Review One of the more useful applications of AI technology is translation and interpreting. The Timekettle X1 AI Interpreter hub attempts to move things forward with a pleasing industrial design.
Timekettle – the name comes from the Asimov novel The End of Eternity – has been in the translation game for a few years now, and the X1 represents a foray into a more business-like world with features to please corporate users and, alas, a price to match.
We'll start with the good. It's a well-designed device, weighing just under 200g. The 900 x 412 screen is bright and clear, although the hardware is a little chunkier than we'd like. It is portable enough at 130mm x 45mm x 30mm, although modern industrial designers would doubtless scoff at the thickness.
Timekettle told us that consideration was being given to a future version that is both lighter weight and more portable.
There is method to the madness, however. The battery that runs the show is a 3200mAh unit that Timekettle says will provide up to 168 hours of standby time or 12 hours of operation. The unit also has a drawer with two wireless earpieces, which is where the magic happens.
The X1 can be used as a normal, if expensive, portable translation device. Charge it using the USB-C cable provided, select the required function from the screen, push the big round button, and start to speak. The translator will then do its stuff in the same way that translators have worked since the first devices appeared in those catalogs shoved down the back of seats by US airlines in days of yore.
But the wireless earpieces are the true party trick of the X1. Pop one in an ear and give the other to the person you wish to converse with, select the languages, and chat away. We tried it with German, Greek, and Spanish, and the device coped admirably. Ours came with some covers because, let's face it, the ick factor is relatively high when it comes to using an earpiece. A pack of antibacterial wipes wouldn't go amiss.
The device has five translation modes. The first is One-on-One, which we used in the paragraph above. Timekettle describes it as "real-time conversation." We'd take issue with that since there is a noticeable delay while the translation happens, which worsens the more you speak. The device also suffers from the translation software occasionally getting confused by slang or colloquialisms.
That said, the conversation flows pretty well once a user becomes accustomed to it.
The Listen & Play mode is useful for catching up with presentations given in another language – we simply put the device in front of the speaker and listened to the translation through the earpieces. Ask & Go makes the X1 behave like a handheld translator. And then there are the two business-specific modes that require more than one X1.
Voice Call Mode is designed for one-on-one telephone or video calls and requires a device at each end. Multi-Person mode is used for a conference with up to 20 participants in five languages, although you'll obviously need multiple X1s to achieve this feat.
Indeed, the latter two modes will be of most interest to businesses spread across multiple geographical regions, while the former modes are more suited to the lone traveler.
In use
While the X1 will work offline, although working offline is only supported in the One-on-One and Listen & Play modes, it is much happier working online, which requires a Wi-Fi connection. Being an Android 10 device at heart, getting it connected to Wi-Fi wasn't too difficult – although the Frankfurt airport departure lounge defeated the Android browser – yet it was also a little surprising that it demanded we key in the Wi-Fi password, considering the speech recognition capabilities of the device.
Readers will be unsurprised to learn that the default translation is from Chinese to English, considering the product's origins.
The company has reassuring words for users concerned about privacy. A spokesperson told us, "We have 15 servers globally which can cover 200+ countries and regions; the data in Europe will only be sent to those servers located in Europe (Germany, France)."
"Also, the audio data is only used for translation only, no data will be stored."
The spokesperson went on: "Once the earbuds pick [up the] user's voice, it will send the audio data to the AWS cloud server, and we cooperate with top translation engines like Microsoft, Google, DeepL, etc. to do the translation, then send the translation result audio to the earbuds so [the] user can hear.
"Only the audio is transferred, and the data is only used for translation only; after translation is done, the data will be erased from the server permanently. We never store users' data. The translation result will only store on your device locally; you can trace them in 'Translation History'.
"Since it is only stored locally, if you delete them, it will be deleted permanently."
We can imagine some enterprises taking issue with a device that is effectively transcribing discussions, but in practice it is a handy feature to have.
Conclusion
Is the X1 AI Interpreter Hub any good? The answer is yes and no. Suppose you are a casual user needing to buy a beer from a bar where the staff speak a different language. In that case, the variety of free translation apps available on your phone will probably be sufficient, and you won't need to worry about dealing with the earpieces.
However, in a business setting – which is where the X1 is clearly being targeted – it works well. The One-on-One mode was impressive once users became accustomed to it. While still not as fluid as we'd like, it is an improvement on the current state of the art. Multi-person mode is where the device shone, although with companies such as Microsoft adding translation capabilities to their meeting products, enterprises will need to consider the value.
And this is where the cost of the X1 AI Interpreter Hub comes into play. Timekettle would like £554.11 ($699.99) for a single device, effectively pricing it out of reach for most consumers and giving cash-strapped enterprises pause for thought. That said, the efficiencies gained by users who have frequent international interactions could justify the expense, and features such as multi-person mode will prove useful for meetings that span multiple languages. ®
