If you made it through that whole video, congratulations, you are stronger than I. But seriously, past the cringe-worthy "this is totally what millennials are like" advertising, ili is a really cool concept, with a lot of disclaimers:
- It won't teach you Japanese
- It just started pre-orders
- It can only be used for simple travel "yes" or "no" questions
That said, ili is a step in a very good direction. If all goes well, this kind of "translation tool" could be used to do more, such as storing questions you've asked and turning them into language lessons. In fact, I'm only really excited about this type of tool because a much more advanced version is in production that will do this plus help teach you!
But you never know, ili could blow us away in pre-orders and immediately become more advanced than its competitors. We just have to watch and wait.
UPDATE: We got an ili, took it to Japan, and did an in-depth review. Read our full ili translator device review to learn more about it.