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Last week, Google announced via Twitter the debut of a new Translate widget on Android that adopts the “Material You” aesthetic. Unfortunately, when this was announced, the feature had not rolled out widely yet, so we could only discern what it would look like based on Google’s tweet and some of the pictures shared by Esper’s @MishaalRahman from his APK teardown, as reported by Android Police.
Now, the changes are finally rolling out as we were able to get the new widgets on both Android 12 Stable and Android 13 Beta 1. There are two widgets available: One which allows you to quickly start a translation based on your last-used languages using Dictation, Conversation, Transcribe, or Lens mode, and another that allows you to access your translation history quickly or saved phrases.
The saved phrases feature is the feature that I find the most helpful for instances when you may be in a foreign country and need to quickly ask how much something costs or simply say “Good morning.” By saving these commonly used phrases in the Translate app, you could quickly access them and play them back without much fuss.
It’s fun to see these “Material You” changes popping up in all areas of the Android UI, as I am a fan of the look, and I think it “beautifies” the experience. If I look at a device at all hours of the day, I want it to look nice and cohesive and adopt features that improve the overall quality of life.
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