Google Lens: What is it, what can I use it for and how do I install this application on my smartphone?

The huge multinational does not stop and Google Lens It is one of the many examples of it. This is an application that, although it seems absolutely revolutionary, is about the mixture of several functionalities that we have already been seeing in other appsboth from this company and from others, in combination with a scanner more precise and, in theory, intelligent.

The truth is that it is an application that it can be very functional in many cases and, at least, entertaining in others. It will allow us to buy the dress of the woman who sits next to you in the cinema or to know if the tattoos written in Chinese are a scam or not, to give a couple of varied examples.

We have said a lot and very little at the same time about this software. Therefore, it is best that you continue reading because we are going to explain exactly what is Google Lens and how does it workwhich will help you better understand what it offers and why.

What is GLens and how does Google Object Recognizer work?

Google Lens is another of the many applications that Google has launched on the Android and iOS app market and whose success was seen to come from afar.

Is uses Machine Learning technology to analyze what you point your camera at of pictures. So that? -you will ask yourself.

The application will recognize it, indicatingfirst, what type of item is it. After that, will offer you different options that you can execute depending on the type of this.

If you have already heard of it, it is possibly because of its most famous function, which is to search for similar products. Its use seeks, in most cases, to know where a garment is from or how much a specific shoe model costs.

Yes, this idea may sound familiar to you if you are a fan of the well-known sitcom The Big Bang Theory, because its female protagonist has exactly this idea and begins, together with the most brilliant scientist in her group of friends, to develop an application with which take a photo of some shoes to search in a database and find out where they are sold.

However, the application offers you much more. essence is offer you all kinds of simple services compared to the elements that its intelligence is capable of recognizing and thatobviously, are available through an application and the network itself.

We have the reading of codes, the copying of texts, the discovery of multimedia content and much more, although we will see all its functions in more detail in the next sections.

List of all features and things you can do using GLens

Do you want to know what you can do with this software? The truth is that it is very entertaining and, most importantly, it can help you in various ways. Let’s see what it offers us:

Element Detection

The first thing you’re going to get, by default, is access to Lens, Google’s scanner. Its about viewfinder of your camera rear, which begins, as we have explained, at scan using Machine Learning technology.

When you focus on anything, the scanner starts to design, by means of points, the central element of the image. Then, as the corresponding detection is made, you must click on the color button that will appear in the center of the element and you will be shown the results found as well as what you can do.

Texts

One of the options is to work the text. When the app detects some text will give you different options depending on what you put:

• Search. The most basic option is to do a search with that concept on google.com or google.es.
• Translate. If the text is given in a different language than the one established, you will also be given the option to open the translator (from Google, of course) and find the text in your language.
• To call. If the text is a phone number you can call with the push of a button.
• Send SMS. Another button that is incorporated as an option will be to send a text message to the detected number.
• Add contact. If you are interested, you can save the number in your phonebook by adding it as a new one or modifying any existing one.
• Indicate website. If you focus on the name of a website, that is, if it detects the http, the www or the .com, you will be invited to go, with direct access, to the website.
• copy text. Without further ado, you also have this option, which can be useful in many cases.
• add events. If you point to an event in a calendar you will be able to use a button to add the event to your calendar.
• Reviews and other information. Point to a place with a text sign and let the app search for reviews and other information about the place.

Find similar products

star function, as we had anticipated:

You focus on anything and GLens shows you all kinds of results that show similar elements. you can come up with one Online store where to buy something similar -or even the same if the scanned item is available in the database- (like Amazon or Aliexpress), find the image on a blog, on image upload pages (such as Vinted) or on the website where it originally came from, etc.

Identify plants and animals

You can point at any plant or animal and you will have, in a second, a list of suggestions, with image included, on the species that may correspond to what is shown, in order of probability.

Discover books, multimedia content and more

when you point to copyrighted items of which you have information on the net you can get all of it. For example, a well-focused studio album will let you know the composers, release date and even the lyrics of their songs. From a book you will know your summary, published reviews.

In addition, whenever possible, you will have a link to do the general search on the internet, to videos and even purchase links if the case arises.

scan codes

Simple and very effective, this one serves to find the information that the different spaces offer through a codebe it an audio guide for a monument, a direct access to a website or information about the waiting time for the urban bus.

scan image

We also now have the option of, instead of scan our surroundings, upload an image of our own phone and that, in the same way, the software searches for similar elements. The given functionalities will be the same, always chosen according to the little program it considers. What to do is click on the characteristic “Image” icon located in the upper area.

