Using Babel Reader-LE


Babel Reader-LE is a fully functioning OCR program for your Windows Mobile phone. It is capable of reading eleven different languages on documents captured with your phone's digital camera at resolutions of up to 5.0 MP.

Download the Babel Reader-LE 1.1 CAB file (3.51 MB).



Copy the CAB file to your Windows Mobile device.

From the File Manager on your phone select the Babel CAB file. This will launch the CAB installer which will then create in the Programs Menu a new program called Babel which has an icon shaped like a Folder. After the CAB installer has finished you will need to do a "soft reboot" of your phone.

Clicking on the Babel icon in the programs menu will bring up the Babel Reader-LE application. You are now ready to select a JPEG image to OCR.

Before you capture an image, you should read our tutorial on Document Image Capture with a Camera. You may need to experiment with the ImageTune filter parameters accessible from the "Setup" dialog from the Main Screen. The default values are WindowSize = 4 and Intensity = 11. You can tune these values to give optimum performance depending on the image and camera combination.

Displaying the JPEG Image

Selecting the File button will bring up a file open dialog which allows you to select a JPEG image. Once you've made the jpeg image selection, select "OK" and your selected image will be loaded and displayed. Please note the image will be scaled to fit the screen and will be rendered as a grayscale image.

Set ImageTune Parameters


This is what ImageTune Does.

ImageTune Input
ImageTune Output

ImageTune removes the noisy background from the image. This makes it easier for Babel Reader to find lines of text, segment the text, and to tell if there are connected regions that would indicate a picture mixed in with the text.

You can "tune" the two parameters to cusomize it to your particular camera/lens and lighting environment. If you use a lamp as we recommend you will normally never have to change the default "Window Size" value of 4. However, intensity can vary quite a bit between environments and tweaking the numbers 1 or 2 points in each direction can often dramatically improve OCR accuracy. So experimentation here is HIGHLY recommended and will take only a few minutes, and generally only the first time you use the program.

Choose an OCR Language

Babel Reader-LE can read 11 languages. The default value has been set to English. To change TopOCR to read another language, select the Language Menu button, and a list of language buttons will be displayed. Select the particular language you want and then select the OK at the top right. Babel Reader will be permanently set to this language until you change it again.

OCR the Image

Select the OCR Menu button. Babel Reader will begin processing the file. Babel Reader will if necessary automatically rotate the image to portrait orientation before it does OCR. You may need to allow for an extra few seconds until it figures out the correct orientation. When OCR has finished you will hear a tone and the text output will be copied into the clipboard.

Displaying Text Output in Word Mobile

To display the text, simply go to the Programs Menu and then to Mobile Office and then launch Word Mobile. You can then create a new document and paste the clipboard containing the OCR text onto the page. Instead of Word Mobile you could use a web browser to go to a free web based translation site and paste the text into the translation box. Babel Reader LE can be used with any Windows Mobile application that allows you to paste UNICODE text.