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(CNET)Westin’s AI Cloud translator is a handy travel communicator [June 7, 2018]

You’ll never need to learn how to say “where is the library?” again.
by Aloysius Low  June 7, 2018 2:59 AM PDT

Hands up if you’re ever in a situation where you had to mime because the person didn’t speak the same language as you — especially when you urgently needed to visit the loo.
Unlike the Google Pixel Buds with real-time translations though, Westin’s AI Cloud Translator IT040(IT041) is more old school. You press a button, say your piece, it gets translated, and the other person does the same thing after hearing what was said.
What makes this cool, however, is that the translator uses four different engines to translate 32 languages: Microsoft, Google, Baidu and Iflytek (a Chinese speech recognition firm) and then an AI picks out the best one before it gets sent to you. As you’ll need an internet connection, the IT040 has 4G and Wi-Fi built-in.


Other cool features include a standby time of 250 hours, noise-reduction microphones and a voice recording feature.
But you won’t be able to pick one for your next trip as it’s not currently available for consumers. A Westin rep told me that the IT040 is built for businesses, which will rent them out to tourists in various countries.

Manufacturer’s correction: IT040 is prototype, the new model name is IT041