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Google Goggles App Includes Text Translation

You may well wonder how an app that will run a search based on a photo will make use of language translation.

Well, by taking a snap shot of text in another language, Google Goggles will now translate it into something more legible for you.

This new feature in Google Goggles version 1.1 looks to have a number of applications, like figuring out what a Bavarian roadsign says, or avoiding cuisses de grenouilles from a Parisian menu.

The updated app currently supports English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations. For those of you looking to go further afield though, it will soon provide Chinese, Hindi and Arabic support.

Goggles v1.1 comes with better barcode, artwork and logo recognition, and will also perform searches based on images in your phone's photo gallery.

google goggles version 1.1 android 1.6 new features app market

Currently, Google Goggles struggles to identify items within a photograph, and in testing out the app, we've rarely had a correct search performed from a photo.

In saying that, Google is working on perfecting the art of visual search, with this update a first step.

"The Google Goggles team is working on solving the technical challenges required to make computers see," Google Mobile said on its official blog.

"Computer vision is a hard problem. While we are excited about Goggles v1.1, we know that there are many images that we cannot yet recognise."

To make use of this new feature, you will need a device on Android 1.6 or higher.

Head over to the Android Market to download Google Goggles v1.1, or you can scan the bar code from the Google Mobile blog.

Have you tried out Google Goggles? Leave us a comment and share your thoughts on the app.

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An absolute tech junky, I graduated from the University of Manchester with a degree in Computing and now live on the outskirts of Leeds working with you guessed it, Computers. I love all things gadgety but really dislike wires. For those of you who haven’t worked it out the name of the site is a combination of my nickname (Gaj) and the pronunciation ‘Gadget’.
UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping
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