New iPhone App Takes Down Language Barrier
January 3, 2011
¿Usted quiere oír la cosa más asombrosa nunca? ¿Habla usted español? ¿No?
Without Spanish language skills or time to correctly type this into an online translator, you may not realize I just asked if you wanted to hear about the most amazing thing ever. A new post on gizmag.com entitled World Lens app turns your phone into a real-time translator details what has just incited giddiness across the tech community: the latest in translation tools. Quest Visual has brought the future into the palm of our hands with its recently introduced “World Lens” for the iPhone, an application that uses your phone’s camera to “view printed words and translate them into another language as you watch.” You can expect modest photo editing options such as cropping and zoom, and what camera would not be complete without a flash? If that was not good enough, the process is near instantaneous while still maintaining the texts original color and font.
There are noted limitations. First, Spanish is the only language currently available. Don’t be too disappointed though as the programmers are working on others, promising to continue until they “get all the way across the globe.” Also, it is only compatible with iPhone 4, iPhone 3Gs and the camera-equipped iPod Touch, so other users, including Android fans, are out of luck at this time. Finally, even Quest Visual recognizes that the translation will not always be exact; they do promise you will always walk away from the situation with the right idea.
I did notice a couple of reviews on the iTunes website stating that it was lame to give the application away for free only to turn around and charge five dollars for the plug-in languages (which is in fact the pricing model). Seriously? This novel instrument is straight out of a science-fiction novel, gadgetry many never expected to see in their lifetimes. We should be so lucky it only costs five dollars to own this incredible capability.
Sarah Rogers, January 3, 2011
Freebie
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One Response to “New iPhone App Takes Down Language Barrier”
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Quick FYI, the app’s name is “Word Lens”, not “World Lens”.