Google Turns iPhone Into Universal Translation Device

Mountain View (CA) - Google’s online translation service is one of the most valuable free translation tools available today. However, it did not work very well on mobile platforms until recently, forcing travelers to bring their pocket translators along. That scenario, however, could change with a Google Translate version that is optimized for the iPhone.

Despite the fact that iPhone is believed to have the best mobile web browser of all handsets out there, some web sites do not work at all and no, we are not referring to Flash-heavy sites this time. Especially problematic are some web applications that rely on AJAX technology such as Google Translate, a popular translation service that can translate words, sentences or entire web sites into any of the supported language translation pairs. Currently, 23 individual languages are supported.

A translation service is a nice feature for iPhone and iPod touch users who travel quite a bit as they could use the handset as a pocket translator (if they can accept the roaming charges when a Wi-Fi network is not in reach.) But Google’s web page didn’t work well on the iPhone so Google introduced a new iPhone-optimized interface for Google Translate. The service is still accessed through the Safari web browser at translate.google.com, but it is also available through the "More" tab found on the Google home page.

The new interface is said to be optimized for speed and enables quick access to all Google Translate features. All of the existing translation language pairs are supported and new languages are automatically added to the iPhone version of Google Translate immediately after Google adds them to the main service. What surprise us is the fact that you can always access your past translations anytime, even if you do not have data access, thanks to the AJAX and the client-side data-storage on your iPhone.

Google said that 1 MB of data can carry between 200 and 400 translations. The search giant estimated that 400 phrases could be translated for less than $10 when roaming internationally, but that, of course, depends on the country you are visiting and your carrier’s roaming service terms.