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Pleco Chinese Dictionary iPhone app now handling real-time image translations
Talk about timely. We've been waiting for months (with bated breath, might we add) for Pleco 2.2 to finally hit Apple's App Store, and after dealing with a few launch day bugs last week, we can finally say it's out and ready to dominate any Chinese homework you've been hastily procrastinating on. The Pleco Chinese Dictionary is now available in the app store at version 2.2.1, supporting both fullscreen handwriting input and live camera-based character recognition. Have a peek at the video past the break if you're still curious as to what this app can do for you, and feel free to toss your experiences with it down in comments below. Here's hoping this is only the first of many languages Pleco decides to tackle -- not that we're much on tossing out subtle hints.
Pleco 2.2 Chinese Dictionary uses iPhone camera to translate text in real time (video)
Can't say we've heard of the Pleco Chinese Dictionary app prior to today even though it's been around for two full version releases. Of course, we've seen plenty of Google Goggle-like smartphone apps that can snap pictures and then convert the image to text using optical character recognition (OCR) -- something that can be incredibly useful when important stacks of business cards. Pleco 2.2, however, is one of the first apps we've seen that can translate text in real time using the live image presented on your phone's camera display. The new feature, targeted for release in September, requires iOS 4 and should work with either the iPhone 4 or older 3GS. Sure, you might not need this app every day, but it might just be the difference between ordering chop suey or a thousand-year old egg garnished with a side of stinky tofu. See it in action after the break.
