Word Lens, the hugely impressive translation app that translates a number of languages in real-time, is now available for free for a limited period of time, and we suggest you download it immediately.
The app uses your smartphone's camera to translate text into different languages immediately, thus making it the perfect travel app. In a restaurant abroad and can't understand the menu? Word Lens will make sure that you don't accidentally order the bull testicle soup. The app doesn't even require a network signal, meaning you won't need to worry about racking up hefty mobile data charges if using it another country.
Google has now acquired Quest Visual, the creators of the app, for an undisclosed amount. Google has done so in order to integrate its translation features into both the Android OS and Google Glass.
Quest Visual released a statement regarding the acquisition, saying: "With Word Lens, we've seen the beginnings of what's possible when we harness the power of mobile devices to see the world in your language.
"By joining Google, we can incorporate Quest Visual's technology into Google Translate's broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future."
Word Lens currently only translates a few Western languages, but Google translates around 340 languages, meaning that this technology will likely be used worldwide at some point in the near future.
Word Lens is available to download for free, with all of its available language packs, for Android, iOS and Glass.
