SpeakEasy Italian Lite app review: a free taster of an Italian translation and phrases app

Introduction

SpeakEasy Italian Lite by Pocketglow Inc. is designed to make your trip to Italy easier by delivering 160 Italian travel phrases to you.  Organized in six different categories, including travel essentials and greetings, the app is well laid-out and will become a priceless tool  for anyone who travels to Italy and does not speak the language. The app basically looks like the Settings screen on your device, which makes it really boring, but very easy to use and very well organized. Let's examine further to see if it's one of the better Italian language learning and translating apps.

Basic in Content and Basic in Appearance

The 160 phrases that you will receive by downloading this free app are more basic than they sound. Half of the “phrases” are just words, and on their own they might be handy to know, but useless in a conversation. On the other hand, having the app look basic as well is a huge pro. The app is easy to navigate and the categories are clear and concise. You will know exactly where to look if you need to find something that is useful for you at the time.

To make it even easier, Pocketglow has added a search function, which searches the 160 phrases for any words or meanings. 

It Might Be a Good Idea to Upgrade

The app doesn’t throw unnecessary ads your way, which is a nice breath of fresh air into the world of free and lite apps nowadays. On the bottom of the side bar on the left is a menu header called “Upgrade to full version.” It’s not bothering or frustratingly popping up all the time, so you can visit this at your own leisure. In here you can preview all sentences available in the pro version of the app, but cleverly only in English. Tons of really handy sentences are hidden in here that will make your trip to Italy so much easier, including border, airport, and eating out phrases. Be aware, again you won’t get 750 extra phrases. Tons of these are also just words, but with all the phrases in the pro version of this app you will get a lot further then just with the lite app. Upgrading to this full version costs $4.99.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Basic layout
• Easy to use
• Handy for people on a short holiday to Italy
• Search function

Cons

• Not all phrases are actual phrases
• For more useful content, upgrading is pretty expensive

Conclusion

SpeakEasy Italian Lite is a great test app, but I wouldn't rank it as the best translation app. It’s really nice not to be constantly reminded there also is a pro version available or having ads thrown at you every tap of the way. For people traveling to Italy on a short trip, definitely check out the lite version and see if you want to pay extra for very useful content.