Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google is getting ready important UI updates to the Translate app, altering issues round to accommodate its upcoming AI-driven options higher.
- We will spot a brand new translation outcomes display screen, with AI options like Insights, Regional variants, and Ask a query, however the display screen now not highlights the primary end result instantly.
- The upcoming UI’s concentrate on AI raises considerations in regards to the potential lack of consumer belief on account of generative AI inaccuracies.
Google Translate is a wonderful app that has saved my day many occasions. It’s lifeless easy to make use of, making it very straightforward to suggest to non-techies. Identical to with the remainder of its app portfolio, Google has been working to improve Google Translate with AI-driven options. It appears the corporate additionally intends to make use of the chance to revamp the simplistic UI, for higher or worse.
An APK teardown helps predict options that will arrive on a service sooner or later based mostly on work-in-progress code. Nonetheless, it’s attainable that such predicted options could not make it to a public launch.
Google Translate v9.10.70 contains code for a considerable UI change. We managed to activate the upcoming UI to offer you an early look earlier than its launch.
The touchdown web page may obtain a small refresh, primarily by including the upcoming Practice button. When that is available in, the voice enter button will shrink a bit in measurement and transfer to the proper as an alternative of occupying the middle place within the row. We additionally see a bookmarks button on the high for Saved content material, alongside the star button for favorites, although each could not co-exist when the bookmarks button does roll out.
As you possibly can see, the interpretation outcomes web page is on monitor to get a very completely different look. Whereas the present UI highlights the closest translation with a much bigger textual content measurement, the upcoming UI presents an inventory of attainable translations, with no explicit highlights standing out. The autocomplete bar can present up within the upcoming UI, although.
When you click on on a end result, the present UI presents that as a spotlight, with extra clarifying meanings for the phrase. However, deciding on any end result within the upcoming UI marks it as a spotlight and presents a slew of AI instruments, powered by Gemini after all, in a backside sheet. These instruments embody buttons for Various translations, Definition, Regional variants, and Ask a query.
Whereas “Various translations” and “Definition” exist already within the present UI, the “Regional variants” and “Ask a question” options are new.
Whenever you lookup a phrase, the Various translations button turns into the Insights button, which supplies us extra perception into its utilization.
General, the upcoming UI prepares Google Translate to include AI-driven options meaningfully. Nonetheless, within the course of, the app loses its simplicity, which is one thing that many people appreciated about Translate. There’s additionally the disclaimer on the backside of AI-driven outcomes about how generative AI could make errors — we’ve seen Google Search’s AI Overviews give confident yet wrong meaning to gibberish idioms, and we worry the identical destiny for Google Translate. Leaning too exhausting into imperfect AI may cause a lack of belief from customers, and we hope Google has adequately accounted for that with these upcoming adjustments, if and after they roll out broadly.