When Google’s Pixel Buds launched, it appeared amid a blizzard of publicity. They were of particular interest to the translation industry due to the inclusion of Google’s voice-activated smart assistant that, in theory at least, pairs with the Google Translate smartphone app to provide real-time translation in 40 different languages. It’s time to examine how well they’ve been received, how they compare to rival products, and, most importantly, what their impact on the translation industry has been and what it might be in the future.
The Pixel Buds retail
Let’s start with a brief overview of the product and its features. With the Pixel Buds retail, you get two earbuds, tethered together with a small wire that sits on the back of your neck, with a microphone, touchpad, and speakers, all contained in a 66.2 mm x 65.5 mm x 28.6 mm charging case. It’s available in three colors (‘Just Black,’ ‘Clearly White,’ and ‘Kinda Blue’) with a battery life that offers 5 hours of listening time (although Google also explains that multiple charges will get you up to 24 hours). It has some features that we’re already used to (one-touch audio control, tap to play and pause, swipe to change the volume), and its major USP – real-time voice-controlled translation.
This is clearly the Pixel Bud’s distinguishing feature as there is a wide range of wireless earbuds on the market already, most notably Apple’s AirPods.
Comparisons between Google’s products and its tech giant rival are inevitable, mainly as the products offer similar functionality (albeit with varying levels of success). However, that’s not the focus of this post: we’re more interested in examining the Pixel Buds’ potential to be a reliable and practical translation tool.
Google Translate app
Let’s start with the translation process. As we mentioned, for the translation feature to work, you’ll need to have the Google Translate app running on your smartphone (which must be a first-generation Pixel phone or a Pixel 2 phone – it’s not compatible with other handsets). Once you’re set up, you activate the assistant by pressing and holding the right earbud and giving a command, such as, “Google, help me speak French.”
The Google Translate app will then launch. You tap and hold the right earbud again and say whatever you need to have translated, and voilà! Your phone will provide a written and audio translation for your interlocutor. They will then respond in their language, which goes back through Google Translate, and you hear or read English. Simple, right? Well, yes and no.
Let’s check the reviews
Some have been positive: Business Insider tested translation performance across several languages with satisfactory results. In most cases, the desired message was translated correctly, although there were some hiccups. Indeed, this ad-hoc type of translation may be helpful in certain informal situations, making it an attractive, innovative product that complements its other positive features such as battery life, sound quality, and availability of the Google Assistant.
Could misunderstandings appear?
The problems arise when thinking of when you would use the translation feature of the Pixel Buds in anything other than particular, informal situations or as a novelty. The speak-wait-listen, stilted conversations it produces are unnatural and uncomfortable, and it isn’t easy to imagine anyone persevering with anything other than a brief exchange.
The perennial problem with voice-activated assistants exacerbates this: unless you speak the ‘Assistant’ lingo, you’ll likely be misunderstood and have to repeat yourself a couple of times. That might be manageable if you’re on your own, but if you’re standing in front of a stranger in a foreign city trying to get directions to the train station, you may run out of patience a little faster.
Machine translations overall
Ultimately, the translation feature of Google Pixel Buds suffers from the same issues as all machine translations. It can provide reasonable translations of primary language but not a lot more. As a result, the translation quality is not good enough for use in professional situations. Combine this with the fact that it still relies heavily on the smartphone screen, and we think this is an ambitious but flawed product. The march towards human-quality machine translation may be in full swing, but this is a sideways step.
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