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Android Wear watches can now translate entire conversations

Android Wear watches can now translate entire conversations

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Google Translate has arrived on Android Wear. Alongside a big update to watch faces today, Android Wear has been given support for Google Translate. The app is supposed to make it easy for two people who speak different languages to converse with one another. It may seem awkward to do that through a watch, but Google has designed the app in a way that works with the watch's form: the wearer turns their wrist back and forth so that the watch faces themself and then the person they're speaking with; as the watch changes direction, it'll switch translation over to that person's language. At the very least, Google's GIF makes it seem neat:

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Translate's conversation feature only works with 44 out of the 90 languages that Translate can translate between. But it is able to tell automatically which of the 44 is being used, which makes it pretty convenient. The Watch app requires an internet connection, though it doesn't have to be hooked up to a phone. Altogether, today's updates should make Android Wear a lot more useful — it's pretty good timing, too, since it'll be getting some new Apple Watch competition starting next month.