Google bought Word Lens in 2014, the app that offered “magic” translations with the mobile camera. Google Translate added the feature alone to the app a year later, and it’s there to this day. Until now when Google Lens takes over translation with the camera.
Translation with the Google Translate camera is no longer done with Google Translate, but takes care of Google Lens. As a result, the operation changes slightly. Some will think that for the best; others, worse.
Google Lens in Translate
Google had two apps doing the exact same thing: translate using mobile camera. This is possible both from Google Translate, by pressing the camera icon, and by switching to translation mode in Google Lens. There could only be one left, and as a result, the Google Translator lost the function, which is now provided by Google Lens.
Now tapping the camera icon in Google Translate opens Google Lens translation mode, which enables real-time translation for the languages shown in the top pill. By tapping on it, you can switch languages and temporarily disable translation for show original text.
Realtime mode is the traditional mode – which tries to match the font style and size to the original text – but not yet the magic style that Google taught us last week. If you prefer that the translation is not in real time, but on a photo, just press the shutter.
Then you can select blocks of text to send back to the translator, copy them to the clipboard, copy them to a PC (where you use Google Chrome), search or listen to the pronunciation in the translated language. Technically, you can do the same thing as before, although the interface is somewhat different, which can be confusing at first.
The previous translation had a snapshot mode (which could be paused at any time) and a more precise photo mode. In Google Lens, real-time translation cannot be interrupted except by taking a photo.
