Language Translator Device Portable Real-time Voice Translation in 127 Different Languages and Accents, Support Instant Offline/WiFi/Hotspot Accuracy Image Interpreter Translation

When I received the first of these and tried it out I liked the simple, intuitive design and the fact that it will work with a dozen languages without having to be linked to any wi-fi Borg - though the list of offline languages shown on this page is inaccurate, it has the ones I needed. But when I turned it off and attempted to turn it back on I discovered that it had completely bricked.So I sent it back for a replacement. This one worked, and I had the opportunity to use it in Asia with great results - a former language barrier was now gone, with only the need to speak into a gadget and to hand it back and forth. Another aspect of this thing is that it works as a good resource for language students: If you want to know how to say something in a target language you just push down the button to which you've assigned English, speak the phrase and it will give you the translation.As with any translation device it's necessary to speak with exaggerated diction and clarity or it will misread your input, and it's always a good idea to memorize the foreign phrase, then push the reverse button and speak the foreign phrase to check the device against itself for errors. In my usage it had acceptable accuracy except when I'd mistakenly tried to shoehorn in English colloquialisms that don't translate properly in any case, this latter being a user error. And you can't use these things with a whole lot of background conversation or even random noise - something I'd assume to be the case with all translation devices, so no particular slam on this model. So it worked well for my purposes. Until it didn't.After a couple of days it locked up and spat an error message at me, something about "Initialization error, please connect to Wi-Fi to continue." I have a big, big problem with the idea that we should acquiesce to surveillance and tracking via any form of network, and despite its inexpensive price this device proves amply that a translator device need not be connected to any network at any time or even possess a networking capability in the first place. It's not a question of illicit activity, it's the principle of the right to personal privacy, including location privacy. As Amanda Seyfried's character in the movie "Anon" put it, "It's not that I have something to hide; I have nothing I want you to see."But since I came across a wi-fi hub and wasn't planning on using that hub for anything else, I linked it up long enough to get it working again, then shut down the wi-fi and left. But these translators should be pre-loaded with dozens of languages and built with no wi-fi or any other type of networking circuitry at all, unless people want that option for an additional cost. USB thumb drives have been available for years that are 1/10 the size of this unit and smaller but with enough capacity for hundreds of hours of high-res video - to say nothing of audio words and phrases. So there is no technological reason why any translation device should ever need to connect to any network, ever. And languages do not evolve minute-by-minute, except maybe American high school slang.The other big quality issue is that the USB-3 charger jack is of such poor quality that it's almost unusable. I quickly discovered that when you plug the charge cable into this thing the little power icon stays at the "lightning bolt" indicating active charging for just a few seconds, then reverts to the "remaining power" indicator. Which means there's one or more opens in the little contacts of the USB jack. I swapped in a couple of known-good USB-3 cables and it did the same thing with each, so a confirmation that the problem is with the jack rather than the cable.Without a means of charging the unit, the unit is basically toast, so kind of an important thing. I'm only able to get this thing charged by manipulating the plug - basically shoving it into the jack with considerable force and holding it there - and then placing the whole unit between two heavy objects so that that pressure on the plug is maintained for the duration of the charging period. On the plus side, the charge duration is great. Though it's nowhere near something like a Kindle Paperwhite, the duration of a charge is enough to get you through at least a full day's use before needing a recharge.A more minor gripe with this unit is that the gender of the audible translations is set to the feminine and cannot be changed. It is a simple fact that a number of languages have grammatical gender-classified nouns, pronouns and honorifics. IOW as a male speaking Japanese or Korean or Thai or Vietnamese, every translation of what I say that comes out of this device will be translated with the feminine noun, pronoun or honorific, depending on what's being said - and there is no simple toggle in the Settings menu to change it to the masculine. So in that respect this device is great for women but an annoying one for men - particularly if the country in which you're using it has a tendency toward cultural machismo.Another gripe - mostly because it's easily corrected with just an alteration to the plastic molding - is that if you carry this in your pocket (gee, d'ya think?) it will turn itself on and off at random because the power button protrudes from the unit, and since it has a touchscreen as well...There were times when I'd be walking around and suddenly a woman's voice from my pocket would say a line from the display's list of previously-translated phrases, like "I really stink at this language but I will keep trying to improve," or "How much does one bottle of beer cost?" Lots of surprised looks from random strangers at random times - a source of sudden laughs but not a great thing for charge duration. A foolish design flaw - again, all that's needed is a recess or a solid lip that's molded around the power button to protect it from inadvertent activation. So you either have to plan its placement in your pocket very carefully and be constantly aware of how you move and sit, or just carry the thing around in your hand all day. Neither of which should be necessary.So on balance this is an intuitive-to-use translator with a good supply of offline languages, but it has some near deal-killer technical issues that make it inoperable without having to MacGuyver/kluge your own workarounds.I really wish the people who manufactured this would go back and do a Rev. B with some simple corrections of its poor-quality charging jack, its protruding on/off button and its omission of gender selection in the Settings menu. And just preload it with all of the languages in full. At a time when a 512GB thumb drive can be had for the price of a pitcher of beer at the airport, there is no justification, technological or otherwise, for making translators dependent in any way on wi-fi, or even for wasting the space and cost needed to include wi-fi circuitry at all. Someone needs to take the lead in divorcing hand-held translators from the needless umbilical to the wi-fi Borg.

I love the offline function. I use it for work in the healthcare system. I currently work in an area with a large non English speaking population. Time will tell if I will still like it down the road, but I am pleasantly pleased so far. Only giving it 4 stars for now but will revise to give 5 stars if it continues to impress me later on. I wish I could have some sort of protection on it in case of a high drop but otherwise it seems fairly durable.

Purchased mostly for the Offline translator so I can use it in rural areas of Brazil. First item purchased won't turn on or charge at all (tried multiple chargers and cables). Exchanged for a new one - the second one did work. But, the Online translator works about the same as the Google Translate app on the phone (at best). The Offline translator is very bad - won't recognize speech accurately in either language, even after multiple tries, and does not translate correctly at all. Often gets "stuck" with the error "Unrecognized" and the only way to unblock it is to restart the device (which takes about 2 minutes). Better use Google's text translator app with downloaded language packs for offline. For speech translators when phone is online, the best most accurate app I found so far is Microsoft Translator.

Update: Amazon has fixed the product details so at least other customers won't face the same problem.Original review: Unfortunately the list of supported languages in the device don't match the advertised ones in the details page. The product page says it supports Portuguese offline translation, but it actually doesn't. Since this was the main feature I needed, I'll be forced to return it.

Very hard to charge (poor quality charging port, falls out easily) and you can't tell it's charging until it has enough charge to show when the power is on. I'm pretty sure another person has mentioned the charging issue. Can't seem to get it to turn on (although it makes static noises) which is hard to know if it's on or off since you can't tell if you're getting charge to the device (ie. no read or green light). If you can solve the charging issue, it did translate okay and I like its size, however, the workmanship quality of the charging port is not good (at least mine isn't). There aren't any manufacturer markings anywhere on the device, so who actually makes this product is a mystery to me.

I took it to Mexico City and it didn't translate conversations well consistently.

Do not buy this. Piece of junk.

The translator is feature-rich, however had to return it because older relatives could not hear it. Wish there was a way to make it louder.