Google Translate for iPhone enters the App Store

Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) unveiled a new version of its Translate application optimized for rival Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)'s iPhone, enabling consumers to translate words or phrases across more than 50 languages. A Google Translate HTML5 web app tailored for the iPhone first surfaced in mid-2008--writing on the Official Google Mobile Blog, software engineer Wenzhang Zhu notes the new solution includes all of the web app's features as well as a series of new enhancements. In addition to text-based translation tools, Google Translate for iPhone accepts voice input for 15 languages--in addition, the app leverages speech synthesizer technologies introduced last month alongside the desktop version of Google Translate, enabling users to listen to translations spoken back in one of 23 languages.

Google Translate for iPhone also features a full-screen option giving users the flexibility to enlarge translated text: "This way, it's much easier to read the text on the screen, or show the translation to the person you are communicating with," Zhu explains. Consumers may also view dictionary results for single words, access starred translations and translation history when offline, and employ romanized text like Pinyin and Romaji. Google Translate for iPhone is available for iPhone and iPod touch devices running iOS 3.0 and above.

For more:
- read this Official Google Mobile Blog entry

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