High-grade, real-time language translation is everywhere. Your cell phone can do it. Your Meta glasses can do it. Your earbuds will soon be able to do it. What was once a niche task that required tedious typing into a web browser or a pricey, stand-alone gadget is now ubiquitous.
To my mild surprise, stand-alone translator gadgets have remained a thing, in part because they are often easier to use than an app, thanks to their single-minded design. For the Timekettle T1, an additional selling point that could sway the app crowd is its inclusion of a global 4G SIM card that works with 200 mobile operators worldwide, plus its ability to work offline even if you’re disconnected from the network.
One Click
Photograph: Chris Null
The Timekettle T1 is a familiar handheld device, similar to a tiny cell phone, measuring roughly 4.5 by 2.3 inches and weighing just over 4 ounces, with a 4-inch touchscreen. Easily pocketable, it features a smattering of dedicated hardware buttons as well as a touchscreen with which you can interact with Timekettle’s bespoke, Android-like interface. The T1’s collection of features is similar to those on other handheld translators, with a handful of app icons spread across two swipeable screens.
One-Click Translation is probably where most users will devote the bulk of their time, and the way Timekettle has made this work is pretty genius. Once you select your two translation languages, you use the two buttons on the side of the T1 to manage a live conversation. A blue button is assigned to one language, and an adjacent red button to the other. This is color-coded in the interface, where, for example, you can assign Korean as the blue language and English as the red language.
Once set up, you hold down the blue button when Korean is being spoken and hold down the red button when English is being spoken. Release either button, and a voiced translation in the alternate language is read aloud—all while a text translation of everything, in both languages, is displayed on the screen. It’s pretty brain-dead simple, and it works well, provided everyone pauses long enough for the translations to be voiced.