Google has acquired Quest Visual for an undisclosed amount. In doing so, the company has picked up a means for augmenting its translation capabilities in Android and Google Glass, in addition to bolstering its own Google Translate service with Quest Visual’s eye-catching technology.
Quest Visual’s primary app, Word Lens, allows a person to flip on the camera of their Android or iOS device and use it to frame a series of words they don’t otherwise understand — like a road sign printed in a foreign language, for example. In a perfect world, Word Lens recognizes the text and automatically replaces it with whatever you’ve elected to translate it to: French to English, English to Spanish, et cetera.
The app is primary for going between English and a second language, and vice versa, as language packs that one could previously purchase (and are now free, thanks to the acquisition) are all combinations of English and another language: Russian, Spanish, French, Italian, German, or Portuguese. The app works without any kind of network signal, which is a boon for those travelling. It also works with Google Glass, for those of you who have become recent explorers for the $1,500 device.
