Lens in Google Maps gets upgrade for users with visual impairments

Image: Google

The popular Lens feature in Google Maps is getting a boost for users with visual impairments. It gets enhanced screen reader support, allowing you to point your phone's camera at nearby businesses and get information like their hours of operation, ratings, and even directions. All this info will be read aloud by your device's screen reader. This update makes navigating unfamiliar areas and finding essential services easier than ever for individuals who are blind or have low vision.

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Google Lens for Chrome desktop can now translate text, too

Source: Android Police

Google has updated Lens on the desktop with more helpful features. It doesn't just help you do reverse image searches. Now, it gets Text and Translate options, too. You can copy, listen, translate or search for text in the images. The two tabs are interchangeable, allowing you to click or select a portion of the text from Translate or translate words from Text. 

Translate's interface is similar to the mobile app interface. You can let Lens auto-detect the language or set it manually. It will display the translation directly over the original text, too, and list them on the right sidebar, where you get the option to copy them. If you want a more robust experience, you can open the text inside translate.google.com. This update to Google Lens seems to be widely available for Chrome 100 users on Windows, Mac, and Chrome OS.

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Google Lens is more easily accessible on Google Photos for Android

Source: 9to5Google

Those in the know understand how helpful Google Lens is for optical character recognition (OCR). But you might not know that the feature is accessible through Google Photos. The company doesn't want you to overlook that fact anymore by making it a more prominent part of the app. 

Google Lens now shows up with its icon at the bottom bar alongside the share, edit, and delete buttons. It also shows up in the info sheet when you swipe up on an image. 

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Google Lens lets you copy handwritten notes from your phone to laptop

A recent Google Lens update will make note-taking a simpler affair. It'll let you copy and paste handwritten notes from your phone to your computer. But you need to make sure your handwriting is legible. 

Android users need to have the latest version of Chrome as well as the Lens app to use the feature. Meanwhile, iOS users will need to have the newest version of the Google app. Make sure the same Google account is signed into on both devices. After that, you need to point your camera at the written text and highlight the parts you want to copy. From there, you head to Google Docs on your Chrome browser, head to the Edit tab, and then select Paste to paste the selected text.

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