Timekettle WT2 Edge Translator Earbuds

The Specs

• Battery: 50mAh
• Continuous Translation Time: 3h
• Standby Time: 720h
• Charging Time: 1.5h
• Battery Charging: USB Type-C
• Connection: Via Bluetooth
• Smart Sentence Segmentation: RNNVAD (Recurrent Neural Network Voice Activity Detection）
• Mobile System Compatibility: Android 7.0 / iOS 12.0 and above
• Bluetooth Requirement: Bluetooth 5.0
• Languages Supported: 40 (with 93 accents)

What’s in the Box?

• Timekettle WT2 Edge Translator Earbuds
• USB-C Charging Cable
• 1 x pair of ear clips
• 2 x pairs of silicone in-ear rubber tips
• Quick Start Guide

First Impressions

Out of the box, the build quality of the Timekettle WT2 Edge is awesome.

The attention to detail in the packaging is great and the nice, slender, and smooth pebble design of the casing is attractive, plus it would be easy to slip these in your pocket while you’re out and about.

The packaging and instructions that come with the unit are also excellent and a real cut above other device makers who are outputting similar hardware.

My initial impression of the WT2 Edge was really good. The fit in the ear isn’t the same with earphones but I don’t think that’s the intention here.

The idea is that you still have a good spill of external audio coming into both your ears in addition to the translation. 

So I think they’ve probably intentionally designed these to be a little bit lose in the ear so that you can hear everything that’s going on around you and not just the translation.

I had different expectations about the WT2 Edge than I’ve had on other Timekettle products that I’ve reviewed, just because of the price. And that expectation is they’d be an even better-performing unit than the M3.

Translation Modes

Like the M3 and the T1, there are multiple translation modes on the Timekettle WT2 Edge, which can be used in different ways.

The first is Simultaneous Mode, which is when you give the right earbud to the person you’re speaking to and set the translation languages for each of the earbuds.

When they speak, it automatically translates into your ear, and when you speak, it automatically translates into their ear.

I didn’t find this to be real-time. 

It was good and I could certainly piece together enough of the conversation to have a decent conversation, but I found a bit of a delay between them speaking and the translation.

On one hand, this could be frustrating because you’d like to hear them as quickly as possible. On the other hand, it was quite nice not having to listen to them and the translation at the same time.

I certainly managed to have a decent conversation with people speaking foreign languages but there were some pauses in the conversation, and I wouldn’t say that it was entirely in real-time.

Would it be enough to get through a meeting with someone? Absolutely.

Would it be enough to improve communication in a multilingual household? Yes, it would although the translation isn’t always 100% accurate. It gets you definitely close enough to be able to understand and communicate.

And if I were married to a foreign language partner or lived in a multilingual flat, then this would be a pretty cool addition to being more involved in the room for the conversations.

The second mode is Touch Mode. Again, you wear one earbud, pass the other earbud to another person, and then you select which language each earbud represents. 

Then instead of it being simultaneous, you can tap your earbud when you’re ready to talk, and then you’ll talk, and it’ll beep when it has started to translate it to the other person.

The other person will hear what you’re saying, and if you’d like to reply, you can then tap the side of your earbud and hear the beep to talk and translate.

The little beep before you start speaking is nice, as it gives you confirmation that the earbud has received the touch and is now listening to your translation.

This mode would be suitable where there’s a bit more noise around, and you only want to translate when you have something to say.

Speaker Mode is where you’d have the earbuds in your ear and use the phone for the person to speak into. 

This way, the phone becomes a microphone for them, and then that would translate into your ears.

When you speak, the phone will translate back to them using the phone and the text display on your phone. This is great for just asking for directions or something similar.

This is very much how I was using the M3 Timekettle model.

Listen Mode is where the phone would be placed near the speaker, and you’d wear the earbuds to translate what they’re saying. 

This is more suitable when you’re simply listening to someone speak without having a two-way conversation. This mode is something that you could try when watching television.

