Google boosts 'Goggles' app with continuous mode

Published December 8, 2011 10:41am

Google boosted its "Goggles" image-recognition app for Android devices with a "continuous mode" that scans an image without the user having to press the shutter button.

Software engineer David Petrou said the new mode for Goggles works best with books, products, artwork, and landmarks.

"Continuous mode is a quick and easy new way to use Goggles. You can now get results instantly without having to take a picture - no shutter press required! Goggles will scan the scene continuously so you don’t need to worry about taking multiple pictures," Petrou said in a blog post.

Other improvements include text recognition and contributed results, he said.

Goggles is an image recognition app that allows a user to add someone to contacts, learn about paintings, and translate text by taking a snapshot of an image.

However, Petrou said "Snapshot mode" is still available, and has some tricks that are not in continuous mode yet, such as translating text and adding a contact.

Petrou also said images recognized in continuous mode sessions will not show up in one's Goggles Search History.

"So if you’d like to refer back to something, such as a painting in a gallery you should use snapshot mode," he said.

Text recognition

Petrou said that when Goggles recognizes a portion of text, it will bring up search results that have a close match to the text scanned.

"Let’s say you’re reading a magazine article you really like and want to share it with your friends. Just point Goggles at a part of the page, and instantly find a link to an online version to share immediately or read again later. You won’t even need the entire article in the frame," he said.

He said Goggles will also pull up more information from pages around the web where that text is mentioned, so its easier to learn about what you’re seeing.

Web results

Goggles will now use suggestions made by other users to find better search results.

"Starting today, if you choose to suggest a better result or submit a new object altogether, your suggestion could become a result for the next user who searches for a similar object with Goggles. I’ve added a snapshot of the album cover from my old band so that my fans can use Goggles to find out about our music online," Petrou said.

Petrou said Google Goggles 1.7 is available for all Android devices, but users will need a device running Android 2.3 or newer to use Continuous Mode. — RSJ, GMA News

Tags: google, android