Microsoft targets Google with new Translator app on Windows 10

By Gabe Carey Published March 15, 2021

microsoft targets google with new translator app on windows 10 6283 windows10 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Fresh out of beta, the Microsoft Translator app has officially hit the Windows 10 Store, promising to work across all of your devices equipped with the OS. The app gives users access to text translation for up to 50 languages, voice translation for up to 18 languages, and even picture translation for when you need to know what’s written on a particular sign or document. Bolstering support for 19 different languages, picture translation uniquely lets users take a photograph of a sign or document with near instantaneous results — if you have a camera-equipped Windows 10 device at your disposal, that is.

Since emerging out of beta, the Translator app, Microsoft says, has been completely rewritten to take advantage of the hardware agnosticism of Windows 10’s universal app format. In a blog post, the company detailed what is offered by the changes that have been made to the app, leading to its publication:

“A truly responsive and refreshed user-experience that allows you to use it seamlessly across your Windows 10 PC experiences:
- Full screen on your favorite Windows 10 tablet
- Snapped to work alongside an app or website you need translation for on your tablet or laptop
- In a resizable floating window as a companion desktop app for your everyday productivity uses …
Pinning your favorite translations for easy access and the ability to look them up by translation type: text, voice, and camera
Search history and favorite translations in the handy integrated search bar
Easy access to the last 3 languages you translated from and to
Selection of the language dialect for the text-to-speech features is available for Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish so you can always be sure you have the right accent while translating during your travels
New languages supported for camera translations: Romanian, Serbian Cyrillic, and Slovak
Support for the newly launched Kiswahili language, including an offline downloadable language pack for all the times you don’t have access to Internet”

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Regardless of your preferred Windows 10 device, the app is available for free on the Windows 10 Store. Unfortunately, as a few user reviews have pointed out, the UI isn’t exactly pleasing to the eye, opting for a dull, desaturated gray-and-blue color scheme that only a mother could love. While it veers away from the minimalistic readability of Google Translate, though, it is apparently quite functional and offers a host of interesting features.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

A freelancer for Digital Trends, Gabe Carey has been covering the intersection of video games and technology since he was 16…

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