Lens Translation Features | Will It Come to Google Chrome?
The “search circle” feature on our smartphones is a very useful tool, and Google is working hard to expand its reach. We recently saw initial support for it in beta versions of the Chrome browser through the Lens translation feature, but what will this feature look like in the browser? And will it be as feature-rich as we are used to on Android? It seems that this possibility has become closer with the emergence of new evidence that shows the tool’s translation capabilities.
Image translations using Lens in Chrome
If you open the “Search Circle” on your phone right now, you’ll find the Google Translate icon in the corner, ready to analyze what’s on your screen. This is especially useful when you’re not translating text, but rather want to work with an image.
Over on X, user Leopeva64 has been documenting Google’s progress on implementing all of these Lens-specific features in Chrome. A week ago, he shared that Google might add a translation button to the Lens interface in Chrome, in a similar vein to what it does for the search circle on Android. At the time, it seemed like there was no solid evidence to back it up, and it may not happen. Well, we can’t confirm what features Google will actually roll out yet, but Leopeva64 has managed to get a translation button into Chrome.
Right now, the button doesn't do anything, and you can't translate anything in the browser window this way, but once Google hooks up the rest of the logic needed, this interface will likely be what we'll see when we ask Chrome to use Lens translation to work its magic.
Lens Translation: The Future of Visual Translation?
Chrome already has a built-in translation feature, apparently, but it's limited to text. If this extension eventually happens, powerful image translation tools could become as easy to use on the desktop as they already are on our phones.
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