Google Lens launches for mobile
Initially, it will just help sell products
Google wants you to search for more than just answers to questions and videos.
Google aims to open up image search on mobile phones with a new tool called “Lens,” which will offer more detail within the photo, like what the product is called, or where to buy.
At first, Lens will just be for products. Google says it will expand to other categories in the coming months.
The service will be available in mobile browsers (Chrome, Safari) on Android and Apple smartphones, but not within the Google apps. That will come later in the year.
This isn’t to be confused with the Lens feature that’s currently available on the Google Pixel phones and Android handsets, which is used in conjunction with the camera.
On the Android phones, you point the camera at, say, a record album cover (remember those?), and Lens will give you the album’s liner notes or other information.
Some of those features will be coming to the mobile web as well, says Cathy Johnson, who heads Google’s Image search division. For the new Lens for mobile browsers, consumers look for the white dot in an image that signifies the Google Lens is available on it, and once it’s open, they can use their fingers to draw on specific portions of the image to find what they’re looking for.
Some examples of what you can do with Lens:
❚ Search for vintage Porsche cars, and Lens will show you other Porsches of that era.
❚ Find a Porsche image with an open hood, draw a circle around the motor, and find links to buying spare parts.
To bring Lens to the mobile web, Google engineers applied artificial intelligence and computer vision to sift through all those billions of photos, and apply a model to make them come to life with information, says Johnson.
Google rolled out the new tools Thursday morning, beginning on the East Coast, and expected to have it live across the United States by Thursday evening.