Google Buys Quest Visual To Boost Its Translate Features

Amidst the patent battle that has been taking place between Apple and Google, the latter has now bought Quest Visual, which is the maker of Word Lens. The sole purpose of acquiring the company is to give a boost to its Translate feature. However, the companies have not disclosed the transaction amount involved in the acquisition.

If you are not aware, the Word Lens translates printed words from one language to another with your smartphone's video camera, in real time. Word Lens and its various language packs have been made free on both iOS and Android "as a thank you" to supporters, but don't expect to see much in the way of updates moving forward.

Quest Visuals representative said they have made both the app and the language packs free to download for a limited time. According to the post in WordLens.com, the Quest Visual team will join Google Translate.

"By joining Google, we can incorporate Quest Visual's technology into Google Translate's broad language coverage and translation capabilities in the future," the statement said. "As a thank you to everybody who supported us on our journey, we've made both the app and the language packs free to download for a limited time while we transition to Google."

You can download the app from here.

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