WHAT’S
HOT

   The fact that the software comes on it’s
on MMC card is great! 5 languages with audio translations all on one
tiny card.

SETUP

  
The setup for Audio Translator is extremely simple. You pop the card
into your open SD/MMC slot and it autoruns the setup, installing the
MobiPocket.com
Reader to the main memory. This review was completed on my iPaq 2215.

IN
THE BOX

  
The software comes packaged in a nice looking box. And as you can see
from the example above, this software is compatible with not only Pocket
PCs, but also Palm OS devices and some Nokia cellphones. I was not able
to run the program properly on a Samsung i600 SmartPhone.

Inside
the packaging is the Audio Translator MMC card, a 6-card caddy, and
a multilingual Getting Started Guide.

The
card itself has a total of 30.5Mb available (720Kb Free).

PROGRAM
FEATURES

    First, let’s review the features (copied
verbatim) that Handango
has on their website:

  
After selecting the language preference, you are greeted with the
main Library page. I think it’s important to note that this application
is an OEM’d version of MobiPocket
Reader Pro. The nice thing about this is you not only have the
functionality of Audio Translator, but you can also download any of
the various eBooks,
eNews,
eDictionaries,
eMedical,
or eLearning
titles available. In the example above, you can see the 3 titles that
come on the Audio Translator card: Audio Translator, Audio Translator
User’s Guide, and Software End-User License Agreement.

If
you start Audio Translator (the icon actually just loads MobiPocket
Reader Pro remember) without the card installed, then you are
only shown what eBooks you currently have your Pocket PC (in my case,
none).

Tapping
the book icon next to a title brings up additional information and
allows you to specify categories.

  
Tapping on the upper left corner displays the essentially what could
be considered the main menu. From here you can switch to the Library
or Annotations, Find text (within the current page), change Settings,
enable the auto-scroll feature, and view the About page. Tapping Help
does absolutely nothing. I won’t be covering all these options as
they are not so much a part of Audio Translator, but of MobiPocket
Reader Pro. More specifics on MobiPocket
Reader can be found on MobiPocket’s
website.

Under
the General Settings, you can specific the Font Size, Font Family,
Dictionary (if you have one installed) along with having the option
to Enable ClearType.

The
Colors tab provides you the opportunity to adjust all of the color
options for MobiPocket
Reader Pro (and therefore Audio Translator).

  
Under the Display tab is one of the most interesting features available
to Audio Translator – Screen orientation (which you can see an example
of later in this review). You can also specify whether or not to display
margins, or even view the application in Full Screen mode.

  
Last of the Settings is the Toolbar tab, from which you can enable
and disable the various buttons found at the top of the screen. The
Library button returns you to the Library to choose a different title.
The Start scrolling button enables and disables the auto-scroll feature.

The
Screen orientation button brings up a 4-button bar from which you
can easily change the orientation, dynamically resizing text.

Tapping
the Table of Contents (in the case of Audio Translator) brings you
to, well, the Table of Contents.

The
Font size button resizes the text in steps (the examples above show
the smallest and the largest text size).

  
Finally, the last two buttons are Back (self explanatory), and the
Chapter button. The Chapter button can not only move you from chapter
to chapter (not available with the Audio Translator title), but also
give you the ability to add drawings or bookmarks. But as these are
features more of MobiPocket Reader than Audio Translator, I won’t
be covering them.

Now
that you’ve seen the interface through which Audio Translator runs,
let’s take a look at Audio Translator itself.

Here’s
the Table of Contents (this is what you see when you first open the
Audio Translator title). From this point, you select the two languages
that you want to work with (from the 5 available) and then click Go.

If
you attempt to choose the same language (for example English to English),
you will be notified this is an invalid selection. Tapping the Return
button will take you back to the Table of Contents.

Once
you click Go, then you are given 3 options:

All
Words and Phrases (with a Search box),

Phrase
Categories (from which each category has different selections – the
example above is from the Conversing category),

  
And finally Phrase Keywords (with a Search box). Unfortunately, due
to what seems to be a design flaw with MobiPocket
Reader Pro, there are no scrollbars anywhere (under any choice
or selection)! You can tap on the screen to scroll down (or use the
D-Pad to scroll up/down via the LEFT-RIGHT controls), but there isn’t
any way to scroll back up. This can create issues considering that
you are looking through some 40,000 words in a single column list…

  
Once you find and tap on the phrase you want, you are shown something
similar to the example above. If you were to tap on the speaker icons
found under each phrase (assuming you have a compatible device), you
would hear an audio translation of the text. How’s the translation?
Well, it’s a bit like Microsoft’s Voice Command – you can understand
the computerized voice pretty easily. The recorded volume, however,
seems REALLY low. Even with my volume set to the highest level, it
was still a little on quiet side.

If
you tap a word (or phrase), then MobiPocket Reader’s drop-down menu
will appear, giving you the option to Define, Copy, Highlight, Annotate,
Modify, or Add a custom link.

Modified
text shows up in red (you can then tap on the red/slashed text to
see the modified word).

Highlighted
text appears in whatever color you have chosen (the default is yellow).

There
are some odd phrases available (ie salami, veal, anchovy salad (yuck?);
or Saint Fermin’s day.) And other, more common, English phrases are
missing (a good example is Saint Patrick’s Day).

Here
are a couple examples of the same phrase, yet different translations.
First is English to French and German.

  
English to Italian and Spanish. This brings up another note – to switch
between the translated language requires you to return to the Table
of Contents, choose another language, refind and select the phrase.
It would have been nice to have a faster method to switch languages
for the same phrase/word.

HELP
AND SUPPORT

    Along with the included Getting
Started Guide, mdm
has a contact form on their website.
You can also find additional support through MobiPocket.

SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS

    size=2>According to mdm,
Secure File PDA Backup requires a Windows Mobile™-based
Pocket PC 2002 or higher with SD/MMC expansion slot and 5.5Mb
of free memory. Palm and Nokia requirements can be found on mdm’s
website.

BUGS
AND WISHES

    I
found no fatal errors. And my wish list is short:

• Add
  scrollbars
• Make
  switching between translations easier
• Improve
  volume levels
• Include
  paper instructions on use

PURCHASING

    You
can buy this card directly from MDM
(Handango). The price shown is $39.95. According to Handango’s
page, this software can’t be downloaded, they have to ship it
to you.

PROS

• 
  

  5
  languages with 40,000 words and 5,000 phrases

• Audio
  translation
• Contains
  all you need in one package.
• 
  

  On
  it’s own MMC card!

CONS

• Audio
  translation volume is recorded too low
• Interface
  can be a little difficult to use at times
• Includes
  some odd phrases and is missing other more common ones

OVERALL
IMPRESSION

   For the price, this is a great package.
If you attempted to purchase 5 electronic phrasebooks, you would
be quickly approaching the $75+ range. And, as a bonus, you get
MobiPocket
Reader Pro (another $20 value)! The problems with the scrollbars
and volume are pretty big sticking points, as they directly effect
the overall user experience. If you are constantly in need of
a phrasebook (or multiples thereof), this might be just the product
for you.

Have
you used Audio Translator? See something that isn’t quite right?
Tell us what you think! Click on the Discussion Link below.