ONE Mini Is a Pocket-Friendly, Multilingual Translation Assistant

Everyone loves to travel, but language barriers can make it difficult to navigate a new country. We all try our best to pick up the local language, but nobody can be expected to learn enough to be conversationally-fluent in every country they visit. The traditional solution is to carry around a pocket dictionary, but that’s slow, inconvenient, and isn’t conducive to a real conversation. The new ONE Mini is a pocket-friendly, multilingual translation assistant designed to make those conversations go smoothly.

ONE Mini recently launched on Kickstarter, and has already exceeded its funding goal. It’s a small device that easily fits into even the tightest pockets, and it offers 10 hours of battery life for all of your translation needs. The ONE Mini has four main functions: artificial intelligence-based translation, access to a live human interpreter, voice recording and multilingual speech-to-text, and music reception through Bluetooth. There is also mention of image translation, though it’s not clear if that’s through the ONE Mini device itself or through the companion app, as the device doesn’t appear to have a camera.

A total of 12 languages are supported by ONE Mini’s AI translation, which they claim covers 90% of the countries in the world. For complex conversations, you can utilize a live human interpreter for $2 USD per minute. The live interpreter can translate between English and the other languages, or Chinese and the other languages. But not, for example, between German and Arabic, at least for the time being. Though they’re hoping to expand those options in the future.

The transcription functionality lets you use your ONE Mini as a voice recorder, and then, either in real time or at a later date, you can use the speech-to-text functionality to copy or save the text on your phone. That text can be translated into any of the 12 supported languages. The AI translation is claimed to have an accuracy of 97% and a 1 second latency. What isn’t clear is if that runs on the ONE Mini itself, on your phone through the companion app, or on cloud servers.

If you want a ONE Mini, the Kickstarter campaign will be running until May 17th. A single ONE Mini costs about $58 USD, which is 40% off the expected retail price. Rewards should be delivered to backers in July.

If you want a ONE Mini, the Kickstarter campaign will be running until May 17th. A single ONE Mini costs about $58 USD, which is 40% off the expected retail price. Rewards should be delivered to backers in July.