On Thursday, Microsoft updated their Translator app to version 1.2. This update also brought along a few nifty features, one of those being support for Android Wear. So now when you travel and you run into someone that doesn’t know the same language as you, you can use Microsoft Translator to talk through Android Wear. However, Android Wear only works for one of the two participants. It’s still a pretty neat feature from Microsoft in this version of Translator.
Another feature brought into this version of Microsoft Translator is natural conversations. Which works with English, French, German, Italian, Spanish as well as Chinese (both Traditional and Simplified). Microsoft says that even more languages are coming soon. Additionally, translator conversation history is now tagged with your location. So you are able to review that particular conversation. Particularly useful for when you ask for directions and need to go back and make sure you’re going the right way. Definitely a useful feature for Microsoft Translator.
This update actually makes Microsoft Translator better than Google Translate in a couple of ways. One is that Google Translate doesn’t use Android Wear as a second screen, at least not yet. The other being that they support Chinese or Mandarin. Google does support it, but good luck trying to use it in China (although it’ll work in Hong Kong just fine, however the language barrier isn’t as big of a deal in Hong Kong compared to China). Since Google is blocked in China, it’s much tougher to use Google Translate in China, and often times it’s not as good as other services. So if you’re heading out of the country, no matter where that might be, taking Microsoft Translator along for the ride is definitely a good idea.
Currently, the update for Microsoft Translator is available on the Google Play Store for everyone. So if you have Microsoft Translator already installed, you can update it. And if not, you can download it and start using it. It’s definitely a good app to check out, for those that travel a lot and may not know another language or the language of the country they are traveling too.