Google Updates Translate to Support Android Marshmallow
September 4, 2015 - Written By Alexander Maxham
Android Marshmallow will be heading to our Nexus devices shortly. But right now many of us are still running the developer preview which Google made available last month when the official name of Android 6.0 was announced. With that developer preview, Google mentioned that developers can now start uploading their apps to Google Play that make use of features specifically for Marshmallow. One of those new features is the new contextual selection feature, which the Translate app appears to be taking full advantage of.
The Google Translate team just updated their app to version 4.3. Which brings along with it a neat feature. That feature is system-wide translation in Marshmallow. So now if you’re in Chrome, Google Keep or any other app – even non-Google ones – you can translate whatever text is there, very easily. The update takes advantage of Marshmallow’s contextual selection feature, which is brand new in Android 6.0, and with the update, you can translate words from editable fields.
For those that travel internationally, this is a very important update for them. As it allows them to translate web pages and messages and such without needing to use the Translate app, or have it open. Jotting down an address in Google Keep and having it translated without opening the translate app, is pretty sick. Not to mention convenient.
Marshmallow is slated to be announced on September 29th along side the new Nexus hardware. Currently the rumor mill is point to an event in San Francisco on September 29th where the company will announce the LG Nexus and the Huawei Nexus that we have seen leaked like crazy in recent weeks and even months. While Marshmallow isn’t exactly new, per say, we will see the final version. Or at least the version that will be shipping on the new Nexus devices. The update should also be available for many of the previous Nexus’ likely the Nexus 5 and newer will receive Marshmallow.
While this is a great feature in Translate, the only issue is that very few people will be able to use it. And that’s going to be an issue for quite some time. As Android updates are still quite slow to hit devices that are not Nexus, and the Nexus brand doesn’t sell as well as Galaxy or any of the others out there. You can grab the update from the source link below, however.
