(Click here for a slightly larger view of the Ectaco iTravl/C-Pen Deluxe Edition)
The C-Pen (right), developed by Swedish firm Anoto AB, is connected via USB to the iTravl, from which it receives its power. It can read characters from five to 22 points in size, with a potential scanning rates of up to six inches per second.
First released last year, the original
iTravl accepted input either by hand or by its built-in speech recognition. Now, with the addition of the C-Pen, it can read any supported language based on a Latin, Cyrillic, or Greek character set, Ectaco says. The Pinyin transliteration system also permits entering Chinese. The iTravl can translate bidirectionally between English and Chinese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Ectaco says the unit can translate approximately 63,000 travel-related phrases per language, then say them "like a native-speaker" using its speaker and speech synthesis functionality. The device includes Fodor's Travel Guide, with maps and essential information for 50 cities, and the CIA World Factbook for 180 countries around the world, according to the company. Added functionality in the iTravl includes a clock, an MP3 player, games, a calculator, and a metric converter.
Technical specifications provided by Ectaco are relatively few, but include the following:
- Display -- 320 x 240 pixel LCD display
- I/O:
- Voice input
- USB port for pen or PC connectivity
- Headphone jack
- Power:
- power input from AC adapter
- Lithium-polymer rechargeable battery
- Dimensions:
- 6.0 x 3 x 0.6 inches (main unit)
- 5.1 x 0.74 x 1.2 inches (pen)
- Weight:
- 7 ounces (main unit)
- 1.6 ounces (pen)
The iTravl is apparently available now, though pricing was not provided.
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