Langie S2

Although the Langie S2 is promoted as a convenient translator, its awkward shape and dimensions make it anything but practical. The device carries a steep price tag, yet its build quality and feature fail to reflect this. It offers online translation in 53 languages, but only 33 support voice playback — the rest are limited to on-screen text. Offline capabilities are minimal, with just 13 language pairs available, most of which involve Chinese. A further drawback is the lack of an included SIM card, which must be purchased separately for £34–£43. To make matters worse, data top-ups are highly overpriced, ranging from £7 to £70 for very limited usage. Taken together with middling translation performance and an extremely small screen, it’s difficult to see how the Langie S2 justifies its premium cost.

Review

The Langie S2 is a tough sell, even for users with modest expectations. After a month of thorough testing across several European countries, it became clear that — despite its hefty price tag of around £400 — it offers surprisingly limited functionality.

Design and Build Quality

The Langie S2 certainly has a distinctive design, but that’s not necessarily a good thing. While the casing appears sturdy, the device itself is awkwardly bulky, making it far from user-friendly. Its most notable shortcoming is the microscopical 1.08-inch touchscreen. Reading longer translations on such a tiny display is a tedious task, often involving excessive scrolling. On top of that, navigating the interface is frustratingly difficult — tapping icons or typing accurately is a struggle, even for those with slim fingers.

Features and Operating Modes

The Langie S2 includes a number of functions typical for devices in this category; unfortunately, most of them perform only moderately — or, in some cases, quite poorly:

Online translation (53 languages) – The range of supported languages is relatively limited, especially when compared with rival devices offering over 100. Of the 53 advertised, only 33 include spoken output; the rest are restricted to on-screen text, significantly limiting the device’s practicality. Translation accuracy is hit-and-miss—while basic, everyday phrases are usually handled well, more complex sentences often result in mistakes.

Offline translation (13 languages) – This mode supports only 13 languages, primarily involving Chinese language pairs. Its usefulness is very limited. Even the manufacturer admits in their own materials that the offline feature simply “recognises your voice and can translate short phrases or simple words” — at least they’re honest.

Group translation – This function only works with other Langie devices, meaning all participants in a conversation would need to own the same model — an unlikely scenario, particularly given how niche this product is. Similarly, the Language Club option, which lets users share translations with other Langie owners, has little real-world application.

Voice search – In theory, this feature allows you to search for images using voice commands. In practice, it’s underwhelming. Voice recognition works fairly well in quiet environments. However, the results appear on a tiny screen and are difficult to read. It’s hard to see how this could be useful in everyday situations.

Multimedia features – Langie has added a collection of additional features whose usefulness in a translator device is debatable: a photo viewer, video and music player, FM radio, alarm clock, voice recorder, and a language learning tool. We’ll reserve judgement — though playing videos on a 1.08-inch display feels more baffling than beneficial.

Translation Quality and Usefulness

The manufacturer claims that the Langie S2 uses seven online translation engines to deliver high-quality results. However, testing reveals this to be an overstatement. The translation quality is average at best. It appears Langie relies mostly on a single free Chinese engine, common among many Asian-made translators.

During trials across various European countries, simple tourist phrases like “Where is the bathroom?” or “How much does this cost?” were translated accurately. But more complex sentences, especially those with idioms or specialised vocabulary, often came out confusing or misleading.

Translation performance drops significantly in noisy places, such as a busy train station in Madrid or a crowded café in Rome, despite the manufacturer’s claims of technology designed for noisy environments.

The tiny screen further limits usability. Checking longer translations is difficult, as constant scrolling is required. For example, trying to follow a museum guide’s explanations in Athens was practically impossible due to the small display.

The built-in dictionary covers only a handful of language pairs: English-Spanish, English-French, English-German, English-Russian, and English-Japanese.

Connectivity and Internet

The Langie S2 doesn’t come with a SIM card in the standard package, which is a bit of a drawback. You need to buy one separately, and there are two options. The ULTRA LANGIE SIM costs £43 and gives you 500 MB of data, valid for 10 years across 150 countries — though it’s hard to imagine that small amount lasting that long. The other option is the LANGIE SIM, priced at £34, which offers unlimited data for translations but only works for two years and in 70 countries.

In our tests, the data packages depleted far quicker than claimed. With regular use, the ULTRA LANGIE SIM ran out within months rather than years. To make matters worse, recharging the SIM card is expensive: 150 MB for 7 days costs £11, while 5 GB for 30 days comes at a steep £70.

Compared to rivals, Langie’s offering falls short. Other manufacturers typically include a SIM card with unlimited lifetime internet, and their devices operate in nearly 200 countries. One potential perk of the Langie is its ability to create a Wi-Fi hotspot (branded as a “3G HOT SPOT” by the maker), but with such limited data allowances, using this feature would likely exhaust your data allowance almost immediately.

Battery and Usability

The manufacturer states the device can last up to 5 days on standby and around 5 hours of continuous use, which is fairly typical for gadgets in this category—and our tests confirmed this. However, the “press and hold while speaking” feature often doesn’t work smoothly. There are delays in detecting button presses and releases, which means the start or end of sentences sometimes gets cut off.

Summary

The Langie S2 is a pricey electronic translator, costing around £306, yet it only supports 53 languages online—of which just 33 offer voice functionality—and a mere 13 languages offline, mostly paired with Chinese. The offline mode is very limited, translating only short phrases and simple words. Its tiny 1.08-inch screen makes using the device difficult, especially when accessing the extra features the manufacturer promotes.

Another major downside is the absence of a SIM card in the package—you have to buy one separately for between £34 and £43, adding to the overall cost. Internet connectivity is restricted to 70 to 150 countries depending on the SIM, and once your data or time allowance runs out, you’ll need to purchase additional packages, which can cost anywhere from £7 to £70.

The device’s bulky size and outdated design, paired with average translation quality, make it feel overpriced. It seems to try and make up for its flaws with various multimedia functions. For the same price—or even less—you can find far more modern, user-friendly translators that support more languages, deliver better translation accuracy, and include an unlimited internet SIM.