Close Menu
Technology Mag

    Subscribe to Updates

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

    What's Hot

    Gamers Are Furious About the Censorship of NSFW Games—and They’re Fighting Back

    August 3, 2025

    Lenovo’s rollable laptop is the coolest computer I’ve used all year

    August 3, 2025

    A webcam that’s almost like a real camera

    August 3, 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

    How to Clean Your Mattress No Matter How Gross It Gets

    August 3, 2025

    Gear News of the Week: Insta360 Debuts a Drone Company, and DJI Surprises With an 8K 360 Camera

    August 3, 2025

    Tesla Found Partly Liable in 2019 Autopilot Death

    August 2, 2025

    Vivobarefoot’s Sensus Shoes Are Like Gloves for Your Feet

    August 2, 2025

    I’ve Been Reviewing Laptops for a Decade. These Are My Picks for College Students

    August 2, 2025

    Bike Friday’s Tiny, Purple, Lightweight Ebike Fits on the Most Crowded Bike Rack

    August 1, 2025
    Our Picks

    Lenovo’s rollable laptop is the coolest computer I’ve used all year

    August 3, 2025

    A webcam that’s almost like a real camera

    August 3, 2025

    States Are Moving to Protect Access to Vaccines

    August 3, 2025

    How to Clean Your Mattress No Matter How Gross It Gets

    August 3, 2025
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • Vimeo
    Don't Miss
    Gear

    Gear News of the Week: Insta360 Debuts a Drone Company, and DJI Surprises With an 8K 360 Camera

    By News RoomAugust 3, 2025

    The 360 camera company Insta360 has entered the drone market with a spin-off brand called…

    Today I’m toying with

    August 2, 2025

    Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 8 just came out and you can already save $50

    August 2, 2025

    The enforcer that could break up Apple and Google is facing upheaval

    August 2, 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.