Personal translation devices have had a hugely transformative decade. Improvements in processing power, machine learning and cloud platforms have played a key role in this development. Technology is increasingly becoming the mainstay of wireless headphones, and the recent explosion of productive AI platforms will only help drive these impressive results.
It’s easy to imagine a time in the not-too-distant future where real-time smartphone translation is a ubiquitous commodity. Exactly what such a sea change would do to those companies making autonomous devices remains to be seen, of course, but in the meantime, we’re seeing a world-changing technology become increasingly accessible.
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Timekettle first crossed our radar in 2017 when TechCrunch hosted an event at the startup’s Shenzhen home. At the time, the fledgling company was showing off a face-to-face communication device that looked like a pair of oversized headphones. You take one, give the other to someone else, and then start talking.
Announced today at CES 2024, the X1 Interpreter Hub is a more robust solution, designed for meetings. Timekettle calls it, “the world’s first multilingual simultaneous interpretation system” – a lofty claim, to be sure, but it’s certainly an exciting solution.
The system works out of the box, without the need to download a separate application. For face-to-face meetings, two devices are touched together to initiate conversation translation. The wearables have headphones, similar to previous Timekettle products. In total, the X1 can support up to 20 people simultaneously in five languages.
Image Credits: timer
The system can also handle virtual chats. Remote users call the phone number associated with the product to access its translation capabilities.
Timekettle X1 is available In connection starting today, priced at $699.
