This service is another way in a chat application that presents a two-way conversation system that is on the one hand your language and on the other your partner’s language, reversed. There are no buttons in this setting: each speaker can microphone speaking on either side of the handheld, and the translation plays and displays on the side of the screen. This is the same concept as click translation, but not least.
Another major feature is a photo-based translation application that is fully qualified with text images you think should be passed through a foreign language. The unit supports 40 languages, many with multiple dialects, and has support for “93+ accents”. If you are online, you can connect via Wi-Fi or over a cellular network, and you can convert any of these languages into other languages.
But the killer feature of T1 is that you can download offline language packs that rely on the unit’s AI-driven CPU to translate text no connect. The device supports 31 offline language pairs, but please note that this is different from 31 languages. The Korean to Thailand translation is supported, and the South Korea to Russia is supported, but you cannot translate Thai into Russia unless you are online. For English, only 10 pairs of languages are supported, and each combination you wish to use must be downloaded to the device in advance when you have a connection.
Photo: Chris Null
The translation is fast (if not completed within 0.2 seconds of the time claim), and the accuracy is as good as any standard translator I tested it. This is a more intuitive way of translation than using Google Translate (etc.) on smartphones, although today’s Google approach seems to be well known worldwide, reducing that advantage.
In a series of language tests, I didn’t notice any real difference in quality or speed between online and offline translations, and many of my text-based translations are the same (perhaps suspicious) results I got with Google Translate. Sound translations aren’t perfect, as they never use these devices, but they roughly satisfy 90% of the accuracy Timekle promises. Make sure you run an OS update (you won’t be prompted to do so; this option is buried in the Settings menu) to make the handover between offline and online modes more seamless.
Screen dilemma
The only major drawback of the device is the screen, which has a sad 540 x 1080 pixel resolution, making it difficult to capture too many captures once with an 8-megapixel camera. While I can easily shoot full-screen text with my phone for translation, due to limited resolution, the T1 can analyze only a few lines at a time. When I zoom in, the results are usually wrong or completely illegible. Finally, you need to get close to the text to be able to translate correctly using the T1’s camera.
Photo: Chris Mull