Steps to install Google Lens on your Android and iOS mobile phone and start recognizing everything

If you want to try the application, all you have to do is download it and start, which is very simple. We show you step by step both to get it How to start using it:

Facility

The installation of this application is really simple, identical to that of so many others found in the Google Play Store:

• Open your app store.
• Click on the search bar.
• Write “Google Lens” in her.
• Click on the option whose developer is Google LLC.
• Now click on the green button that says “Install”.
• You may be prompted to set up your payment method before starting the installation.
• Click on “Skip”; never enter your sensitive data unless you specifically intend to use it.
• Whether or not the previous step is done, the installation will be carried out automatically.

If the “Install” button in point 5 does not exist and instead you find one that says “Open”, it means that this software is already installed on your mobile, something that can happen. In fact, even by default. If this is the case, you should not do anything else; the app is on your phone and you can start using it.

In case you are interested in using this software and you cannot or do not want to download it, know that Google Assistant and Google Photos also integrate their functionalities.

In the case of having an iOS device from Apple, knowing that you are not going to find Google Lens as such in App Store. You will have to install the generic Google application (the process is the one we just saw but for the Google app, also from Google LLC) and, within it, choose the Google Lens option, which is in the upper area.

Using Google Lens

Once you have GLens on your mobile, you can start using it:

• open the app.
• aim towards the element of your interest. Another option is to click on the top icon of an image and load any one you have in your gallery.
• Wait.
• Click on the closest point to the element that you want to scan.

• Different results as well as actions will be displayed at the bottom. you can press about the one that interests you, be it making a call or seeing a similar image in a store; as you have seen before, the options are totally different.

List of the best alternative object detectors to Google Lens

Finally, we want to propose some alternatives to GLens. If you have been interested in this software, you can try some other options that exist in the infinite market of apps. We leave you the ones that, at our choice, are more useful in one aspect or another; You will see in which case one or the other is better!

fooView

It is a software available for devices with Android 4.1 that you can download on Google Play, free and that requires, of course, certain permissions for use.

Its interface includes a floating button that you can use to access its different tasks regardless of what the screen is in focus on. That is, it is not an app exclusively designed to do the same as GLens, but rather item scanner is one of your optionswhich you access, by the way, if, through that floating button, you click on the camera icon.

Then, yes, you focus with the floating button, the detection is done and you are given some options, in the same way that Lens does.

Intelligent Visual Search

In this case we are not talking about an application itself, but about a resource found in different elements that Microsoft has in the market such as Microsoft Launcher, Edge, or Bing.

This is for find images as similar as possible to those given through Bing. She does it by using an AI that feeds on predefined images and that has machine learning, to identify common specific features that differentiate some elements from others.

A very good point Intelligent Visual Search is that you can frame an area for the scanner to consider without taking into account the rest. This is very useful when there is too much information in a small space and we are not able to focus more precisely.

Image Analysis Toolset

It includes, of course, object identifier. Also, web detector, logo identifier. Indicating which company it corresponds to and giving you information about it, reference identifier, text recognitionallowing you to digitize, move and edit it, colorimeter or censorship risk meteramong other options.

CamFind

The longest-running of the options, CamFind manages to remain a competent rival thanks, among other things, to the fact that it’s also available for iOS.

The operation is a little different you have to take a pictureIt’s not enough to just point. This, moreover, upload to the servers (although it is done with a simple tap). This is where it comes into play CloudSight, which is CAMFind’s reconnaissance API.

Is tells you what you’ve photographed and suggests places on the web where you can find information about what appears in the image, shopping and related images (come on, that looks a lot).

Finally, knowing that you have the choice to save results to Favoritesbut you must activate this functionality both to do it and to see those marked by other users (this will help you to find the most useful results of searches similar to yours).

PictPicks or Image Search Viewer

Includes Google Material Desing so if you are to use its applications you will not notice too much difference in terms of handling. In fact, it also includes the bimage search of this corporation although, of course, the results do not go to the Google website but to the PictPicks interface.

You have benefits like very varied filters to select imagesthese being color, time, type of photo, size… You even have the option of activate SafeSearch and of use a result as a search item to get moreworking in a kind of domino effect, basing some searches on the results of the previous ones.

In the same way, you can launch images via bluetooth or even WhatsApp to send them to your device and have PictPicks scan them.