ISSUE 50 • ANDROID ADVISOR 41GOOGLE I/O 2018nightstand. Thanks to Google Lens’ Style Match
feature, that may no longer be a problem.
With Style Match, you simply aim your camera at
an item and it shows you suggestions for other items
that look just like it. In one of the examples shown on
stage, looking at a lamp with an intricate base brings
up a Shopping search for ‘Lamp’, and the images
Google delivers show different lamps with similarly
intricate bases along with prices. And they all look
quite similar to the lamp that started that search.
Google introduced a similar feature for regular
Google Image Search last year, but being able to see
results like this in real time through a camera app
makes it significantly more useful.
- Real-time search results
As Google Lens works at the moment, you have to
specifically choose an item on the display and wait
for Google to bring up search results for you. But the
updated Lens will give you search results related to
objects you’re looking at in real time. That means that
if I’m standing on Westminster bridge in London, I
can look over at the Houses of Parliament to the left
and get information about its history in one second,
and then I can pan over to the other side of the river
and get similar information about the London Eye.
It’s going to make solo tours much more fun.
And that’s not all, thanks to improvements in
machine learning. If you’re aiming your camera
lens at a concert poster, Google can start playing
a music video by the featured artist. It’s taking
WYSIWYG to a whole new level.