How to use Google Lens to translate, solve equations and copy text from photos

Google Lens is a tool integrated into the Google Photos app (available for both iOS and Android) that allows you to search for information based on images or objects that are found in the analog world.

Just point the camera at a text, person, monument or whatever it is for the system to search for similar photos and relevant information about the subject. It is also possible to use the tool from images found on mobile or in the cloud.

The system is powered by artificial intelligence that uses the smartphone's camera and machine learning not only to detect objects but also to analyze it and offer different actions in relation to that search.

Thanks to this technology, it is possible to identify the breed of an animal, know the name of the statue we are seeing on a tourist tour and even copy texts or make translations.

How to activate Lens

The first step is to know where Lens is located. As previously mentioned it is available on Google Photos.

To make use of this tool, you have to open that application, click on a photo and click on the square icon with a dot in the middle that says Lens, which is located at the bottom margin.

Once this is done, a menu will be displayed with several options: translate, text, search, homework, shopping, places and dinner. You must choose the desired option and after a few seconds the system will perform the action as indicated.

Google Lens can also be downloaded as a standalone application from the Play Store and iOS. Once the app is downloaded, it is used as indicated in the previous step.

It is possible not only to read photos but also to give you access to the camera to be able to scan images in real time.

You can also call Lens from the Google search engine. The icon appears right next to the camera icon.

The functions available in Google Lens

1) Translate

The first option on the list is to translate. Here you just have to click on the photo of a text (or point to a text), choose Lens and within the menu, the alternative that says “translate”, indicating which language you want to convert the text to. After a few seconds, the system will return the result. You can then choose to copy the text to make it available in any document.

2) Text

The text option allows you to copy and paste the content, to have it available in a notebook, an email or wherever. This can be useful if you want to retrieve content from an image: be it a fragment of a song, a menu in a restaurant, a book, an essay, etc.

You can also choose the option “listen”. In that case, the system will read the content of the photographed text. This option is especially interesting for people with visual impairment.

3) Search

This alternative, as the name suggests, causes artificial intelligence to read the photo and search for information related to that image on the web. The related data will depend on the photograph analyzed. The name of the photographed building could be obtained; landmarks; species or breed data (if an animal was photographed); summaries or reviews (if it is an image of a book), etc.

4) Mathematics and other tasks

Lens also allows you to solve mathematical equations as well as questions about history, science, computing, and so on. To activate this alternative, click on the “task” option.

In mathematical consultations, it should be clarified that in some cases you will see not only the result but also the step by step, which is very interesting to learn.

In the case of a question on some other topic, the system will return a prominent answer and many other associated results.

5) Shopping

This tool allows you to scan an object in a physical or virtual store, and compare prices, search for similar artifacts in other businesses, and even filter information according to different parameters.

It is also possible to scan the barcode of a product so that the search can be done more accurately.

It should be noted that the results of Purchasing are available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates, United Arab Emirates, United States, United States, United States United States, Czech Republic, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

6) Places

The places option is used to identify the name of a site. The image is simply analyzed and the search engine will return results about the place photographed. This is especially interesting when sightseeing because you can get to know information about monuments, historic cities, museums and much more.

7) Price

With this tool you get everything from the name of the dish to the ingredients to prepare them or places where that food can be found. Ideal for when a last minute craving arises and you don't exactly remember the name of that dish that was enjoyed so much.

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