In today’s review we talk about Vasco Translator M3one of the leading products of Vasco Electronics, an international company that has been operating since 2008 with the aim of developing electronic translators and dictionaries and in fact the device I am talking about today is a voice translator.
What distinguishes Vasco Translator M3 is the high number of languages supported and the possibility of pruning it anywhere (or almost) in the world without having to incur additional costs; I will be able to talk to you in more detail about this particular feature shortly, while I would like to start as usual by talking to you about the contents of the package and the design.
Package content and design
The packaging of Vasco Translator M3 is very simple, but also cared for, both externally, where we find their brand colored, and internally, where without abusing plastic wrappers we find various well-divided sections that contain:
- our voice translator
- a power supply for charging
- a USB-A to USB-C cable for charging
- a transparent silicone cover to protect the device
- a comfortable wrist strap
- quick instructions to get started
- safety instructions
As you can see, it is therefore a complete package that provides everything you need and even something more. In fact, I really appreciated the presence of the silicone cover and the wrist strap, being a device designed a lot for use even when traveling, these are very useful accessories that were not taken for granted were present in the box.
As for the design, Vasco Translator M3 is compact and lightweight, easy to carry in your pocket with its dimensions of 49 x 125 x 13 mm and the weight of 88 grams. On the front we find the screen, a 2-inch QVGA 240 x 320 pixel IPS, and at the bottom two circular keys that are mainly used to start voice recognition; on the right side there is a double button, pressing the bottom part goes back, while pressing the top one locks the device, while on the left side there are the buttons for adjusting the volume.
Below is the USB-C charging port, a 3.5 mm jack input for using headphones, the hole for the wrist strap and two holes that should correspond to two microphones, but I couldn’t find anything about it in the specs to be completely sure. The same two holes with additional microphones are also present on the upper side, a certainly apt choice to allow two interlocutors facing each other to make the most of the translator.
On the back there is also a camera with LED flash, which will be used for the translation of texts through photos, and the speaker that reaches a volume of 84 dB, therefore also suitable for outdoor use. Vasco Translator M3 is made with what appears to be a very solid plastic, coated with a rubberized layer that makes it pleasant to the touch and resistant to possible bumps and falls.
As for the software, it is not specified anywhere but using it it seems quite clear that everything is based on Android, while on the hardware side we find a MT6737V / WM Quad-core CA53 1.1GHz processor accompanied by 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of ROM memory, a modem with support for 4G networks, 2.4 GHz WiFi connection and a 1,700 mAh battery that ensures a decent daily autonomy.
Inside is then included one Data SIM that guarantees coverage in almost 200 countries around the world, without the need to pay anything, the internet is in fact free and unlimited forever!
Now that we have thoroughly analyzed the design and features of this product, I would say to move on to the actual features.
Below instead I leave you a short unboxing video so you can better see everything I have described above.
Translation into more than 70 languages!
After turning on the device, a process that takes between 5 and 10 seconds, you can immediately access the main menu, where the various functions are listed. The first is the main one, namely that of voice translatorwe will be taken to a screen with two circular flags and the corresponding language next to it, we will be able to choose the languages from the huge list of those supported and access the relative voice recognition by pressing the corresponding circular button at the bottom.
To be clear, if we have selected Italian as the first language and English as the second, we will have to hold down the first button when the Italian interlocutor speaks and the second when the English one speaks; Vasco Translator M3 will then take care of recognizing what has been said, translating it into the language of the other interlocutor and reproducing the message through the speaker.
The translation is not always immediate, sometimes it takes a few seconds to process everything, perhaps because the network coverage in the area is not high, but in any case if you are not in particularly hectic contexts it should not be a problem.
It may then happen that it is necessary to listen to a message several times and in this case no problem, just tap on the screen in correspondence with the message in question and the translation will be reproduced again.
By swiping down with your finger we can also view the whole conversation history and replay all messages of interest to us again. It seems trivial, but it is very useful, think if you find yourself in a foreign country and ask a passer-by for directions, not only will the translator help you understand the foreign language better, but you will also have the information saved on your device in case they pass you by. of mind!
