The device has no moving parts, just a 3.5-inch touchscreen covering its face and a few buttons on each side. These include the power and volume buttons, and the now standard pair of “Talk” buttons – one to recognize your partner’s voice and one to recognize your own voice. However, in many modes, you won’t need to use these. Like most handheld translators, the unit includes a preloaded SIM 4G card giving it almost universal usability. (Vasco says it works “in approximately 200 countries,” which is a lot, considering there are only 195 widely recognized countries today.) 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz Wi-Fi is also available when you’re in range of a hot spot or hotel.
The 2,500-mAh battery charges via USB-C. Vasco claims the Q1 offers “several hours of intensive use” and up to 160 hours on standby – though note that the battery will drain faster than you might expect, even when idle. “Many hours” in my testing was less than eight, but the 160-hour standby metric was nearly perfect.
Language support is strong, but the details depend on how you use the device. For voice to voice translation, it supports 86 languages. For text-based translation, this number goes up to 108. Strangely, photo-based translations work with 113 languages. Finally, real-time call translation only has support for 53 languages. I’ll get into each of these in a bit.
After a quick setup, the Q1 takes you to a straightforward interface that lines up its six functions one above 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.
talkative kathy
Photograph: Chris Null
Most users will probably spend most of their time in conversation mode, which lets you have one-on-one voice discussions with a real-life partner 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 the other pair visible on the touchscreen – lets you tell the Q1 who’s talking.