Google Googles stops taking the long way but keeps making noise

picture from Wikipedia

Google Googles is a great picture identifier, a good text and business card scanner, a useful translation app, a quick'n'dirty barcode scanner, sudoku solver, and a few things more.

But it has two things going against it.

A couple of updates ago Goggles got a start screen with picture shooting as an option. That extra screen meant you couldn't shoot pictures straight after opening the app anymore. The last update removed the extra screen, so you can start shooting without delay. Just like you could do with the very old versions of the app.

They didn't fix second flaw yet. When you shoot a picture and send it to Google, the Goggles app spits out a very loud and annoying beep. There's no way to switch it off, short of decompiling the APK and hunting down the code that generates that horrible beeping noise. Even if you put your phone in silent mode Goggles keeps screaming.

Time for Google to ditch the beep. While they're working on the app anyway, they can integrate it with their other Android search apps. Search, voice search, gesture search, and Goggles all in a single super search app, why didn't Google make this already?

• Google Goggles

Google Translate goes offline

Speak unconnected

When do you really need to translate something from one language to another? When you're in a foreign country where nobody speaks a language you understand and vice versa. This often means you're in a place where international data roaming charges are even more scandalous than politics, so you definitely need a translation app that works when all data connections are off.

That meant that Google Translate was out of the question, because every word had to pass Google HQ before being sent back to you in another language.

But not anymore, because now Google Translate works offline.

To make it work you need to download the languages you want to use offline. At over 200 MB apiece you'll want to do that when you're still in a place with fast free WiFi. But once the language files sit on your memory card you can translate words and phrases without paying a fortune for that measly single bar of wireless signal out in the jungle.

Some offline things still off

Offline translation works for words and short phrases, but as text gets longer the translations become increasingly inaccurate. Online translation taps into a bigger database, but it also suffers from the Babelfish effect. I wouldn't use Google Translate for an eBook, neither online nor offline.

If you got the right text-to-speak languages installed, Google Translate can do the talking for you offline. If you let your phone or tablet play online it will speak non-installed languages too, and the voices sound more natural. Tiny little oversight: Google Translate speaks brazilian portuguese, but it won't talk in the original european style.

Not everything works offline (yet). Voice input and handwriting recognition only work online. You also need a live internet connection when you want to translate text on pictures, just like with Google Goggles. So if you want to translate the menu, look for a restaurant with free WiFi.

Speak no evil, hear no evil Speak evil, hear evil

Sometimes a single word says more than a thousand pictures, and if you really need to tell the truth to that taxi driver that took you back the long way Google can help you out. Google Translate doesn't censor the expletives that make Mrs. Cook blush, so I guess the app store from Apple gets a Disneyfied version of the app.

Translating your dirty words can be a bit off, though. The worlds most popular four-letter word in the screenshot above got translated correctly in portuguese, but Google translated the spanish version a bit too freely. If you've seen the movie Rec you know that the literal translation would have done the job just fine.

Talk together

The update to Google Translate is a big improvement, but it's not enough to replace all the other translators on your Android. I keep two other dictionary apps on my phone.

QuickDic only translates single words, and its speech output doesn't work on my phone. I keep it because it has Wiktionary and explains the meaning of words in addition to translating them. And it has lots of languages that are missing in Google Translate, like basque, bengali, kurdish, and zulu.

Euro Dictionary has a very limited vocabulary, but it translates the important words of thirteen european languages offline without need to download hundreds of megabytes of language packs.

• Google Translate
• QuickDic and Euro Dictionary

QuickDic adds new dictionaries, talks

QuickDic is one of the better free offline dictionary apps for Android. It has a minimalist interface, it doesn't have ads, it only asks for Android permissions it really needs, and it's fast.

It's dictionaries are pretty good too, as long as one of the languages in the pair is english. And since they're stored on your phone, you can look up words abroad without paying for international data roaming.

The latest update adds more language pairs. It's a good idea to update the dictionaries you already downloaded, because they've got more words now. New: single language dictionaries with thorough descriptions, etymology, and an experimental text-to-speech feature that didn't work on my phone. I could see the reference to the ogg sound files, but they didn't do anything. Well, you have to start somewhere. Hopefully the next update will sort the speech thing out.

• QuickDic

More good Android dictionary apps:

• Euro Dictionary and DictionaryForMIDs

Bug squashed in offline dictionary QuickDic

QuickDic is one of the better free offline dictionary apps for Android if you want to translate words into english, or from english into other languages.

QuickDic pulls its dictionaries from Wiktionary. Its dictionaries for Western European languages are very good (the dictionaries for other languages not so), and once you've downloaded your dictionaries into QuickDic you can look up words while abroad without dealing with international data roaming charges.

The app is lightning fast. Its uncompressed dictionaries take a lot of space, but that's what those giant microSD cards are for.

Its user interface is minimalist, but managing your dictionaries got a little easier in recent updates. The dictionary list could be designed better, but the new option to switch languages by long-pressing the language button is definitely an improvement. The bug that kept pulling you into the dictionary list is gone too.

What QuickDic needs now is better dictionaries for non-european languages, and language pairs with a base language other than english. But that's in the hands of the folks at Wiktionary.

• QuickDic

Other free offline dictionary apps:

• Euro Dictionary and DictionaryForMIDs
• Offline dictionaries

Offline dictionaries for Android: user interface of Euro Dictionary got a tiny little bit better, but keep a copy of DictionaryForMIDs

There are plenty of dictionary and translation apps for Android that tap into Google Translate, but if you need a free offline translator there's not much choice.

The Android port of DictionaryForMIDs lets you download many dictionaries (including WordNet and an ancient version of Webster). Too bad that its user interface is a mess.

The user interface of Euro Dictionary is equally bad. Most screen space is unused, with almost every option hidden under the menu button. Not that there are many options, though.

The latest version of Euro Dictionary adds language pair reversal, so you don't have to scroll the language list twice to switch from english-french to french-english. This option is hidden in the menu instead of being available in the main screen. Worse yet, it's not accessible from the start screen, so you'll need to do a dummy translation before you can reverse languages.

The dictionaries of Euro Dictionary are not that good. It only supports 11 languages, the vocabularies are limited, and most four letter words are missing.

On the bright side, Euro Dictionary will speak the words if you tap 'em. The language has to be supported by Android's text to speak engine to make it work, so you may need to download extra languages.

DictionaryForMIDs has better dictionaries and many more languages, but Euro Dictionary supports text to speech. Maybe they'll join forces one day to produce a really good free offline dictionary and translation powerhouse? Until then, don't choose. Just use both of 'em.

• Euro Dictionary (Android Market)
• DictionaryForMIDs (Android Market)
• DictionaryForMIDs (SourceForge)