There accuracy in translation declared by the company is 96%, now it is difficult to verify such a figure for a device that speaks so many languages, but according to my tests, carried out in Italian, English, Spanish and Japanese, I can say that the accuracy is really high and in most cases satisfactory; paradoxically it has happened to me several times to have problems with speech recognition and with the translation itself, it may in fact happen that the recognition is not very precise, but in my case it was enough to repeat the sentences more clearly or avoid particular terms (for example they are not managed to get him to recognize iCrewPlay, but I would say that it is more than understandable that the dictionary does not recognize such terms).
Taking a tour on the official website you can then sift through the catalog of supported languages to check if there are those of your interest. You will find the complete list but be careful why not all of them also support voice playback with a lot of pronunciation, for some languages there is in fact only the textual translation. Among those supported, with a lot of pronunciation, we find Italian, English (pronunciation of Great Britain and the United States), French, German, Polish, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Japanese, Arabic, Catalan, Czech, Korean and many others.
The second feature, equally interesting, is the one that allows you to translate text through a photo and to do so obviously uses the camera on the back. The specifications of the sensor used are not declared, but during my tests I noticed that although it is not very fast in focusing, it does quite well even in medium-lit environments with not very large writings, for example those present on snacks.
This, for example, is the translation of a cereal bar and was done very well (albeit simple) in suboptimal lighting conditions. Outdoors, the situation improves and can be very useful for reading signs or even menus of restaurants without translation, a feature that can certainly be appreciated by those who prefer to experience more characteristic and less touristy places.
What you can see above is still the photo sent by e-mail to my e-mail address, the device allows you to share the shot with the translation by email, and a PDF containing the image will arrive. A useful function as the screen of only 2 inches often does not perform at its best due to the limited space, although unfortunately the sharing of images is only possible under Wi-Fi. It would have been nice to be able to share the image on your smartphone via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, to have a wider view.
It does not work perfectly with very dense text, such as long and small descriptions on a product packaging. In that case the camera has difficulty with focusing and the result is not optimal.
Extra functionality
On the menu there are then further functions called MultiTalk and TranslaCall, the first allows you to access a session with other users around the world and equipped with the same device, in practice we will be able to talk to people who speak many different languages and Vasco Translator M3 will translate everything in real time to allow us to communicate through our native language. A super interesting feature, but I have not had the opportunity to try it not knowing other people abroad with this device (maybe in the future I will be able to do it and report my experience).
The function TranslaCall it is instead designed for calls with foreign interlocutors, in practice you have to use the smartphone with the speakerphone and bring Vasco Translator M3 close to allow him to listen and translate the speech in real time. The idea is certainly interesting, but there is a need for the collaboration of the other person, in fact the device is not immediate and it takes a little patience between one sentence and another, in short, if you plan to use it for a important work with a client who is not too patient is perhaps not the case.
Then there is the possibility of accessing a series of lessons in various languages based on the flashcard method, in practice the device will propose you various words with their translations in the chosen language. There is also a system that tracks progress and generally works quite well, but personally I find it only useful for learning a few words, not for really learning the basics of a language. Either way it’s a welcome extra feature that can be pretty fun too.
Conclusions
What can I say, Vasco Translator M3 is a little gem, there is room for improvement but it is already extremely valid as it is. Its strengths are certainly the vast support for many languages and the presence of a SIM with unlimited internet traffic working in almost 200 countries around the world, a real convenience for travel considering that the tariff plans abroad are not always cheap.
Instead, it can improve the hardware, or more than anything else the company could think of integration systems between the translator and the smartphone, so as to be able to take advantage of the latter’s camera and screen which are certainly more performing, without however burdening the cost of the translator. We are talking about Android-based software after all, so it shouldn’t be impossible.
If you are looking for a travel companion who can help you with languages, find Vasco Translator M3 on official site And on Amazon.
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