Microsoft Translator arrives to Google Play

When it comes to translation apps, Google Translate is among the best out there, especially with its relatively recent addition of Word Lens instant video translations. So can Microsoft knock it off its pedestal? While it’s hard to say without spending more time with it, Microsoft Translator has now arrived to Google Play giving us another solid alternative.

Microsoft Translator doesn’t offer anything quite like Word Lens and in some ways isn’t quite as powerful as Google Translate, but it’s text-to-speech language support is very robust, the UI is pretty decent looking, and there is full support for Android Wear. Here’s a quick breakdown of Microsoft Translator’s capabilities, as found on their official app listing:

• On your watch: Speak to your watch and get an instant translations in 50 languages
• Not sure how to pronounce the translation? Let Translator speak the phrase for you.
• Noisy environment? Just show someone your watch or phone. In addition, on the phone, large full-screen translation cards make it easy to show others what you’re trying to communicate
• Bookmark your translations for later use
• All your translations are synchronized between your watch and your phone, settings too
• On the phone companion app, in addition to speech translations from your watch’s language, you can select other speech languages or you can type on your keyboard (really useful for noisy places!). You can also copy & paste translations from and to other apps

Keep in mind we’ve ran into a lot of comments on the web about the app not being compatible with a number of devices or regions, though we expect this to change in the hours, days, and weeks to come. For what it is worth, both my Nexus 5 and HUAWEI Mate 7 were recognized as compatible.

Anyone try Microsoft Translator yet? If so, what do you think so far?