Google Lens is an AI-powered platform that enables you to search using your phone camera in real time. It was only available through Google’s newest Pixel phone when it was launched last year. But today, the tech giant has announced that it will expand to Android phones very soon.
According to Google, the Lens will now be available on supported devices from LGE, Motorola, Xiaomi, Sony Mobile, HMD/Nokia, Transsion, TCL, OnePlus, BQ, Asus, and Google Pixel. To use the app, all you have to do is point your phone’s camera to an object, and it will automatically show all the relevant results for you. Google’s visual search engine includes smart text selection, style match, and real-time functionality.
When you activate the smart text selection tool, you’ll find results by copy and pasting text from the scene captured by your camera. It doesn’t only tell you what the word means, but it also shows a photo of what it looks like. It will be useful in translating foreign words as well as learning about new terms that aren’t familiar to you.
However, there are also times when you don’t necessarily want to know what an object is, but find out other items that are similar to it. This is where the style match comes in. For example, if you find a pair of shoes and you want to look for other products like it, simply activate style match and Lens will give you the results you need. Apart from showing you the price of different items, it also shows you reviews and where you can buy them.
What’s impressive about Google Lens is that it processes information in real-time. It’s able to identify almost anything you point your camera to in a split-second. According to Google, this function is possible with “state-of-the-art machine learning, using both on-device intelligence and cloud.” [via Google]
