Phenquestions
One of the features that I missed a lot when I took Microsoft's new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge browser to the test was support for translations and spell checking.
The new Microsoft Edge is available as a development build currently only, and it is only natural that some features are missing. I had hopes that Microsoft would deliver the missing components before release, and the company did just that with the release of a new Canary channel version of Microsoft Edge.
The Translate feature is build-in, but it needs to be activated at this point in time. It is likely that Microsoft restricts this for now but will enable the feature natively for all Edge installations once the browser reaches a stable build.
Note: You need to enable Microsoft Edge Translate on edge://flags first at this point before translation functionality becomes available.
Once enabled, Edge's translate feature works similarly to the translate feature in Chrome. The browser detects a foreign language and displays a prompt to translate the page to the user.
That prompt goes away when you click or do something else, but you may reopen it with a click on the translate icon in the Edge address bar.
Select a language that you want the content to be translated to and hit the translate button to have Edge translate it. You may also select "not now" to dismiss the prompt, or check the "always translate pages from" box to automate the process further. If you do that, Edge will translate pages that are in the language automatically to the selected language.
Microsoft Edge translates the content on the fly and displays it on the page right away. Microsoft uses its own translation service for that and not Google Translate; this should not come as a surprise though.
Language support is good and you may select any supported language from the list if you don't want the content to be translated into the suggested language.
Spell checking support has been integrated as well, at least for some users. It works only in text fields, and is not available for all users at the time of writing.
Closing Words
Spell checking is a core feature of any browser, and translation functionality is a nice to have feature, especially for users who look beyond regional offerings.
Now You: Did you try the new Edge? What is your impression?
