Related links: Power-packed and versatile 'Gboard' app, https://www.facebook.com/groups/Azhagi/permalink/2607237709315773

Google's amazing "7-in-1" apps - effecting all of Voice input, Text-2-Speech, Translation, OCR - Convert texts in images / books / magazines / handwritten-notes / etc. to editable texts, Handwriting recognition, Phonetic (Typewriter, TamilNet99, Inscript, etc.) typing and Reverse transliteration. Immmmmmmmensely useful tools for the society (particularly for the sight-impaired).

Well, for those of you who are not aware, 'Google Translate' app (for both Android phones - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.translate and Apple iPhones and iPads - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/google-translate/id414706506) and its cloud counterpart (https://translate.google.com) - both of them do much much much more than translation, as listed at the start of this web page.

In effect, the Android/iOS app allows you to do:

• Voice input - i.e. you can speak and type OR effect speech-to-text
  
  
• OCR (optical character recognition) - i.e. convert printed texts OR images to editable texts. The app can do OCR for even sheets of text written by you in your own handwriting, even those from the long past. It can instantly do OCR of texts in images, books, handwritten notebooks, newspapers, magazines, web pages, etc. All you have to do is to scan them using your mobile's camera!!! That's all to it. And they will instantly get converted to editable text.
  
  
• Translation (from one language to another)
  
  
• Phonetic typing (i.e. transliteration)
  
  
• Text-to-speech - i.e. you can have the app read out your typed texts
  
  
• Handwriting recognition - i.e. you can write with your hand in your language - as you do with paper and pen - and the corresponding text will appear in your screen
  
  
• Reverse transliteration (e.g. Tamil to English)
  

Please see the screenshot below for better understanding. I have highlighted all the primary tools available in the app.



Well, words cannot describe what a versatile and ammmmmmazingly fascinating app, this is!!! Kudos to the team involved in the evolution of this tremendous app. Since Tamil is my mother tongue, as far as Tamil is concerned, I can very well say that the app does the job supremely well in all fronts (Of course there will be areas where some inadequacies might be felt by you but I am sure Google will iron them out in the future; Voice typing, OCR, free-form transliteration, etc. are very special areas of language computing and one can expect 100% perfectness in them only over a period of sustained evolution) but for other languages, you shall experiment yourself and let me know. For Tamil too, you can let me know your own personal opinion on these tools.

And, via its cloud counterpart, this ever-so-fantastic app is available for other operating systems too. Please visit https://translate.google.com. This cloud app also effects multiple tasks under one window, as follows:

• Voice recognition
  
  
• Text-to-speech
  
  
• Translation
  
  
• Typing (Transliteration, Typewriter, Tamilnet99, etc.)
  
  
• Handwriting recognition
  
  
• Reverse transliteration
  

Of the above tools, apart from voice recognition, special mention has to be made on the text-to-speech tool too. It is the bestEST tool I have seen so far for Tamil text-2-speech. Use it to believe it. After copy/paste of your Tamil text in the left text area, click the "Speaker" icon at the bottom (the one to the right of the "Mike" icon) and you can have your text read out to you clearly and beautifully. I have tried it only for Tamil but I am sure it should be equally good for other languages too. Please see indic.php#tts for additional info with regard to this tool.

Google has been providing and improving the aforesaid tools (with addition of various languages) since 2012 or so. As already stated, in the same window, you can do voice input (i.e. speak and type) too, by clicking the 'Mic' icon. It is super cool. The reverse transliterated text is also shown at the bottom. Please see screenshot below for better understanding. I have highlighted all the primary tools in the app.



In the above context, please read about the power-packed and versatile 'Gboard app' too - here

All said and done, along with the versatile 'Gboard' app, if Google can make the 'Google Translate' app also available for free as an installable Desktop application, operating in all operating systems, working across all the applications, without restrictions of any kind, nothing like it. Really. I will give my life-long salutes and prostrations to Google, from the very bottom of my heart. I think this WILL surely happen, sooner than later (at least in Chrome notebooks, to start with). If interested, you may please read inno.php and inno-help.php in this context. Thanks.

Well, as requested in spread.php, if at all and when possible, kindly spread the news of the above astounding language tools from Google (too), as much as possible, in all possible ways, so that news of these apps reach people faster and people get benefited sooner than later (at the very earliest, ideally, as stated by me in inno.php)

Date of creation of this web page: 2-September-2019 (Monday)