Camera + Translator = Word Lens: Video of the Week

Word Lens is perhaps the most innovative and coolest phone app I have ever seen that translates written phrases simply by pointing your iPhone’s camera at them. The app’s optical character recognition technology recognizes the text, which is then translated word to word and shown on your screen instead of the original text. You likely won’t be using this to translate a book, but it is an awesome travel tool to decipher say a sign or a restaurant menu in a foreign language (where was this during my Eurotrip!). The app is free, but you must pay for the individual language packs with currently only English to Spanish translation and vice versa available at $4.99. Check out the app here.