Microsoft Translator For Android Gains Powerful Image Translation Functionality

It used to feel like Microsoft did whatever it could to not bring its technologies and software solutions to Android, but today, there are literally dozens of Microsoft apps available for the platform. Thankfully, many of them continue to get better and better.

The latest improvement comes to Microsoft Translator, a solution the Redmond company would like to make a jack-of-all-trades. The latest update helps that become a reality by matching Google Translate's ability to decipher foreign language text from a sign, piece of paper nearly anywhere.

If you've ever used Google Translate's auto-translate feature, you're probably aware that it's sometimes hit-or-miss. For a good chance at a successful translation, you need to make sure the font isn't too cluttered, and that you actually give your phone the best chance to translate. The image at the top of this post was done with our test of the latest version of Microsoft Translate, and overall, we're very pleased with the result.

Microsoft itself shows a great example of how its updated Translate app could come in handy: traffic signs. We're sure it doesn't need to be said, but you should really avoid doing this kind of detection while driving!

The image translation feature in Microsoft Translator currently supports 21 languages. It's worth noting that iOS users have been able to enjoy this functionality since February, so if you Apple users haven't paid attention, here's your push to check it out as well!

In addition to the image translation feature, Microsoft has also added inline translation in this update, as well as 34 new languages to the software's repertoire, giving us a total of 43.