Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL; DR
- A teardown has revealed that Google Lens could get two changes to bring it in line with Circle to Search.
- The first would be the ability to search for content within videos, while the second would offer a new translation button.
Circle to search is a pretty handy way to search for content on your screen, but is currently limited to recent Samsung and Google phones. Fortunately, Google Lens offers similar functionality for older phones, and it could gain even more functionality to bring it in line with Circle to Search.
A MOT disassembly helps predict features that may appear on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
We found evidence that Google Lens will get two more notable features in a teardown of the Google app (beta version 15.18.30.29). The first feature is the ability to select videos and search for content in a specific frame. Google also provides play and pause controls in the top right corner so you can find a specific frame. Check out the screenshots below.
You just need to activate Circle To Search while watching a video to search for content in a frame. But this is still a useful addition to Google Lens as more and more devices have access to Lens. Circle To Search is limited to recent flagships from Google and Samsung, while Lens supports Android 6.0 devices and newer.
Google is also working on a translation button in the Google Lens viewfinder, visible in the lower right corner of the screen. A single tap on the button puts you in translation mode, while a second tap switches back to the standard search mode. Google Lens already lets you translate text via your camera or a saved image, but this currently requires you to switch to the 'Translate' tab. The new translate button would be a little more useful and appears to be in line with the translate button in the Circle to Search UI (seen in the first image below).
Either way, we're happy to see that these two changes may be coming to Google Lens. It means that people with much older phones (e.g. 2015 or later) can still enjoy some of the additional benefits of Circle To Search. Now, about bringing the actual Circle To Search gesture to more devices.