Timekettle, Fluentalk T1 Language Translator Support 40 Languages and Photo Translation, Instant Translator Device No WiFi Needed, with 2-Year Global Mobile Data for Travelling, with 4" HD Screen

I have been using a $1,000 translator to communicate with my Chinese friend for a couple of years, and even though it's considered one of the best in the business, it had some serious glitches to it, like it would always switch to Thai or Spanish for no reason, even though we always kept it on Chinese/English. And it didn't work off-line, which we needed a lot when we were in a place with bad internet reception. The worst part was when I tried to contact the company in China who made it -- they never responded despite my writing to them at various addresses and via their website.That's when I decided to try the Timekettle T1 Fluentalk, even though it was one-third the cost of the other one. The main appeal for me was the off-line translation, and I was fortunate in that Chinese/English pair was one of the language pairs offered in off-line translation. There have been so many times when wi-fi reception isn't possible or we're outside in an area that can't connect to the signal needed to use the translator. When I first got the T1, it worked great with wi-fi -- I tested it against the other one and they both translated exactly the same, which was good! The Timekettle was only a tiny fraction of a second in playing back the audio version of the translation, but the written translation appeared simultaneously with the other translator.However, I was having some problems with the off-line translation, so I contacted Timekettle's Customer Service through the T1 (there's a contact "page" on the translator), and because it was hard to type a long explanation of what I was having trouble with using the translator's virtual keyboard, they provided me with a couple of email addresses for me to write to them. Within minutes we were emailing each other.They had asked me if I could make a video with my phone to show them what the translator was doing, and I did that very easily and emailed a video link to them. Within a few minutes, my contact at Timekettle said she had received it and had already passed it on to the technical department there.Within maybe 20 minutes she wrote back with some suggestions of what to try. It turned out that the technical department was right, and the problem had nothing to do with my translator, but rather was due to a weak wi-fi signal that affected the upgrade when I first turned on the device and it automatically updated. They suggested I restore to the default settings and make sure I'm near a strong wi-fi signal so when I upgrade the software, everything will download and update properly. I did that and within five minutes everything was working perfectly! As I had already updated the device when I first got it, I hadn't thought about going back to step one and updating again. They had noticed on my video that the signal strength was very low, and that clued them in to what might have been the problem.While none of this is likely to have anything to do with you if you buy this great translator, I have never had such perfect customer service from an electronics company in my life. They went out of their way to help me -- and to do so quickly -- and they answered every question I had asked them in great detail and also very clearly. Obviously, this company cares a lot about their customers, as I was blown away by how friendly my contact "Helen" was, and how quickly and thoroughly the tech staff passed along their suggestions to her to send to me.Translating from English to Chinese and vice versa is a tough one for many translators. There are so many dialects in Chinese, and six words that sound exactly the same to Westerners like me can mean six very different things. I've noticed that every translator I've tried confuses the Chinese words for "blood" and "snow" a lot. So when it's cold and bleeding outside, I don't panic! LOL! You can't expect any translator to be 100% accurate all the time, but the T1 is far superior to what I was expecting.But the T1 is as good as any translator I've tried, and it's very simple to use, does pretty much everything you want it to do, and it seems to be really well-made. I adjusted the size of the font to make the text larger and it's very easy to read. I also like the "female" voice the translator uses. That's a bonus! I will buy another one of these, since I often end up in a room other than the one the translator has been left in. And I know that in a power failure or an emergency, the off-line translation will be really important. I tested some of the other downloadable language pairs even though I don't speak the non-English languages, and they downloaded in a matter of seconds and were easy to select or to delete if you didn't want them on your device. All in all -- I should have bought this a year or more ago!It's scary buying something made in another country, as evidenced by that first company who never responded to me, but Timekettle really sold me with how much they cared about helping me!

There was quite the confusion about a previous post I wrote about this product. Amazon was offering two prices for what seemed to be the same machine. I bought the cheap one and returned it - just didn't work. I then bought this one (full price), and off we went to China. We were there for over two months.Let me be clear - the translator does not work. All the videos I saw (mostly sponsored and freebies), on how great this translator works seem just a misrepresentation. I have no idea how they got it to work so well. In the real world, with real local people, the T1 was lost.You MUST have 100% wifi signal - anything less and it lags and just writes gibberish. With the downloaded offline mode - it's dead. Data signal also needs to be 100%, but with data it was as good as dead also.Assuming you do have a great wi-fi signal -it needs to be very close to your mouth, you need to talk very loud into the T1 translator, there can be no other loud noises or no one else talking and you have to ask the person you are trying to communicate with do the same slow loud dictation. Having a real conversation is near impossible. They have to talk loud and slow. Even then - the translator wrote nonsense - amusing at times yes, but oh so frustrating when trying to hold a conversation. Other times it would just sit…and you’d wait. Minutes later it would talk, and it would be gibberish.My phone's translation apps worked so much better. Needless to say - after about a week of trying - I gave up and put it away. Now and again I would take it out, charge it (because the battery only lasts a day if you’re lucky), and try again. But by then the family would just make faces when they saw it.I'm now asking for a refund. I'm hoping Amazon will show mercy and let me return this plastic brick.In conclusion, this is a real review, of a real world application, form a product that I bought with my own hard earned cash. Save yours.

Online instructions help as the included instructions are both sketchy and in a tiny font. The Timekettle site also provides chat support, although it's either powered by AI or staffed by people whose first language is not English. The T1 works well, is compact, and can take a sim card. The first two years of data is included sothere's no need for one right now. My comments are FYI, and NOT dissatisfaction with the device. I'll be using it to assist my future life in Japan and to augment my study of the language.Ja Mata Gosaimasu

I was hoping these devices could be used for parent workshops but found that they are better for one on one conversations. In one on one conversations they are easy to set up and use. The battery lasts a long time and they are small which makes them easy to take anywhere.

This works but you might as well use a translate on your phone. It's not worth paying 300 dollars when you have it for free on your phone.

While the device is great top marks for it. Amazon's delivery service is the worst the device was never delivered Amazon stated it was. Their customer service is horrendous all scripted reply's and no help at all.Eventually after reading several forums I found out their delivery drivers if running late will just toss out their packages at whatever post office they are close too and declare them delivered. Found my package a suburb over after calling around. Don't trust amazon delivery.