Google Lens may probably not be your most-used feature on your phone, but Google is trying its best to make it even more useful for you. At the ongoing Google I/O developer’s conference, they shared the new features that they will be bringing not just to those who have premium devices running Lens but even to those who are using the lightweight app Google Go. Tapping into machine learning, computer vision, and the Knowledge Graph in Search, they try to bring answers to your phone without having to go through so many steps or other apps.
When you’re in a restaurant and you don’t know what to order, Lens can help you out. Point your camera at the menu and it can highlight what dishes are popular. Tap on a particular dish and you’ll be able to see photos and even reviews if people have been posting about it on Google Maps. You can even use Lens to manage your bill after the mill. It will recognize numbers and then open up a tip calculator and also split the bill among your group.
The translation feature of Lens is also getting some improvements. When you point your camera at the sign or menu or document that you need to translate, it will automatically detect the language and then the translation will be overlaid on top of the original language. Google is also now working with museums to see the stories behind paintings and magazines to have recipes “come to life” when you point your camera at it.
Google Go, the lightweight search app for those who have not-so-powerful devices will also be getting some Lens features. You can point your camera at a text and it can read it back to you. If you tap on a specific word, you can search for it and learn its definition and even how to pronounce. Lens is only 100kb on Google Go and can work with phones that cost as low as $35.
As Google continues to add more features to Lens, they are hoping it becomes more ubiquitous and people will automatically go for it when trying to visually search for something or have a sign translated. Google says that Lens has already been used more than a billion times and they’re hoping to add more to that number.
