Google Lens is one of the “exclusive” features of the Pixel 2 at launch but it doesn’t seem like that exclusivity has lasted long. Some lucky users are already seeing Google Lens appear within the photos app of their first generation Pixel phones but if that’s not enough soon it will be arriving for Google Assistant.
The version of Google Lens on the Pixel 2 phones is a preview mode but a couple of Googlers have reached out today saying that they are polishing the UI a bit, adding some Assistant-specific features and generally “beef”-ing up what it can do and expect to roll it out to Google Assistant “in the next few weeks”.
We're adding Lens into Assistant in the next few weeks. All still a preview – start narrow, will beef up as we go. Thnx for playing with it!
— Aparna Chennapragada (@aparnacd) October 20, 2017
We're bring Lens to the Assistant in a few weeks. Polishing the UI a bit and ensuring that the assistant specific features work well.
— Rajan Patel (@rajanpatel) October 20, 2017
The version coming to Assistant will still be a preview and they suggest that you start narrow with your Lens queries and slowly broaden it as it gets smarter and smarter. The more you (and others) use it the better it will get.
Whether this will arrive on ALL phones with Google Assistant (not just Pixels) is unknown but it seems we won’t have long to wait to find out. Do you have Google Lens on your phone yet? Can you see it being something you will use much?
I’ll now google it to see what it actually is