Trippo popped its head above the software parapet a few days ago when it got added to Nokia's Download! service for the N95 8GB. But it's available to all and is in the AAS software shop. The big question is, can it live up to its claims? Ewan's been reviewing Trippo and both he and I were gobsmacked at how good the service is - and also at how expensive it might work out.

"Trippo is a small Java application that yet again proves you can replace a lot of books, guides and maps with just your smartphone when you go abroad on holiday or on a business trip.

I was initially surprised by the very small size of the application - only 197K - which seems rather small for a translation application. Have they discovered some mysterious compression technology? No it's simpler than that. Trippo is a client-server based system. When you enter the text you want parsed, Trippo will connect to a central server (I'm assuming with a very big database and far more  computational power) and return the translated phrase on-screen for you."

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