As Neowin reported last week, Google was in the process of making software that translates text on your phone. The phone can’t translate spoken words, but uses your phone’s built-in camera, sending it to Google to translate the text.
Google mentioned that the software doesn’t actually translate the text on your phone, which could be slow and inaccurate, but instead sends it to Google’s servers for processing. The picture is translated on Google’s cloud-based network, which can process a translation faster and more accurately than your phone.
The demonstration by Google translated the text: "Fruhlingssalat mit Wildkrautern" to "Spring salad with wild herbs." The demonstration took a photo of a German dinner menu, sending back the translation, using an Android based phone.
Google didn’t mention when the software would be available for your mobile phone, or exactly what platforms would be supported. The software will be available for the Android, however, but no mention if Google plans on expanding these services to Windows Mobile or the iPhone. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, mentioned that more and more applications will take advantage of “cloud computing,” a resource Google is likely to expand on over the years to improve its speed.