Google Lens redesign emphasizes screenshot vs. live view



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Google is rolling out a redesign of the dedicated Lens app on Android that drastically reduces the focus on the live viewfinder. Instead, the focus is now on scanning existing images and screenshots in your Camera Roll.

This Google Lens redesign sees tapping the home screen icon – available by downloading an “app” from the Play Store – open to a whole new view. The top third of this screen belongs to a “Search with your camera” section that displays a live preview. You can slide your finger down or tap to access the old Google Camera-inspired UI, which features a small tweak that shows a preview of your gallery in the lower right corner. A nice design detail sees the curved bottom corners.

Then on that page is a 4 x 2 grid of recent “Screenshots” with “Show All” in the upper right corner opening up a full page grid of screenshots. “All Images” below include your filmstrip and can be scrolled endlessly.

This change presents an interesting start for Google Lens, but at the same time it could be part of a simplification. Google Lens has always focused on “live” analysis after seeing something in the real world. However, after having been around for several years, Google might have come to the conclusion that if people see something of interest in the real world, they will first take a photo for posterity. Previously, you couldn’t save an image from Google Lens.

However, if people take a photo first, a smarter workflow would be to take the photo and then use the built-in Google Lens integration in some proprietary camera apps. On Pixel phones, long press in the viewfinder until a four-color circle appears. If this becomes the desired behavior, the Google Lens app on your home screen needs to be redesigned.

While analyzing screenshots is already easily done with the Google Photos app, it would be better to have a dedicated experience that can quickly bring up a screenshot and provide one-click analysis.

We encounter this Lens redesign on version 12.26 of the Google application following a server-side update. This change is currently available on Android, not iOS.

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