Google has released a version of its translation service that is specifically tailored to Apple's iPhone. Google’s Google Translate service, now has a version with an extremely iPhone-friendly user interface. On Thursday the company launched a new version of its Translate service that lets anyone convert their native tongue into one of the other 23 available languages.
The service works using the Apple handset's Safari browser, a data connection is needed most of the time--previously searched phrases and words are, however, stored on the phone itself for future access. The service can translate text between 24 languages, including Mandarin, French, and Japanese.
Two of Google's developers have joined forces and came up with Google Translate for iPhone. Built on the AJAX Language API, the Google Translate Web page for iPhone supports all the languages that are available via the regular online translation page. Even more, it automatically stores your translations on the iPhone, allowing you to access them every time you want, even without being connected to the Internet.
"Our basic mobile strategy is making sure all of our products work on mobile devices, so it's a step in that direction," said Google's representative. "(The service) builds on the Google Languages (application programming interface), which we made public around a year ago, so the only bit we built specially was the iPhone interface. It's a tool anyone could build, but we built it to integrate with the other Google products for the iPhone."
The service was developed by a software engineer from Google UK's advertising business, Allen Hutchison. According to the representative, Hutchison built it "in a matter of weeks." Other Google products that have come out of the "20 percent time" policy have included Gmail and Google News.
iPhone owners can access the enhanced Google Translate and it's all free of charge, just like in the case of the desktop version of the website. Still, you should note that, since it relies on a Web connection when translating texts, the new iPhone optimized service might cost a few bucks for those who do not have an unlimited data plan with their mobile carrier. According to the Google Blog, in 1MB of data, you will get about 200 – 400 translations, which means that even if you translate a lot of text, it's unlikely that you have to pay too much.
Sure, some might say that Google Translate is not at all the perfect translation machine, but it can definitely provide a lot of help when trying, for example, to decipher a Web page written in a language that you are not familiar with.
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