Google Translate app comes to iPhone
updated 03:20 pm EST, Tue February 8, 2011
Supports voice translation for 15 languages
Google has released the first native Google Translate app for iOS devices. Users can perform text translations between some 57 different languages, such as Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. While based on a Translate web app for the iPhone, the iOS title supports extra features including the ability to speak the phrases to be translated. Voice input is limited to 15 languages, although results can be translated into the full text range.
Translations can be read out loud in 23 languages, and accessed offline through a saved history. In the case of languages based on non-Latin characters, romanized spellings are used to help pronunciation. Dictionary lookups can be made for individual words and short phrases.
A small but significant option is the ability to zoom in on text translations via a fullscreen mode; this allows users to show a phrase to another person. The app is a free download, and requires only iOS 3.0 or later. At present there is no iPad-native interface.
