Besides a fantastic camera, Google’s Pixel phones include several helpful software features. Consider ‘Hold For Me’: It may take your place on a phone call while you’re waiting for a company to return your call. Google’s new features that utilize current services may be amazing. Google intends to combine Google Lens, Translate, Assistant, and Live Caption into one function dubbed Live Translate for the forthcoming Pixel 6 series. XDA has obtained exclusive screenshots of Live Translate from our source who has access to the unannounced Pixel 6 Pro.
A person with knowledge of the Pixel 6 Pro contacted XDA last week, revealing fresh hardware information. Our source revealed that their Pixel 6 Pro has an unpublished version of Android System Intelligence, formerly known as Device Personalization Services. This app provides many software features for Pixel phones, such as Live Caption and Screen Attention. This app will also include the new Live Translate function, which will be available on the Pixel 6 series but may also be available on earlier Pixel phones running Android 12.
Google revealed Live Translate as one of the few new software capabilities when it announced the Pixel 6 last month. When asked about the new function, Google told The Verge and The Washington Post that the Pixel 6 would be able to create live, translated subtitles of material you’re viewing or listening to. The Verge was permitted to witness a live demo of the function transcribing and translating French to English but was not authorized to publish any pictures or videos. We were able to get the Live Translate function working on our own smartphone, so we can provide screenshots.
Live Translate Setup:
Starting with the setup procedure for Live Translate, we can observe that this functionality has a hitherto unknown component. Depending on the language, Live Translate may also translate messages, text spotted in the camera viewfinder, and serve as an interpreter.
Live Translate may be accessed under Settings > System after the first setup. You may enable or disable the function, select a language to translate to and download new language models. They are 50-200MB in size based on the available features. The camera viewfinder will translate messages, captions, and text in Japanese whereas Mandarin will just translate messages and text in the camera.
Here is a list of all supported languages and features in Live Translate:
None of the Live Translate capabilities below worked on our Pixel 3 XL, however, our source says it works well on their Pixel 6 Pro. In order for Live Translate to function on Google’s Snapdragon-powered Pixel phones, we may be lacking a few things. So we can’t provide images of the functionality in action right now, but we do have other screenshots and information regarding the feature.
Captioning a film
To use Live Translate to translate captions, you must first enable Live Captioning. On Android 12, this is available under Settings > Sound & vibration > Languages & translation, where you may choose the languages you want to be captioned and translated. This new settings page indicates that Live Caption will eventually support languages other than English. Included are French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish Live Caption on Chrome OS already supports these languages (except Portuguese), so this isn’t a surprise.
Messages Translation:
A short look at the new Android System Intelligence app shows a few interesting facts. Like about how Live Translate will manage message translations. It seems that when you get a message in another language, the function will automatically display a page at the bottom that reads “get translations immediately while you chat.” Translations are done locally and never transmitted to Google.
If you find the translation noises irritating, you can turn them off. A button to “translate all texts in this chat” will then appear to expedite the process. The translated text will be transferred to the phone’s clipboard for sharing or forwarding.
It is possible to dismiss the bottom sheet and then pick and copy a message to start translating anew. The functionality also allows you to select whether or not to be asked to translate every time a compatible language is identified.
Whether this will function in all messaging applications or only pre-approved ones like Google Messages is unknown.
In-camera translation:
When Google Lens identifies anything actionable, like an email address. It displays a suggestion chip at the bottom of the Google Camera app. If a compatible language is identified, Live Translate will provide text translations in the camera app. Real-time text translations are already possible with Google Lens, as well as offline. A function like this incorporated with Google Camera would be handy, assuming that is what the “Camera” feature suggests.
A helpful addition to the Pixel program is Live Translate. It combines the finest translation capabilities from Google Translate, Gboard, and Assistant, and it works offline. We won’t know how quick and useful this function is until the Pixel 6 series launches next month.
