Back in October, several Googlers noted that Google Lens would be coming to Assistant “in the next few weeks.” On Friday evening, the first users have spotted the visual search feature up and running on their Pixel and Pixel 2 phones.
Following a redesign of the share sheet in the previous update, the latest version of Google Photos is rolling out now. Google Lens on the Pixel and Pixel 2 pick up a really neat and Googley animation when activating, while there are minor UI changes, and a photo book-related promotion.
Google Lens has a ton of potential, and the bits Google showed off with it at I/O this May and GDD in September are incredible. However, basically none of that is live right now, and functionality is incredibly limited within the Photos app. Over time it’s going to improve, though, and a couple of Googlers have hit Twitter to give us more information.
At its October 4th event, Google shared more details about Lens including how it would initially launch in Google Photos for Pixel devices. After launching with the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, Google Lens is beginning to appear for those on last year’s devices as part of a “Pixel preview.”
Much like how Google Assistant was announced at I/O 16 and initially premiered with the Pixel last year, Google Lens is seeing a similar release schedule. These “set of vision based computing capabilities” for performing tasks like visual search is launching first on the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL.
Since I/O 2017, Google has been working on adding Google Lens to Assistant. With version 7.12 of the Google app, we’ve been able to activate Lens and demonstrate what it looks like. Additionally, we were able to initiate the new male Assistant voice that we spotted last week.
Thanks to the last version of the Google app, we learned a great deal about what ‘Bisto’ is, what it does, and even how it works. The latest version of the app began rolling out yesterday and it reveals a number of significant things, including insight into the next version of Android.
Google Lens was one of most exciting announcements of I/O 2017, but we unfortunately have to wait until later this year for it go live. However, signs of it are beginning to show up in the latest Google beta, along with app shortcuts and other minor changes.
At I/O 2017, Sundar Pichai announced Google Lens, a set of vision-based computing capabilities that can understand what you’re looking at and provide actions to interact with the world around you. It will first launch on Google Assistant and Photos…
