The folks at bit-tech have learned quite a bit about a new app from Google it calls 'Goggles' which has already hit the Android and is said to be due for the iPhone in the near future.

Its purpose is to make for significantly easier information searching when on the go. We're not talking about using a more advanced version of a search field, nor voice recognition for that matter. This works where you can simply use a photo of an item you've taken on your phone; this is then submitted and analysed by Google in such a way that it looks for cover images, recognisable text, barcodes etc. to work out exactly what the image is and then it searches for that item accordingly.

A video demonstration below shows how well it works even though its still in its infancy. The user had taken a photo of the front cover of a book, submitted it using Google's Goggles service and very quickly it reported back reviews and product links all about that book :-

However, bit-tech makes a valid point here. The book was, conveniently, placed in the perfect position for such tricks, of course: on a plain, white, well-lit surface. How well the technology will fair in the real world - where movie posters are unevenly lit, and books are held in your hand against an out-of-focus patterned carpet - is a test which will have to await the launch of the app.

Hard to say how well Google can perfect the functionality of this app; time will tell. But the concept is certainly a great one that will make life much easier when out and about. Check out the source link below for full details.