Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    What's Hot

    Leak suggests new Philips Hue lights will have direct Matter support

    August 29, 2025

    Microsoft’s next annual update for Windows 11 is in Release Preview testing

    August 29, 2025

    TikTok is now letting everyone DM each other with voice memos and pictures

    August 29, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Subscribe
    Technology Mag
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Home
    • News
    • Business
    • Games
    • Gear
    • Reviews
    • Science
    • Security
    • Trending
    • Press Release
    Technology Mag
    Home » The Timekettle T1 Is an Adept Global Translator That’ll Work Even Offline
    Gear

    The Timekettle T1 Is an Adept Global Translator That’ll Work Even Offline

    News RoomBy News RoomJuly 13, 20253 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit WhatsApp Email

    This service is skinned another way in the Chat app, which presents a two-way conversation system, with your language on one side and your partner’s language on the other, upside-down. There’s no button-pressing in this setup: Each speaker simply talks into a microphone on either side of the handheld, and a translation is both played and displayed in text on their side of the screen. It’s the same concept as the one-click translation, but more hands-free.

    The other major feature is a photo-based translation app, which works exactly as you think it should by snapping a picture of text in a foreign language. The unit supports 40 languages, many with multiple dialects, and boasts support for “93+ accents.” Any of those languages can be translated into any other if you’re online, either via Wi-Fi or connected via a cellular network.

    But the killer feature of the T1 is that you can download offline language packs, which lean on the unit’s AI-powered CPU to translate text when you’re not connected. The device supports 31 offline language pairs, but note that’s not the same as 31 languages. Korean-to-Thai translation is supported, as is Korean-to-Russian, but you can’t translate Thai to Russian unless you’re online. For English, only 10 language pairs are supported, and each combination you wish to use must be downloaded to the device in advance, when you do have a connection.

    Photograph: Chris Null

    Translations are fast—if not quite completed in the 0.2 seconds that Timekettle claims—and accuracy was as good as any standard translator I tested it against. It was a more intuitive way to translate audio than using Google Translate (et al.) on a smartphone, though the Google method seems to be well understood globally these days, mitigating that advantage.

    I didn’t notice any real difference in quality or speed between online and offline translations across a range of language tests, and many of my text-based translations turned in identical results (perhaps suspiciously so) to what I got with Google Translate. Voiced translations aren’t perfect, as they never are with these devices, but they roughly met the 90 percent accuracy that Timekettle promises. Make sure to run an operating system update (you won’t be prompted to do so; the option is buried in the “Settings” menu) to make the handoff between offline and online modes more seamless.

    Screen Woes

    The only major downside of the device is the screen, which has a sad 540 x 1080-pixel resolution, making it difficult to capture much with the 8-megapixel camera to translate at one time. While I can easily photograph a full screen of text with my cell phone for translation, the T1 was able to parse out only a few lines at a time due to its limited resolution. When I zoomed out, the results were usually wildly inaccurate or wholly illegible. Getting closer to the text was ultimately required to get a proper translation with the T1’s camera.

    Image may contain Electronics Mobile Phone Phone and Iphone

    Photograph: Chris Mull

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Previous ArticleWhat Makes a Car Lovable? It’s Not the Tech, It’s the Cup Holders
    Next Article LG’s Lightweight Gram Pro 16 Laptop Still Needs Some Work

    Related Posts

    If You Like Surround Sound, the Sonos Era 300 Is 20 Percent Off Right Now

    August 26, 2025

    Read This Before Buying a Window Air Conditioner

    August 26, 2025

    The Lenovo IdeaPad 5i 2-in-1 Is a Budget 16-Inch Laptop That Barely Squeaks By

    August 26, 2025

    Matter Is Finally Ready to Deliver the Smart Home It Promised

    August 26, 2025

    US EV Sales Are Booming—for Now

    August 26, 2025

    WIRED Might Have Found a New Best Bag in the World

    August 26, 2025
    Our Picks

    Microsoft’s next annual update for Windows 11 is in Release Preview testing

    August 29, 2025

    TikTok is now letting everyone DM each other with voice memos and pictures

    August 29, 2025

    Hisense’s take on the Samsung Frame TV is $300 off

    August 29, 2025

    Framework actually did it: I upgraded a laptop’s entire GPU in just three minutes

    August 29, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    News

    The future of AI hardware isn’t one device — it’s an entire ecosystem

    By News RoomAugust 29, 2025

    I dream of a gadget that can do it all. Instead, when I leave for…

    What’s really happening with the hires at Meta Superintelligence Labs

    August 29, 2025

    Lenovo leaks show concept laptop with rotating display

    August 29, 2025

    Blizzard’s Diablo team has unionized

    August 29, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of use
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    © 2025 Technology Mag. All Rights Reserved.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.