If you are looking for a real-time word translator app, the Word Lens app is for you.
All About Word Lens App
Word Lens is an application that uses augmented reality under Quest Visual.
It works by translating foreign language text. How? Using the app on your mobile phone, you simply have to scan or capture a foreign text.
Perhaps you are traveling abroad and you find a sign or a menu. To help you understand what it means, the Word Lens app can translate the message for you. Not to mention in real-time.
App Availability
In early 2015, the application was only available in Apple products. iPhone, iPod, and iPad, for instance. In some cases, it is also available on Android smartphones.
For iOs users, the application is for free in Apple’s iTunes. However, an in-app purchase is necessary to enable its translation features.
About the Developers
The following were the original developers of the Word Lens app, for instance:
- Otavio Good: former game developer and founder of the Quest Visual
- John DeWeese: formerly working for the Electronic Arts game Spore
- Maia Good
- Bryan Lin
- Eric Park
Google Acquired Word Lens App
Google, Inc. acquired Quest Visual in May 2014. As a result, the application was available free of charge to all users until January 2015.
Google did so by combining Word Lens capabilities into their Google Translate services.
Common Questions About the App
Which languages does the app support?
In its first app release, the translation feature is only available in English to Spanish and vice-versa. Since more translations are yet in planning.
Until 2011, the app added English to French and vice-versa. And then in 2021, another addition was available, for example:
- Italian to English (and vice versa)
- German to English (and vice versa)
- Portuguese to English (and vice versa)
- Russian to English (and vice versa)
Lastly, until 2014, under Google, Inc., the application released all language packs. Plus, it is available for free.
Is the Word Lens app accurate?
According to one of its developers, Otavio Good, he comments: “ … it’s not perfect, but perfect was not the goal.”.
The main purpose why this app was created was to help tourists when traveling. Perhaps to help them understand signs and menus along the road. But it is not 100% accurate.
The app best detects and translates clearly printed text. So it is not yet best for stylized and handwritten fonts.
Trivia: Ben Rooney of theWall Street Journal tested the app’s accuracy by testing it on books. He said that the app “managed to understand a page from Harry Potter y el Prisionero de Azkaban”.
App Alternatives
Here are other applications that can be alternatives to Word Lens App, for example:
- SpanishDict: is a free Spanish learning website. It offers a free dictionary, translator, video lessons, and flashcards of the Spanish language to English.
- Bingle Goggles: is a paid application available for Windows Phone. This app combines Facebook, Yahoo, Bing, and Google services in a single app.