Google Lens gains new features to improve productivity

Google has announced my updates to its Google Lens app that allows people to be more productive and improve work and learning at home. One of the new features allows users to use Lens for more information on items and objects they see every day in their yard or home. One example Google gives is the ability to use Lens to take a photo of a flower seen on a daily walk to get more information.

One of the coolest new features is that Lens can now allow users to copy handwritten pages directly onto their laptops. When text is selected using Lens, there is an option that can be tapped titled "copy to computer" that allows the text to be pasted onto another signed-in device with Chrome. This is a way to copy handwritten notes for work or school and get them in digital form directly on a computer.

Google does say you have to write neatly, which rules out people with messy handwriting like myself. Both the smartphone used to photograph the text and the computer it's pasted to have to be signed into the same Google account. Lens updates also include the ability to allow Lens to translate words in Spanish, Chinese, and over 100 other languages by simply pointing the camera at the text.

The update allows users to practice words or phrases that are difficult to say. They can select the text with Lens and tap the new Listen button to hear the text read aloud. Lens can also be used to choose a word or phrase that the user doesn't understand and look up more information on a specific term. The new features are rolling out now, except for Listen, which is available on Android and will land soon for iOS. In other Google news, It and Apple recently said no location tracking in coronavirus tracking apps.