Google Lens is set to become more broadly available and will integrate more tightly with Google Assistant.

Look at your images, smartly

Google Lens uses visual analysis to get info from images. You can search visual content for recognised items/faces, or launch an action from anything that can be seen via a Lens-enabled camera.

Still technically in preview, it already recognises common animals and plants, lets you select text that appears in a photo, and it gives you the ability to create contacts and events from a photo.

Lens covers English speakers

Pixel owners have had Lens for a while. Lens on Pixel is now integrating with Google Assistant to further automate their mobile experience.

But Google Lens is growing beyond Pixel. It’s scheduled to unroll to all English language versions of Google Photos on both Android and iOS.

Lens + AR

Google announced Lens’ new reach in the same breath as it launched ARCore 1.0—the augmented reality SDK for Android. This hints at some serious marketing potential.

Third-party developers who build on the momentum could give us some handy new ways to augment the reality people see in their viewfinder. Snapchat, Sotheby’s, Porsche and Ghostbusters have already unveiled implementations.

Since Pokemon Go grabbed international headlines, what’s been your favourite AR implementation on mobile?

Copy Transmission is a Melbourne-based agency :: Better Brands. Loud & Clear.