Google Lens to grace non-Pixel smartphones

Google unveiled its Google Lens back in 2017 along with the launch of Pixel 2 series of smartphones. Lens has the ability to recognise objects in a smartphone camera’s field of vision. However, this feature is pretty similar to Samsung's Bixby vision, which was rolled out in August. Therefore, to keep up with the competition Google might roll out Lens for all Android devices.

According to GizChina, Google has confirmed that users will soon be able to use its AI-based image recognition service on their Android devices. The service is expected to be available within the Assistant app on “compatible flagship devices.”

This means that moving Lens into more smartphones will make it easy to discover more about the world by just pointing the phone’s camera. For instance, if you are pointing your camera at a painting, Google Lens could give you information about the artist, the artwork's historical era and other details regarding the painting.

Additionally, Google Lens has received a new feature. The improved AI will be able to recognise common flowers, plants, and animals and different dog breeds. The announcement says “the new feature will hit English-language users.” As of now, it is not clear whether that means “English-speaking countries or just devices set to English.” Also, it is not known how many devices will receive the feature, but the search engine giant is planning to expand this feature to more devices soon.

Besides, Google said that ARCore will exit the preview version and launch as version 1.0 with support for 100 million devices across 13 models such as Google’s Pixel, Pixel XL, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL; Samsung’s Galaxy S8, S8+, Note 8, S7 and S7 Edge; LG V30 and V30+ (Android O only); ASUS Zenfone AR; and OnePlus 5.