As we have come to expect, Xiaomi is constantly teasing its fans on Weibo about new products that are coming out. And so it was yesterday, with a mysterious poster of something that uses light to read text. Maybe? It never drops or reveals what exactly they're up to.
A light illuminates a piece of paper with a quote from Usain Bolt. Didn't you drop it? Didn't you? Then I'll tell you what it really is.
An Artificial Intelligence English reading companion called Lighten. Specifically, a tool that helps Chinese people understand English writing by translating it into Chinese. The laser on top of the device scans the book, newspaper or whatever English text you put in front of it, even the one you poke at and sends it to your phone via Bluetooth connection. To help you understand exactly what it's about, a video shows you exactly what it's about.
https://www.facebook.com/szabo.kornel.s/videos/2242892479083465/
The device's built-in 2,600 mAh battery provides up to 4 hours of continuous use and 8 hours of standby time. The Sony IMX214 camera can read English text ultra-fast at 0.3 seconds, 1,750 cm2 from the surface. Scan recognition and translation accuracy is ensured by a Movidius MA2450 processor with 100 billion FLOP computation speed. With the built-in artificial intelligence algorithm, it can recognise any word accurately and at lightning speed, and the accompanying application uses the Cambridge and Simplified Dictionary to instantly translate it into Chinese.
The LIGHTEN is securely held in place by a suction cup built into the bottom, when the reading optics are pulled out, it forms a vacuum and is almost indestructible. Once pushed back into place, it can be picked up from the desk with ease.
Weighing just 190g, you can easily take it anywhere and charge or power it via USB. Compatible with Android 4.4 / iOS 9.0 and later operating systems. Not yet planned for sale outside China and can only translate from English to Chinese. But it is a very interesting tool!
