Google on Tuesday said that the company is extending the camera-based translation feature found on the Google Lens into the Google Assistant on the KaiOS devices in India. The company said that the KaiOS users in India can now use the Assistant to translate a real-world text into their own preferred language. Google said that the real-word text can include a product label, street sign or a document. The camera-based translation feature of the Lens was introduced at the Google I/O developer conference in 2019.
Google Seeks to Eliminate Language Barriers in India
With the camera-based translation, a Lens user can point the phone camera at a text and translate it to more than 100 languages. Crucially, the user can also enable Lens to speak out the text into their own preferred language.
The extended feature introduced on Tuesday enables KaiOS users in India to launch the camera icon on the Assistant and point their device at a real-world text for live translation.
“This is another step in our commitment to make language more accessible to everyone, and we hope this will enable millions of KaiOS users across the country to have a more seamless language experience,” Google said in a release on Tuesday.
The company highlighted that the users can launch the Google Assistant on KaiOS by long pressing the center button from the home screen.
Google Assistant Translation Available in Multiple Indian Language
The users will have to hit the right soft key within the assistant to activate the camera-based translation feature on KaiOS.
Google said that the extended translation feature is currently available for English and multiple Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi and Tamil. The company said that the translation feature will also be “soon” available in Kannada and Gujarati.
“In India, our rich diversity of languages presents an exciting challenge especially in the context of millions of new users coming online every day,” the company said. “Nine out of ten of these new users are non-English speakers. While many would be fluent at speaking and understanding their native language, there are others who might struggle when it comes to reading and writing it.”
The KaiOS is said to power 36 devices around the world including the JioPhone and Nokia 8110 4G dubbed as The Banana Phone.
