When the folks over at Travis announced their voice translation device at CES we were a bit skeptical. Translation is as much an art form as it it letters on a page, so when you make the claim that you can simply speak your language and a device smaller than a standard wallet can speak back another language, you are making some huge claims.
After a few weeks with the Travis Touch Translator in the office we can say everything that Travis claimed this little piece of technology can do is accurate, if a little exaggerated in some minor ways. The Travis Touch Translator claims it can communicate in over 100 languages, and while I can’t attest to every single one, I can say that the most popular languages used around the world work like a charm.
This new model from Travis takes everything they learned from previous iterations and offers up a really simply interface and some powerful translation software all with the ease of a 2.4 inch LCD touch screen. Show this little device to people and their first question is going to be what kind of phone you are sporting.
The translation aspect of the Travis Touch Translator is fantastic and does something that no other device before it has been able to do –make the world a little bit smaller and easier to explore. It does this thanks to its online capabilities that skip the need to buy any sort of update cards like some devices have needed in the past just to try and keep current.
The A.I. the Travis Touch Translator is something to behold and well above my pay-grade to even begin to understand. But I can break it down in terms that we all can hopefully understand without a degree in what what people that create artificial intelligence programs have.
All you need to do is turn on the Travis Touch Translator and are presented with a really simple screen that’s easy to understand. You are presented with two country flags and you simply touch one to select your language and then touch the other for the language you want your voice translated into. Once you’ve set the parameters you press the button under the language being spoken then talk, that’s it.
The Travis Touch Translator works its magic and works its translation on the fly in a way that always brings smiles to everyones faces. The microphone almost never lets you down even with people speaking English with a slight accent. In fact, this understands people better than I can at times! The built-in speaker is pretty powerful but will cause some issues if out someplace loud, so thankfully you can plug in headphones to get work done.
Another feature of the Travis Touch Translator is that you don’t really have to actually touch anything outside a single button even though it has a touch screen. The device features voice commands to switch languages, although the commands don’t work very well, which is strange since the translation works so darn well. Add in simple micro-USB charging and a 12 hour battery and the Travis Touch Translator will last you though any day out.
And if that isn’t enough you can even use wireless charging so you don’t need any extra cables and you can even turn the device into a WiFi hotspot with a SIM card! Look, it should be pretty clear by now that this tiny device is packed full of all sorts of technology. But with all this tech magic and translation finesse you can bet you’ll be paying a premium for it. You’re looking at around $290 if my exchange rate calculations are correct. And that’s not to mention the extra charge for the import fees.
So after raving about the Travis Touch Translator (I love this thing if it wasn’t clear) I need to address some issues that keep it from true greatness –at least in this current iteration. The translation capabilities are amazing but they aren’t perfect. Words are easy to translate, but the style and position of those words aren’t so simple. You can’t simply translate a sentence spoken in English into another language as is.
If you understand the language (like Spanish and French in our testing) you can get by fine, but it’s not always perfect. The A.I. is damn impressive but it still needs some tweaks as the team continues to develop and update the software. Thankfully they seem committed to users as a number of small updates rolled out during our testing weeks and it’s far better than any other competitor out there, especially at this price point.
But the biggest issue isn’t so much the translation itself but the time it sometimes take to process what you are speaking, no matter how short you keep it. 8 out of 10 times things work great, but sometimes the processing time just seems to lock up forcing you to cancel out of the entire translation. It’s really annoying and could really cause some issues if you are working with this device.
And that’s really where the Travis Touch Translator works best –the business setting. Since we hit conventions of all types around the country, having the Travis Touch Translator in our bag opened what we could do, especially with regards to Japanese video game developers that we’d not usually be able to talk with without a professional, and very expensive, translator.
Sure, you aren’t going to be conducting huge conversations like something out of Star Trek, but for basic interviews and questions it works great, not to mention using it always gets people to open up more to tougher questions because it’s so cool to see in action. Lastly, the last perfect use for the Travis Touch Translator is if you do a lot of traveling overseas.
Imagine the ease of visiting a country in Europe and being able to speak with locals. Asking for directions is no longer an awkward experience, but now actually one that is a lot of fun. While we didn’t travel out of the country during our review time, we did hang out with some foreign travelers and after pulling out the Travis Touch Translator we all became fast friends. Sure, the drinks probably helped, but the Travis Touch Translator really did break down language walls.
The Travis Touch Translator is expensive, but if you have a use for it then it’s going to be an invaluable piece of kit. My mother works with Spanish speakers through some city services that help them and there families get help. Much of her time is translating English documents into Spanish and dealing with her staff that deals with the Hispanic community.
I let her borrow the Travis Touch Translator and take it into her department mostly just so she could fool around with it among colleagues, but things went from some fun in the office to conversations from higher-ups into how they could incorporate a few of these things in local offices where a translator isn’t readily available to deal with Spanish speakers.
The Travis Touch Translator is an amazing piece of kit that isn’t for everyone, but for that small niche of world travelers and businesses in communities with an English as a second language, it pays for itself 10 times over.
*A unit was provided for this review*
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