IF YOU think you are ordering ice cream from a foreign menu, you don鈥檛 want to end up asking for a plate of sheep鈥檚 eyes by mistake. A cameraphone Nokia plans to launch next year will set you straight.
Snap a picture of, say, a dessert menu and the phone will recognise the characters and translate the words within a few seconds (). The prototype shown to New 杏吧原创 can translate 9000 Chinese and 600 Japanese food-related words into English, with more language versions to follow.
Another Nokia utility, called Point and Find, lets window-shoppers buy without going into the store. Take a picture of an object of desire in a participating shop window, and recognition software will steer the phone鈥檚 web browser to the online store.
Advertisement
