The cloud is the new place to be, and DoCoMo knows that fact, where they have just introduced a new cloud-based translator phone. That certainly sounds like a dream, especially when you want to speak to another person who does not speak the same lingo as you. All you need to do is speak into your phone, while the person on the other line will hear the message interpreted as promptly as possible into the language of their choice. Initial trials have been pretty impressive, where we are talking about an average processing time of around 2 seconds – making it ideal for a reasonably natural conversation.
So far, DoCoMo and approximately 400 monitors are testing the service out in Japan from now until March 2012. Other places which will participate in this exercise include tourist facilities, retail companies and hospitals. The trial system currently interprets Japanese and English, and the accuracy level stands at about 90%. Should all go well, customers will be offered a commercial service after the fiscal year of 2012. Right now, Chinese and Korean services are already available, and additional languages are in the pipeline.