Pocketalk Plus Voice Translation Review: Multilingual Miracle

When we start Carefully consider the idea of ​​traveling again-at least in those Coronavirus disease The situation is not On the rise——A young man’s fantasy turned into an idea of ​​visiting a foreign land where he does not speak his native language.My recent review Ambassador Translation Reveals an option to spend in places where there is no lingua franca, but requiring each speaker to wear a special Bluetooth headset makes it a bit awkward, especially if you just want to find out what’s in the soup.

Pocketalk Plus provides the same concept-real-time, voice-based, two-way translation-but in a simplified package. Instead of headsets and telephone intermediaries, everyone can directly talk to a device the size of a small cell phone. In fact, for all intents and purposes, Pocketalk Plus Yes A mobile phone is just a mobile phone with a completely different purpose.

This rectangular device measures 5 x 2.5 inches and weighs 4.4 ounces. It offers a color touch screen, side volume control, and “operate” buttons at the bottom of the plastic case. The system includes Wi-Fi and global cellular radio, and can connect to the Internet in more than 130 countries. This is critical because Pocketalk relies on the cloud for translation; it does not have its own real intelligence. In addition, it is important to note that the included SIM card is only valid for two years after activation. There is also a camera on the back, which you can use to take photos of text and return a printed translation. Charging is done through the USB-C port.

Conversation with this device is simple: choose two languages ​​and hold the button to have a conversation. Release the button, the system will quickly convert what you are speaking into another language, display the translation in text form on the screen and play it aloud. When the other party is ready to respond, just tap the icon on the screen to flip the translation direction and repeat the process. This will pause the conversation, but with a little practice, it will become quite natural. In any case, it is better than trying to point out and pantomime trying to convey information.

The self-contained nature of the system makes it easier to use than ambassadors, although I find that Pocketalk sometimes confuses who is speaking, reverses the direction of translation, or, in other words, translates Spanish back to Spanish-even when the interface says otherwise. There is also a beta feature that should allow you to translate between two languages ​​without pressing a button, but it is obviously not ready for prime time, and sometimes does not work at all during my testing. The unresponsive touch screen (800 x 480 pixels) and the low-resolution camera are outdated, and although the device claims a battery life of 192 hours, I can only manage two-thirds of it.

The good news is that Pocketalk Plus works well when everything goes well. It supports an amazing number of languages-currently there are 61 audio and text languages, 21 text-only languages, including some surprising choices such as Marathi, Sundanese Other languages ​​and Esperanto. Through software updates, this number will continue to expand with other upgrades. If you are going to pack for two or more foreign trips, putting it in your bag seems like a breeze.

That is, of course, unless you are just using a mobile application on your phone to do the job. More and more applications can perform limited speech-to-speech translation, but they need to pay a subscription fee of $40 per year. In addition, you need to arrange for international mobile phone services to use them. None of the available applications seem to have the extensive language support provided by Pocketalk, but they may be suitable for, for example, two weeks of use in mainstream Asian markets.

Considering the alternative, the price requirement of Pocketalk Plus at $299 is very high-after two years, you must pay an additional $50 per year to renew its SIM card. This is a difficult economic proposition, especially with the improvement of application-based translators, although the convenience, simplicity and language breadth of the Pocketalk device is definitely a big advantage.

I think talking is not cheap after all.