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Google Lens could soon make it easier to add context to searches (Update: Rolling out)
- Google Lens lets you start an object search and, once the image search is complete, add more context through text or voice.
- In the future, Google could simplify this process by letting you long press the shutter button to add voice context to your photo or video. There is also a new animation similar to Circle to Search.
- This feature is not currently live and may or may not roll out in the future.
Update, August 4, 2024 (11:55 PM ET): This feature from Google Lens that lets you add context to searches with your voice is now rolling out to the stable branch. Have you received the feature on your phone? Let us know in the comments below!
Original article, June 4, 2024 (10:02 AM ET): Google Lens is a nifty tool that makes it trivial to image search objects around you. It’s great for reading barcodes and QR codes and for looking up web results by just pointing your camera at something. While Google Lens is pretty good and gets the job done, sometimes an image search query could use some added context. Google is working on improving Google Lens’ ability to accept additional context with some key changes.
When you access Google Lens and conduct an image search, you need to press the shutter button to start a search. After the image search is performed, you can add context to the search by tapping on the voice search icon. Additional context can take the form of voice or text.
We’ve spotted some changes that Google could soon make to this process. As part of the Google app v15.22.29.29.arm64 (beta), through which Google Lens is served on Android phones, Google is making it easier to start a search and add additional context to it. You can press the shutter button to start a search, but now you can also tap and hold (i.e., long press) the shutter button to simultaneously add additional context through your voice.
Here’s a demo of the upcoming functionality:
As you can see, adding context to the image search is now easier. There is also a new animation similar to what we see for Circle to Search.
We also spotted additional strings in the app that talk about upcoming functionality:
Explore how people use Lens
Search with video
Hold to record a video and search with your voiceWe have not yet been able to get Search with Video working, but it seems like a nifty addition to Google Lens that would allow you to record a video (instead of just clicking a picture) and then add additional search context through voice.
These new features are not currently live within Google Lens, which is available through Google Search on Android. The features may or may not roll out in the future.
If we are allowed to speculate, the easier context search seems like a good stepping stone to a future Google Glass-like product, similar to the smart AI Glasses that Google used in a Google I/O demo.