Android’s next big feature may be real-time language translation

Google is building a mobile translator that will one day make traveling around the world a breeze. Hugo Barra, Google vice president of product management for Android, revealed that the company is in the early stages of developing a “real time” translation tool, The Times reported. He noted that his team has created “tons of prototypes,” adding that he plays with the device “every other week to see how much progress we’ve made.” While the technology may be a few years away, the executive said the system is “near-perfect for certain language pairs”, such as English and Portuguese,  and has “close to 100% accuracy” in a room with no added noise. Poor microphones or noisy environments, however, are still proving troublesome. Bara hopes to one day integrate the system with the company’s Google Now service on mobile devices.