A logo sits illuminated outside the Microsoft pavilion on the opening day of the World Mobile Congress at the Fira Gran Via Complex on Feb. 22, 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo : Getty Images)
Microsoft's Translator app has been benefiting millions of smartphone users and now it can expect more installs since an image translation feature has been added to the Android platform. Windows phone had image translation since 2010 and iPhones got it earlier in February.
Microsoft Translator app on Play Store was last updated on April 19 and it introduced its new image recognition feature. The productivity app boasts translation in 21 languages with real-time support. This new development first arrived on iPhones back in February, Engadget reported.
The new image recognition feature works when a user points the smartphone camera at a sign or menu bearing any of the supported languages, the application automatically shows the translated meaning on the display.
Currently, the image recognition supports Arabic, Chinese, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Persian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Urdu among the major languages. The update also introduced a few new languages.
Among other updates apart from bug fixes, texts can now be translated without having to switch to the translator app, but this feature only works on Android Marshmallow. Additionally, now users can download 34 additional languages pack to translate foreign languages in offline mode.
Android version of the Microsoft Translator has an accumulative rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars from about 16,000 users. It is worth noticing that 21-language support is an only restriction for image translation feature because the app is able to translate over 50 languages, according to Play Store. The translation can also be shared across other apps.
Being able to read the street sign written in an unknown language is an awesome feature that has arrived a little late for Android, considering Microsoft's own Windows phone has had it for almost six years. The software behind this amazing capability is the tech giant's Deep Learning engine that also drives Bing's and Skype's translation options.
This new feature may be new but it is not groundbreaking because Google Translate's Android app brought image recognition in 2012. The following video reviews Microsoft Translator app and highlights its most useful features on the go.
