Over the course of the last 12 months, Microsoft has transformed their mobile strategy from something a little cringeworthy into something that’s quite exciting to mobile consumers. The push to support, and even embrace the two main mobile eco-systems – Android and Apple – has seen a number of great products launched, and today they’ve announced Microsoft Translator for Android Wear.
The Microsoft Translator app, which is also available for the Apple Watch, allows you to translate directly from your watch with instant translations in 50 languages. The app is quite smart as well allowing you to pin commonly used translations on your watch face – say ordering a your breakfast in a certain language every morning while you’re visiting a country. The app also allows for convenience, letting you browse through recently used phrases.
While there’s a focus on the Android Wear component with the announcement, there’s also a phone app you can use to translate on the phone when you want to type your query out – if it’s noisy where you are or just simply don’t want to talk to your watch. The app can also read out translations to you to ensure your pronunciation is correct.
The app itself is quite good looking, it’s definitely got a Windows Phone feel to parts of the interface as well as that very distinct font, but there’s also some nice touches like the card layout and overall it’s an easy to read interface.
The app is available to download from Google Play – or the App Store – for free right now, try it out now and see how it compares.
Very soon Microsoft will have a product to rival everything put out by Google. Except better in most cases. Android will become a decent platform for corporates soon.