Forget Google Translate: Timekettle Translator Earbuds WT2 Edge review

When you travel somewhere unfamiliar, neither you nor the locals speak each other’s language, and even English doesn’t always help. Then you communicate with hands and feet. Translation apps like Google Translate are useful but clunky: you take turns speaking into the smartphone and wait for the translation. On vacation that’s enough, but in an ongoing conversation at work or at the family table, they reach their limits. This is exactly where the Translator Earbuds from Timekettle come in.

What the earbuds can do

The Translator Earbuds deliver an almost simultaneous translation of conversations right into your ear, without needing to use your smartphone for it. They look like normal Bluetooth earbuds and are discreet. For the translation, you download the app on an iPhone or Android smartphone.

• Languages: 40 languages to choose from, plus 93 accents for even more precise translations.
• Offline: Eight languages are translated offline, so you don’t need mobile reception. You have to download the language packs for a fee. I don’t like that so much, but it’s not a subscription, it’s a one-time payment.

The translation modes

• Simultaneous mode for conversations: Conversations are translated in both directions. For that, you give one earbud to the person you’re talking to. Small protective caps are included in the box. It’s also enough if the other person just holds the earbud to their ear. With the Hybrid Com Translation Technology developed by Timekettle, what’s said is translated within 0.5 seconds. Ambient noise is filtered out so both people hear the translation clearly. In the live test you notice: it isn’t true simultaneous translation. The software lets you finish speaking first and then translates in a fraction of a second. That’s impressive. It sounds like an AI voice, but I find it pleasant and could listen to it for longer. That way a relaxed conversation can take place without a smartphone in between.
• Touch mode: You activate the translation with a touch gesture. That’s practical, for example in negotiations, to briefly coordinate with colleagues in your own language.
• Speaker mode: For vacation, asking for directions or ordering food. You wear the earbud yourself, speak normally and hold the smartphone out to the other person, who can read or hear the translation. This is the equivalent of Google Translate, except that you speak comfortably through the earbuds.
• Listening mode: You only listen, for example at a talk or if you want to listen to the radio abroad, because you rarely pick up German stations there. For talks, there’s a transcript you can save.

Weaknesses

For the price, I would have wanted the earbuds to look more premium. Wearing comfort is good, they’re very light, and holders for a secure fit are included. It would also have been nice if you could listen to music or podcasts through the earbuds. Unfortunately that doesn’t work, they’re only there for translation. How accurate the translation is, you can rarely judge yourself. We only really know once we get the meal or the haircut we ordered.

Verdict

The earbuds are practical in almost all situations where you’re confronted with a foreign language, whether on vacation, in video conferences, at talks or on your next visit to Bavaria. The advantage over Google Translate and other apps: you don’t necessarily need the smartphone, and flowing conversations are no problem. With 12 hours of battery life, you easily get through a day.