Google probably realized that their Pixel Buds, which were released to go up against Apple’s AirPods, were not going to be as popular as they intended it to be. We’re saying this because the one advantage it had over their competition is now being made available to other headphones and devices as well. Without much ado, they’re bringing real-time translation support to Google Assistant-optimized headphones and other Android smartphones as well. This means if you wanted that particular feature, you can now have it without having to buy the mixed-reviewed Pixel Buds.
Google has in fact not made any major or even official announcement about this one. Some eagle-eyed folks over at Droid Life noticed that the Pixel Buds support pages were saying something different now. Previously, it said that the Google Translate on Google Pixel Buds was only available for Pixel phones. But now it says, “Google Translate is available on all Assistant-optimized headphones and Android phones.”
This is probably due to the fact that the newly-released Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL came with USB-C buds and not the Pixel Buds that previously came with the Pixel 2 devices. And these new buds also supported real-time translation. Another recently released product, the LG Tone SE neckbuds also had support for this feature so it was inevitable that this wouldn’t remain “exclusive” anymore.
But even greater news is that even if you don’t have a Pixel phone but you have an Assistant-optimized headphones, you will now be able to hear real-time translation if the language you’re listening to is supported of course. It currently supports 40 languages including Arabic, Chinese Mandarin, Dutch, German, Japanese, Spanish, etc.
With this news though, the Pixel Buds, which weren’t that popular from the beginning, will probably lose steam even more. We won’t be surprised if Google announces they won’t be continuing this product anymore or if they’ll just come up with something new and better.
VIA: Droid Life
