A new iPhone app known as Word Lens will translate Spanish or English phrases instantly on the screen when you point your device's camera lens at the foreign language words.
The futuristic app made its debut in the App Store Thursday, and is currently the number nine app in Apple's top 10 free apps. Word Lens, from San Francisco-based Quest Visual, is free to download and includes two free features - reverse words and erase words. The Spanish to English function or English to Spanish feature, however, currently cost $4.99 each to download as part of a 50 percent off sale that ends December 31.
Word Lens is being marketed as a travel app. Not sure what the menu in that Madrid sidewalk cafe is offering? Point your iPhone's camera at the menu and it will translate right in front of you. For those concerned about racking up data charges while abroad, Quest Visual said the feature works without an Internet connection. There is also the option to look up translations by typing words into the app's dictionary.
The free features are pretty self-explanatory. With reverse words, point your iPhone at a word and Word Lens will spell it backwards. Erase words simply blurs out words.
At this point, Word Lens is best used on printed text like signs and menus and does not work on handwriting or stylized fonts. Quest Visual warns that "it's not perfect, but you can get the general meaning." The company recommends holding the phone at least one hand-length away from the text.
Word Lens works with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, or iPod touch with a video camera. Other languages are in the works, the company said.
In a quick test on an iPhone 4, the Spanish to English translation was a bit jumpy, but as Quest Visual said, I got the general meaning and overall, it's pretty impressive. Pointing my phone at the company's Twitter feed on my computer screen, the app quickly translated its first tweet: "bienvenido al futuro" into "welcome to the future" (click above for larger image). I imagine it could be quite useful when I head to Barcelona in February for Mobile World Congress, especially since it won't eat into my iPhone data plan.
PCMag will post a full review later today, but in the meantime, check out the slideshow below. Quest Visual also posted a video demo online.
Source:http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2374474,00.asp
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