I do get a lot of comments from people asking if these would be suitable for listening to foreign language films and television.

My experience with this is probably no. 

The Timekettle WT2 Edge translates but the lag in what the person says and the translation takes too long. And if there’s a lot of talking, then it builds up and backs up, and you’ll find that you’re out of sync with the movie.

So, I wouldn’t recommend the WT2 Edge for movies but it would work at a conference or when you’re sitting in a room and listening to someone do a presentation. 

You’d get enough of the presentation that you’d understand what they’re saying and the translation is accurate enough that, while some words may get missed, you’ll still get a feel for what’s being spoken.

The latency is between 0.5 and 3 seconds in terms of translation and I think that would be pretty much what I experienced when using them.

This is why I say it’s not good for movies, because if you have to wait a couple of seconds for a translation, then by that stage, the actor has already moved on to another line.

Again, in any other situation where you’re listening or having a conversation, as long as you can control a certain amount of the speed of that conversation, then the Timekettle WT2 Edge is great.

Battery Life

The battery of the Timekettle WT2 Edge can last for about three hours of continuous translation, so you won’t have to charge them very often.

The case itself is a charging case, which can give you additional 12 hours of battery life on the units.

It takes about an hour and a half, or 90 minutes, to fully charge, and the port is a USB-C type.

What’s the difference between the WT2 Edge and M3 Timekettle models?

The M3 is a bit more about short conversations, listening to the environment around you, and trying to pick up what’s being said.

It’d be handy if you live in a foreign country and just want to pick up bits and pieces, have conversations with friends and family, and maybe take it to college for lectures, but it doesn’t have the capabilities that the WT2 Edge has.

The ability to share earbuds between two people with the Timekettle WT2 Edge and have simultaneous conversations, or push-to-talk conversations, is much more powerful. 

This gives you much more control over the conversation, and I prefer the push-to-talk option.

This wouldn’t work if you went into a foreign negotiation and had to explain how to use it. 

However, it’s pretty straightforward if the person puts the earbud in, you explain that you need to push the outside, wait for the beep, and then talk, which all happens very quickly.

It’s quite intuitive as soon as you’ve spoken a couple of sentences between each other. I tried it with Korean, Chinese, and German, and it seemed to handle those languages with very little effort.

The M series is more of a one-way, one-turn communication. You speak and then they speak.

The W series, like the WT2 Edge, is more of a hybrid duplex conversation, where two people can talk and listen at the same time.

If you’re thinking of having longer conversations, then the WT2 Edge is definitely a better choice.

Like all Timekettle or Fluentalk devices, it supports up to 40 languages and 93 accents, and it also supports offline packages, with up to eight for the WT2 Edge. 

These are available via the Fish Card, which you can get and use credits to buy additional translations.

The WT2 Edge is said to support up to six people in a bilingual conversation and it can recognize different languages in the room and translate as needed.

I didn’t get to try this type of bilingual dialogue translation because I only had two earbuds but I expect that as long as everyone was a little bit patient, you could certainly get through a conversation, even if the meeting or the conversation took a little longer.

If you’re throwing WT2 Edge in your bag for travel and you don’t use it for a while, that’s okay.

There’s about a 720-hour standby time when it’s not in translation mode and you can always charge it.

Install the earbuds in the case, which means they’ll be there ready whenever you need them – whether it’s a day, a week, or a month away.

Conclusion

If you’re in the market for translation earbuds, and just want to have short, one-line, back-and-forth conversations, then the M3 is probably sufficient for you to get a good conversation happening.

If you want it to be more natural or if you like the idea of having longer conversations, then the Timekettle WT2 Edge is a better choice.

You can use the WT2 Edge with a foreign partner, friend, or colleague for a few hours and wear these earbuds as you do meetings, walk around the city, or go to dinner – all you need to do is touch the earbuds, talk, and understand what the other is saying.

I personally still love the Fluentalk T1 translation device but it’s less natural to pull out a piece of hardware than it is to just wear an earphone each.