Telegram 4.4 for Android gets live location sharing and a redesigned media player.

Today, the popular Telegram messaging app for Android has been updated to version 4.4 with a new Live Location feature that will let users share their current location to any chat in real time. Telegram writes in a blog post that this feature is “useful when you are on your way to an appointment or are trying to coordinate with friends at a large event.”

The Live Location feature gets its name from the fact that users can share their location and choose how long other users in a chat can see their them. Three choices are available: 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours. To start location sharing, simply tap the attachment icon and select location. Tap Share My Live Location for… and select the length of time convenient to you. It is also possible to share Live location in groups and “if other members of the group do the same, you’ll get an interactive map of everyone’s current coordinates.” A bar at the top will remind you that location is still active and users can stop sharing with two taps.

Redesigned media player

Telegram also redesigned the built-in media in this update to “better support the playback of MP3s and other music files you send and receive.” The blog post even offers a channel where users can experience the new media player. The channel is @cctracks. There, users will be able to download some audio files to listen to. 

Language and community-driven translation.

With the addition of French, Indonesian, Malay, Russian and Ukrainian, Telegram now supports 13 languages that can be changed in-app. In order to improve the translation, Telegram is inviting users to use their localization platform and help with proper translation. Should users find a “specific element” that is not properly translated, they can suggest “alternative word or phrase.”

Check out Telegram 4.4 for Android in Google Play Store.

Instagram on Android will now translate your follower's bios and feed posts.

The last time I blogged about Instagram goes back to October 2015. It's not that I deliberately ignore it, but Instagram rarely publishes a detailed change log when they post an update to the store. Today is one of the rare occasions when they do so. Even f it's a minor update, it is worth mentioning, especially if you have among your followers friends or unknowns that speak foreign languages. 

In my opinion it is a feature you expect to see in any modern apps, but not all apps are equal. Thankfully, and finally Instagram chose to bring some modernity after recently redesigning their app icon. In this update, Instagram added the ability to translate profile bios and feed posts written in different languages. They invite you to "see translation" without giving any details about support languages.

Check out the update in Google Play Store.

Microsoft Translator for Android now supports sharing translations from history.

Microsoft is offering a minor update to its popular translator app for Android. Microsoft Translator is fast growing in popularity in the Play store with other 500 thousand downloads. Translator was also the first app of its category to support Android Wear, beating Google on it's own turf. Today's update adds the ability to share translations from the app history. Of course, this update includes the usual bug fixes.

The update is available in Google Play Store.

Microsoft Translator updated, lets you have natural conversations in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish with smart watch support.

Have you ever dreamed of holding a conversation in a foreign language without speaking a single word of that language? Nothing new here you might say and you are right. This feature exists in Skype for example, but only works during Skype calls. Microsoft Translator bring this to another level in that you have it in your pocket or smart watch ready at any time to break the language barrier.

Microsoft Translator has been updated to allow for natural conversations in Chinese, both Traditional and Simplified, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Microsoft announced in the change log that more languages will be added. As I said above, having natural conversations is also handled by a smart watch, giving each participant a device to use, making it even easier to hold a conversation without having to pass your device around.

I can assume that Microsoft Translator is also a kind of language learning tool as all conversations history are tagged by location and can be reviewed later in the participating language.

I don't have a Android Wear watch yet - It's on the way, but while the change log does say Microsoft Translator supports "smart watch", nowhere is Android Wear mentioned, nor does the app page in the store has the small watch icon to indicate that it works with Google's watch platform. However, Apple watch is mentioned in the feature list. 

Microsoft Translator is free to download in Google Play store.

Microsoft Translator now supports Android 6 & gets transliteration for Chinese Simplified.

The Microsoft Translator app for Android now supports over 50 languages and is the first app of its kind to have added support for Android Wear, letting owners of Google's watch to get translation in 50 languages on their wrist.

Microsoft has today published an update that adds support for the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow. Those few devices, mainly Nexus, that received the update will get a better experience with Microsoft Translator. As a side note, my Nexus 7 (2013) is still in the waiting line for the update.

In addition to Marshmallow support, Microsoft also added "transliteration support for Chinese (Simplified)". I went to check what "transliteration" is and according to my favorite search engine, it is the conversion of a text from one script to another. 

Last in the list are the usual minor bug fixes. Head over in Google Play Store to download Microsoft Translator version 1.0.2.

Chrome Beta for Android updated with Translation.

Two days ago I posted about new features ported from Chrome Beta to the official Chrome Browser for Android. With that done, Google wasted no time to publish new features to Chrome Beta for early adopters to try. This time it's Translation that finds its way to Chrome beta. You should already be familiar with Google Translation on a PC. It works just the same on the phone. Translation will prompt you to translate any web site you visit if the language is different from the phone default language. 

Check out the change log for other features:

• Google Translate: When you come across a page written in a language that isn't in the same language as your phone or tablet, look for the translation bar
• Fullscreen on tablets: Simply scroll the page to dismiss the toolbar
• Support for fullscreen API 
• New graph showing your estimated bandwidth savings when you use the experimental data compression feature
• Mobile friendly error pages

Download the update in Google Play Store.