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Google Translate has just seen a beautiful new update in the Play Store this evening. The entire app has been given the “Holo” theme treatment, making the app feel right at home on your Android 4.0 device. Users are noticing how scary accurate the handwriting recognition is (spot on with the above chicken scratch).
Can’t help but wonder if this is something Google has been working on behind the scenes for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. No matter, give it a try for yourself in the new Google Translate update currently available in the Google Play Store.
Really nice update.
The handwriting recognition is network based; try it with Airplane mode on. If this is anything like their voice to text, I wonder what they are collecting the handwriting data for.
EXACTLY… O_o
Oh, so you want every bit of handwriting downloaded to your phone? Or would you rather they stored it on their servers so you have what feels like instant access?
Fire them an email if you want your 32gb phone filled up so you can translate “fuck” and “shit” without google seeing.
it’s like Voice App, the more voices and accents they collect, the better the service will be. not all handwriting are equal…just like the chicken scratch seen above (sorry chris! lol)
Feels like Google is collecting everything.
Perhaps one day DNA samples?
A modern day Noah’s Ark :P
They have so much information on us, it’s scary o_o
If the human race ever perish, aliens would be able to derive an accurate human culture from Google’s servers :P
ICS is just SO SEXY. I wish every app would get an ICS overhaul and look like this!
The English/Spanish translation is wrong so they better spent the time improving the underneath technology and leave the UI for later on.
If anyone is interested: […] ¿Tiene este pañuelo olor a cloroformo para usted? (machine translation I’d expect) […] ¿Le huele este pañuelo a cloroformo? (natural way of saying it)
This happens with all languages. Computers don’t understand language and, since there is no such thing as direct translations across languages, it’s hard to create 1-to-1 glosses especially when you’re dealing with completely different syntactical structures. Use products like Google translation to get an idea of what something says, not to pass an exam or anything.
Exactly, while I completely apreciate hearing a correction from a native speaker, I generally just use Google Translate to understand what someone is talking about.
It’s absolutely amazing that you can literally translate entire texts and webpages and be able to understand the majority of the content with ease. Just a few years ago, such a feat would have been much more difficult and dictionary-dependent.
It’s definitely nice seeing technology beginning to break down language barriers between people, and while I’ll always promote learning other languages, for quick translations Google has made it a breeze
Really nice upgrade….thanks for the heads up