Google Goggles Visual Search: a Hands-on Tour

Mobile searching has just gotten way, way cooler. Google unveiled its new Google Goggles visual search tool for Android on Monday, bringing a high-tech twist to accessing information on the go.

By JR Raphael
Mon, December 07, 2009

PC World — Mobile searching has just gotten way, way cooler. Google unveiled its new Google Goggles visual search tool for Android on Monday, bringing a high-tech twist to accessing information on the go.

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Google Goggles: An Introduction

Google Goggles -- not to be confused with Google Mail Goggles, the company's inebriated e-mailing preventer -- lets you search from your cell phone simply by snapping a photo. Want more info on a product? Take its picture. Need info about a business? Photograph the storefront. Put simply, this thing packs some serious power, and its capabilities stretch far.

Google Goggles currently supports photo-based searching for (take a deep breath): books, DVDs, landmarks, logos, contact info, artwork, businesses, products, barcodes, and plain text.

Here's how it works: When you capture an image, Google breaks it down into object-based signatures. It then compares those signatures against every item it can find in its image database. Within seconds, it returns the results to you, ordered by rank. Some results are returned before you even snap a photo, too, thanks to seamless integration of GPS and compass functionality.

But enough on the nuts and bolts. Let's put search-by-sight to the test.

Hands-On With Google Goggles

I started out with something easy: a book. After opening the app, I followed the instructions and took a photo. Google Goggles started analyzing the image. Sure enough, seconds later, I had the results.

Just from seeing the book's cover, Google Goggles gave me the full name and links to compare prices or even preview the text. Below that, it returned regular search results for the title. Not too shabby. (Image)

The app worked equally well with a DVD: I photographed the cover of Swingers and received information about the movie, followed by pages of relevant Web results. (Image)

Next: The 'Chip-Off-the-Old-Block' Test

How about something a bit more involved? I grabbed a nearby bag of chips to see if Google Goggles could grab the logo. Once again, no problems: The app saw that the chips were made by Lays and gave me a screen of info about the company. (Image)

Even an obscure product like a tub of protein powder seems to work without so much as a hiccup. Google Goggles matched the actual photo to an online image from a retailer's Web site, then gave me ample info about the stuff. (Image)

Next up: art. Luckily, I had a book of Magritte paintings in my office. I flipped open to a random page and took a photo. Google Goggles got it. (Image)

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Originally published on www.pcworld.com. Click here to read the original story.

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