Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Translate currently offers 2 Android widgets, and appears to be working on 5 more.
- The new widgets are basically just single-purpose shortcuts to features within the Translate app.
- Google’s current implementation is a little wonky, making us think these are still very much works in progress.
Widgets on Android have a ton of potential, quickly connecting us with some of the most-used features from our favorite apps. Or, at least, that’s the idea. Our own Rita El Khoury was recently lamenting the sorry state of many Android widgets, calling out Google Translate as one app in particular that’s failed to deliver the widgets she actually wants. While we’re still not seeing the dual-use word tutor/translation widget she’s dreamed of, it does look like Google’s got a few new Translate widgets waiting in the wings.
Right now, Google Translate offers a choice of two widgets: There’s a general-purpose one, letting you jump into the app for text, speech, conversation, or image translation; and there’s one that gives you access to your recent translation history.
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In addition to those two, with Google’s version 10.5.41.867546197.0-release of Translate for Android, developers have implemented five new widgets, each offering a shortcut into a different corner of the app. None of these are currently visible to users, but we’re taking an early look here:
What we’re seeing here is weird for a couple reasons. As far as “widgets” go, these are incredibly basic, and feel more like the sort of shortcuts we can access by long-pressing an app’s icon. Indeed, the camera, live translate, and practice widgets here are pretty much clones of the existing shortcuts Translate already lets us place on our home screen. And the others duplicate functionality already present in the main Translate widget.
There’s also the question of widget size, and while all five here appear tiny at first, they’re implemented as larger entities, taking up 2×2 tiles. Look how they behave:
That’s quite awkward, and feels more like a downgrade compared to existing app shortcuts. But we also need to keep in mind that none of this is meant for public consumption at this point, and it’s very possible that Google refines a lot of this widget experience before it’s anywhere near ready to make its official debut.
What kind of functionality would you like to see from a Google Translate widget? Share your wish-list with us down in the comments.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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