The team has decided to make both the Word Lens app and the additional language packs free to download for a limited time, “while we transition to Googleâ€. If you haven’t tried out Word Lens yet, you should do so right now, while it’s still available.
So what does the app really do ? Quest Visual’s technology to detect text in a live video feed coming from your iPhone’s camera. It then replaces foreign language words and sentences with an appropriate translation – matching fonts and graphics, in real time!
Quest Visual writes on its homepage:
Quest Visual is joining Google!
With Word Lens, we’ve seen the beginnings of what’s possible when we harness the power of mobile devices to “see the world in your language.â€
By joining Google, we can incorporate Quest Visual’s technology into Google Translate’s broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future.
As a thank you to everybody who supported us on our journey, we’ve made both the app and the language packs free to download for a limited time while we transition to Google.
We’re looking forward to continuing our work at Google – stay tuned!
One word (actually, two): Google Glass.
Word Lens handles all processing directly on the device, in real-time, so no network connection is needed whatsoever! The technology isn’t without its pitfalls. For instance, the app won’t recognize handwriting or stylized fonts as it works best when used on clearly printed text like signs, menus and what not.
Watch Word Lens in action in Apple’s ‘Powerful’ promo below.
What do you think ?
