Newsletter
Google Lens has become less of an app and more of an integrated service. The company has been adding Google Lens into some of its services such as Google Photos and even the Chrome browser. Lens uses powerful artificial intelligence to scan the scene and ascertain what’s in it. Now, Google Lens is going to replace the native camera in Google Translate.
Google introduced Lens back during Google I/O 2017. Back then, the company marketed it as a standalone app that you can call on if you needed its services. It uses artificial intelligence to scan whatever’s in the viewfinder and give you search results based on what you see. Think of it as a search bar for the real world.
Now, Google Lens lives on as a service that’s been plugged into different Google products. You can use Google Lens to scan your pictures in Google Photos and search for what’s in them. If you’re searching up images using the Chrome browser, you can right-click and access Google Lens to scan that image.
Google Lens is going to replace the Google Translate camera
It makes sense that Google wants to plug Lens into more of its services. One of the perks of Google Lens is real-time translating. Call it black magic or call it space-age technology, the camera will overlay translated text over the original text that it sees in the viewfinder. It is extremely helpful and can really get you out of a pinch.
On the other hand, the Google Translate app had its own native camera with its own capabilities. According to 9To5Google, Google is replacing the translate camera with Google Lens. When you access the camera for the first time after the update, you will see a little pop-up window telling you that the camera has changed.
With Google Lens, the UI is a lot cleaner. Up top, you have the flash settings in the three-dot menu with a couple of options. Under that, you have a simple bar where you can select the languages. If you expand it, you’ll see the toggle to show the original text.
Below that, you have the shutter button and the gallery button. That’s about as simple and minimalistic as it gets. This change has been widely rolled out so far, so you will most likely have it already. If not, you will want to update your Google Translate app.