Google is a past master in the art of making the results of its research in artificial intelligence available to users. With Lens, it makes your life easier thanks to image recognition. Here is how to benefit from it.
In recent days, Google Lens has been gradually deployed on Android smartphones. This innovative technology uses the phone’s photo module to identify text, objects, places and people. It is both available as a stand-alone application, within Google Assistant and also in Google Photos.
Unfortunately, not all smartphones are in the same boat and it is possible that it is not yet present on your device. Google has not given any deployment schedule and has just indicated that its technology will be present, initially, on its Pixels smartphones, as well as on mobiles from LG, Motorola, Xiaomi, Sony, Nokia, Transsion, TCL, OnePlus , BQ and Asus.
How to tell if you have Google Lens
First, check that all your Google apps are up to date, as well as your Android system. Press and hold the smartphone’s home button to launch the wizard. If the icon circled in red below is present (bottom right), you have the Google Lens function.
Note that the independent Google Lens application offers the same possibilities as when you go through the Google Lens icon of the assistant.
Use Google Lens in the Google Assistant
- In the wizard, press the Google Lens icon and validate the different presentation screens by tapping on To continue. Then allow the app to access the camera.
- Direct the photo module of your smartphone towards the element that interests you so that it appears on the screen. Wait a few seconds until one or more colored circles appear. Tap on one of these circles to display the information that Google found. Finally, select the information that interests you with a touch of your finger.
- Google Lens can help you shop by offering items similar to the one it has identified. The function is even able to identify barcodes.
- You can also select items that do not match the color circles. It suffices to Type like this on a text box to activate the selection function. You then have two pointers to delimit the area, as well as three functions (Find, Copy and Translate).
For example, this function is particularly useful for copying the characters of the Wi-Fi key to your Internet box (label stuck on the box) and using it directly to connect your smartphone.
If the text box corresponds to a date, Google offers to insert it in your calendar.
Use Google Lens in Google Photos
- The Google Lens function works in real time, but can also be used on photos already taken thanks to the Google Photos application. To find out if the function is present, launch the app and tap on a photo. The information icon is then replaced by that of Google Lens.
- If Google Lens is not available and you still want to test the function, make sure the Google Photos app is up to date and change the language from Android to English (United States).
To do this, type languages in the Android settings search box and, in the section Languages (the name varies depending on the version of Android and the manufacturer’s overlay), tap Add a language.
Select English (United States) in the list and move this entry to the top of the language list.
- By tapping on the Google Lens icon, you can access functions similar to those present in Google Assistant. For example, the identification of objects and places.
- Finally, if the photo contains images and text, for example for a poster, you can choose what kind of elements you want Google Lens to deal with.
- To retrieve all the text blocks, tap on the selection tool as in the example above. This gives you the ability to search the web, share, copy and translate.