Review: Vasco Translator Q1

Real-time translation gadgets get another upgrade with Vasco’s latest, a handheld translator with a feature that is decidedly cool, at least on paper: voice cloning technology. In other words, not only does the Q1 convert your speech to another language, it actually sounds like you’re doing the talking.

That’s the idea, anyway. But before we get to all that, let’s consider the Q1’s complete feature set and how it differs from previous Vasco devices.

Pint-Sized Polyglot

Photograph: Chris Null

The Vasco Translator Q1 is a stand-alone, handset-like device that mimics a tiny smartphone. Measuring about 4 x 2.5 inches in size, and less than 0.75 inch thick, it’s roughly the size of a deck of cards, though at over 5 ounces, it's a bit heavier than one.

The device has no moving parts, with just a 3.5-inch touchscreen that covers its face and a few buttons on each side. These include power and volume buttons, and the now standard pair of “talk” buttons—one to recognize your partner’s voice and one for your own. In many modes, you won’t need to use these, however. Like most handheld translators, the unit includes a preloaded SIM 4G card that gives it near-global usability. (Vasco says it works “in nearly 200 countries,” which is a lot, since there are only 195 widely recognized nations today.) 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Wi-Fi are also available when you’re in range of a hot spot or at a hotel.

The 2,500-mAh battery charges via USB-C. Vasco claims that the Q1 offers “many hours of intensive use” and up to 160 hours on standby—though the battery will drain faster than you might expect even when it’s idling. “Many hours” in my testing was less than eight, but the 160-hour standby metric was roughly accurate.

Language support is robust, but details vary based on how you use the device. For voice-to-voice translation, it supports 86 languages. For text-based translation, that goes up to 108. Oddly, photo-based translations work with 113 languages. Lastly, real-time call translation has support for just 53 languages. I’ll get to each of these in a bit.

After a quick setup, the Q1 drops you into a straightforward interface that lines up its six functions, one over the other. In addition to the four modes mentioned above, the system offers a group chat feature that can support up to 100 participants in their own languages, and a basic learning mode that simply quizzes you on vocabulary, Duolingo style.

Chatty Cathy

Photograph: Chris Null

Most users will likely spend the bulk of their time in conversation mode, which lets you carry on a one-on-one voice discussion with a real-life partner, each in the language of your choice. As is common for handheld translators, holding down one of two buttons—either the pair on the side mentioned earlier or another pair that appears on the touchscreen—lets you tell the Q1 who is talking.

You can also use the touchscreen to put the unit into automatic mode, which is supposed to listen to both sides of the conversation without you having to press any buttons at all, but in my testing, the unit often got confused about who was talking, recognizing Swedish for English, for example, and spitting out garbled nonsense as a result. Otherwise, translations worked well with only a few misplaced words here and there, albeit being delivered significantly slower than I expected.

The photo and text translation modes work well, although the screen is so small that tapping out words in text mode isn’t really practical. It’s just too easy to make mistakes, over and over again. Better to use the voice recognition feature here, which was nearly flawless in my testing. The photo translation feature also works well and quickly, thanks to the capable and detailed 13-MP camera, though the screen is so tiny that you’ll likely need to zoom in and out to read any of the translated text.

There's a group chat function, but note that each participant will need a Vasco device or Vasco’s MultiTalk app loaded on their phone. Setting up a group chat is a bit convoluted—especially if chat members don’t already have the app—but once you get things going, the system works like any group chat system, just with everything translated on the fly.

My Voice Is My Passport

Photograph: Chris Null

Then there’s the voice cloning feature, which involves recording a snippet of sample speech and then directing the Q1 to deliver translations (those sent from you to your partner) in an approximation of your own voice. To set it up, you read a short snippet of text presented on the Q1’s screen; after a few minutes, the cloned voice becomes an option in the settings menu.

The feature was rather underbaked in my testing, as the re-creation of my own voice sounded nothing like me, with a much deeper, almost guttural bass. Perhaps that’s how Vasco wants me to sound to fit in overseas. I tried it again with my wife and found the replication to be much closer to her actual voice, though a bit deeper than her actual speaking voice. The somewhat tinny speaker on the Q1 doesn’t help.

The live call translation feature—new to Vasco’s lineup with this release—is intriguing and quite powerful, though it gave me a little trouble at the gate. The problem turned out to be that Vasco’s SMS authentication service isn’t yet working in the US, so I couldn’t verify my identity to set it up. I eventually worked around this by using a foreign phone number to set up the system.

You select the language of the person you intend to call, then dial their number on the keypad. An automated introductory message played to both parties explains that you’re using a translator service. Then, assuming the person on the other end doesn’t hang up, thinking it’s a robo-call, you just speak normally, no button taps required. You don’t hear the foreign translation of your own voice, but you do hear both the other person’s original voice and the automated translation of what they said, one after another. Everything said on both sides appears on the screen in text, too. The service is a bit slow, with multi-second delays between the delivery of translations, but it’s not egregious, and with a little patience, I was able to have a robust conversation with a Polish partner on the other end of the line.

Photograph: Chris Null

One big caveat: Only 10 minutes of phone time is included with the device; after that, you’ll have to buy extra minutes. Pricing for extra time has not yet been set.

It's worth noting that these kinds of functions are increasingly common on smartphones today. Samsung's latest Galaxy phones support real-time translation during phone calls, as do the latest iPhones. Google's newest Pixel 10 series can even approximate your voice in those translations in real time, just like the Vasco.

Aside from some minor quibbles, the Q1 works very well, its utility enhanced by a convenient form factor that is easier to tote around than many competing handheld translators. Even better, the unit has no subscription fees (aside from those TBD-priced extra calling minutes), so this should effectively last until 4G networks become obsolete. The price may be a bit of a stumbling block, though. At $489, it’s $100 more than the V4, Vasco’s last handheld translator, though the Q1 has more features and is considerably more compact.

Still, at these prices, you really need to find yourself in a linguistically unfamiliar environment enough to justify the cost. I’m all for gadgetry, but how much does a human translator run?