I Tested Google’s New Live Translation Feature on AirPods and It Works Really Well.
I’m quite critical of AI, especially when it’s used to spread misinformation . But, as cynical as it may sound, I acknowledge that AI has many useful and effective functions. Take real-time translation, for example: until recently, the concept of a device that could translate another person’s words directly into your ear during a conversation seemed like a technology from the distant future. But not only is this not a futuristic technology, but Google and Apple have their own versions of this feature that users can use.
However, not all iPhone and Android users were able to use the real-time translation feature. Both companies limited this feature to their respective headphones: for Apple , this meant the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 ; for Google, this meant the Pixel Buds. Without your platform’s flagship headphones, you couldn’t use real-time translation and instead had to rely on another translation app, be it Apple Translate or Google Translate. Fortunately for Android users, this is no longer the case for the latter.
On Friday, Google announced new Gemini translation features for its proprietary app. The company claims these updates deliver the “highest-quality text translation yet,” with more nuanced, natural, and accurate translations. Importantly, as part of these updates, the company is launching a beta version that will allow all Google Translate users to access real-time translation on any earbuds—not just Pixel Buds. This feature is initially available only on the Android version of Google Translate in the US, Mexico, and India, though Google says it will bring the feature to iOS and other regions next year.
This is truly a huge innovation: companies usually prefer to keep such features under wraps on their platforms as a marketing ploy. If you really want to try real-time translation, you’ll likely buy Pixel Buds over other earbuds. However, you don’t even need to buy new earbuds to use this feature: just have the earbuds connected to your Android device, and you’ll be able to translate conversations on the go.
Trying out Google’s real-time translation feature with my Apple headphones.
I tried this on my Pixel 8 Pro with AirPods Max, playing a video of people speaking Portuguese . Setup was tricky: first, the Pixel took a very long time to recognize my AirPods, even though they’d been in pairing mode for a while, but that’s not a big deal. The key issue was displaying the new Google Translate beta with real-time translation. When I first opened the app, it was using the old real-time translation feature, which didn’t work with my AirPods. I had the latest version installed, so I deleted and reinstalled the app. After relaunching it, the real-time translation feature was completely missing. Finally, after force-closing and reopening the app, a pop-up appeared offering the new real-time translation beta.
The next error was based on my own experience: I set the target language to Portuguese, and vice versa. As a result, Google assumed I would be speaking Portuguese and didn’t provide the English translation. Once I switched languages and confirmed that English would be heard in the headphones, the feature worked—and, well, actually. I selected a video from a news report with two anchors and different interviewees. As soon as the video started, I saw Google Translate translating the words on my screen, and about four seconds later, I heard the translated audio in my ear. Google Translate even tries to match the speaker’s voice, and while it’s certainly not a deepfake, it does a good enough job of distinguishing between the different speakers. It even tried to adopt a more serious tone to match the anchor’s voice, as opposed to the more casual tone of one of the people being interviewed on the news report.
I tried several other videos in different languages, but this time I used the “Detect Language” feature rather than the preset target language. The app was able to recognize that this video was voiced in Thai and that one in Urdu, and translated both accordingly. While I can’t verify the quality of the translations (sadly, I don’t speak any other languages), overall, it was fairly easy to follow what was happening. The speech speed can slow down a bit at times, perhaps because the AI is processing a lot of information at once, but if you turn up the volume on your headphones, everything is clear enough.
Overall, I’m really interested in trying this out in real-world conditions. While I mostly use an iPhone, I might have to start carrying a Pixel 8 Pro around just in case.