visual have said that they are working on making recognising and translating text in cursive possible and want to have it up on the market by next year.
As well as translating a piece of text into the user’s language, the app can also translate the user’s language into another.
One of the greatest features of this app, is that it can be used with no network connection, so when traveling, the user does not have to worry about finding a network connection just so they can translate something. This is also good in case of emergencies when the user is in a different country where they do not know the language. If they get lost, they can get out their phone and translate one of the signs and make their way back to where they are staying, or to a place where they can get some help.
The demo version is available for download for free on any Apple or Android device. The demo version allows the user to translate from Spanish, Italian and French to English and vise versa. On the paid version, you have a range of 30 languages that you can translate to and from.
Quest Vision is now partners with Google, and the app is now being used on Google Glass so that users that have Glass can easily translate text without having to get out their phone and holding it to the text. Google is also working on making the full version of the game free for all phones that have access to the Google Play Store because they think that it should be something everyone should have on their device.
