You may remember a couple of months ago, Neowin was invited to test out the FluentTalk T1, which is a handheld language translator. Being bi-lingual myself and also knowing some people that speak other languages I was excited to test it out.

I was pleased with the conversation mode, but a bit sad that the device does not detect the spoken language, meaning you have to set the language to "listen" and the language it translates to (spoken and text).

Now FluentTalk has come with the FluentTalk T1 Mini and it is quite a bit cheaper than its big brother at just $119.99, which is $30 off its standard pricing. You can pick up this deal on the FluentTalk website or also over on Amazon (links below).

Below are the specs of the device:

Model Number: FluenTalk T1 Mini
Size: 91 × 54.8 × 13.4 mm (the size of a credit card)
Weight: 86g
CPU: Quad-core ARM 28nm 1.28 GHz
Storage: (RAM) 1 GB (ROM) 8 GB
Operating System: Android 10
Screen: LCD IPS Color 480x640 px (2.83") 283ppi
Camera: 3 megapixels
Microphone: Dual microphone
Speaker: Single speaker
Charging: Type-C 5V⎓1A
Battery: 1500 mAh
Connectivity Technology: WiFi/Nano-sim/E-sim(built-in)
Wireless Network Technology: 2G/3G/4G LTE
Continuous Translation Time: 3.5h
Standby Time: 96h
Charging Time: 210 minutes

The last three specs are in italics because this is not mentioned anywhere on any product page for the FluentTalk T1 Mini, but it has the same 1500 mA capacity as the normal version, with a weaker chipset and no chat, or memo recording function we could be looking at roughly the same sort of times.

So what do you get when you purchase the FluentTalk T1 Mini?

In the box

FluenTalk T1 Mini
Instruction manuals
Lanyard (removable)
USB charging cable
SIM card removal tool

All in all, with its 1 year of free online translations for 38 languages and 68 accents, it is a worthwhile downgrade if you're not worried about the memo keeping functions, or needing to specifically hold a two-way conversation using the device. The "full version" has two buttons which allow it to listen to two languages quickly when pressing between the two buttons, here on the T1 Mini you would have to swap the order around.

Both devices offer offline translation for 13 languages for those times the device can't get online, but you have to download these base languages (which seem to vary from site to site) before your free subscription ends.

I think a good tradeoff would have been an onscreen button between the two languages that swaps the listen and translated language around to allow for quickly switching back and forth, but alas that was not meant to be.

fluentalk T1 and T1 Mini devices standing together

As they say, the choice is yours. Get the cheap one to assist with travel, get the more expensive one for (quicker) two-way chatting note-taking memos, and the better hardware, which, from looking online really matters in the camera department. iPhones shipped with a 5 Mp camera in 2007, why are we using a 3 Mp one here?

The 20% discount coincides with both Timekettle's seven-year anniversary and Prime Day. Although these deals are live from today July 10th until July 16th.