If you still think the smartphone camera is just for pictures and selfies, it means you’ve missed AR, VR and the Pokemon Go; this Google App will help you think again. Word Lens is a new feature in Google Translate App, available to both Android and iOS device.
Google Japan on Thursday announced the Japanese language as the 30th language to be added to the App available for offline and on the go translation of written text. The blog post mentions the benefit of the App feature as a travel companion in foreign countries.
The Google Translate app already lets you snap a photo of Japanese text and get a translation for it in English. But it’s a whole lot more convenient if you can just point your camera and instantly translate text on the go. With Word Lens, you just need to fire up the Translate app, point your camera at the Japanese text, and the English translations will appear overlaid on your screen—even if you don’t have an Internet or data connection.
Although Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa are not available for physical text translation, one can still get translation by typing text into the App.
